Ideas to raise money for PHO

[NitroNick]

Good idea Nick, you can donate monthly amounts via the paypal subscription service..

Do PayPal charge you fees for any donations? If so Sorry but I refuse to use a service that charges for moving money when it can be done for free by other means.

edit: That being said I have just set up a £2.50 regular payment via PayPal. However I would much much rather pay direct to your bank.

[cara09]

One idea would be to register with EasyFundraising. 

How it worksWe provide a FREE service where you can shop with your favourite online stores and at no extra cost raise funds for any charity, good cause or group you choose to support. You still shop directly with each retailer as you would normally, but simply by using the links from our site first, each purchase you make will generate a cashback donation to the cause you wish to support.

Check it out at: You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login

If only a few members use the site I'm sure that it would help towards to the running costs over time. 

[SJ]

Male Prostitution? Not sure that you would get much for Roger thou

I know it's a touchy subject and kinda goes against the spirit of this site but maybe a limited amount of Advertising in say the Chat Room? Lets face it the Chat Room has nothing to do with Psoriasis and can not be seen by those who just read the Forum and not register.

Other then that I can only suggest the Mods get there Thongs and whips out 

I am personally against any form of advertising. Being advert-free is one of the most wonderful and unique aspects of PHO.

Equally, I am against sponsorship too. I have been approached many times by 'interested parties' about taking money to 'sponsor' PHO on the conference and lecture circuit. I have always given the same answer 'PHO is an independent, advert and sponsor-free site by people with psoriasis, for people with psoriasis...'.

I, however, am personally prepared to put any member in a thong and whip them for a fiver 

[purple phish]

Thanks for the PM and this post: it has certainly drawn my attention to something I hadn't given a lot of thought to. I have now set up a small regular monthly DD through the paypal option found if you click on the 'donate button'.
It wouldn't take too many members who felt they could afford the £2.50 option, or even the £5 one to meet the monthly cost.

I do think it is great that it is a free to all site - when someone first joins the site, they don't necessarily know how much they will get out of it. For me, this reminder is timely, 9 months after I became a regular member and now I really want to contribute because of how invaluable PHO has proved to be, but I didn't appreciate the financial need until this post.

So I think just reminding members every so often, as you have just done is in itself very worthwhile thing to do.
I really appreciate this site and the work the mods do voluntarily.

I guess I am not so keen on the 'contributing member' label, as if someone needs PHO badly, but is really strapped for cash, I would hate to add to someones burden of feeling carp and undeserving of help.

[Darren.]

Male Prostitution? Not sure that you would get much for Roger thou

I know it's a touchy subject and kinda goes against the spirit of this site but maybe a limited amount of Advertising in say the Chat Room? Lets face it the Chat Room has nothing to do with Psoriasis and can not be seen by those who just read the Forum and not register.

Other then that I can only suggest the Mods get there Thongs and whips out 

I am personally against any form of advertising. Being advert-free is one of the most wonderful and unique aspects of PHO.

Equally, I am against sponsorship too. I have been approached many times by 'interested parties' about taking money to 'sponsor' PHO on the conference and lecture circuit. I have always given the same answer 'PHO is an independent, advert and sponsor-free site by people with psoriasis, for people with psoriasis...'.

I, however, am personally prepared to put any member in a thong and whip them for a fiver 

been there done that you missed out 

[SJ]

Thanks for the PM and this post: it has certainly drawn my attention to something I hadn't given a lot of thought to. I have now set up a small regular monthly DD through the paypal option found if you click on the 'donate button'.
It wouldn't take too many members who felt they could afford the £2.50 option, or even the £5 one to meet the monthly cost.

I do think it is great that it is a free to all site - when someone first joins the site, they don't necessarily know how much they will get out of it. For me, this reminder is timely, 9 months after I became a regular member and now I really want to contribute because of how invaluable PHO has proved to be, but I didn't appreciate the financial need until this post.

So I think just reminding members every so often, as you have just done is in itself very worthwhile thing to do.
I really appreciate this site and the work the mods do voluntarily.

I guess I am not so keen on the 'contributing member' label, as if someone needs PHO badly, but is really strapped for cash, I would hate to add to someones burden of feeling carp and undeserving of help.

It's a good point and I am quite sure some members might want to stay anonymous. but others might be proud of supporting the site? No one should feel bad about not being able to donate...PHO is free for every P and PA person who wishes to use it...the donations people choose to make will ensure it stays up, running and supporting for as long as possible.

No takers for a whipping yet then? 

[purple phish]

I guess I am not so keen on the 'contributing member' label, as if someone needs PHO badly, but is really strapped for cash, I would hate to add to someones burden of feeling carp and undeserving of help.

It's a good point and I am quite sure some members might want to stay anonymous. but others might be proud of supporting the site? No one should feel bad about not being able to donate...PHO is free for every P and PA person who wishes to use it...the donations people choose to make will ensure it stays up, running and supporting for as long as possible.

An equally good point SJ: and perversely, I would feel proud to be seen to support something good and helping to keep the site free

[Nicknackwack]

To be a member of 'The Psoriasis Association' costs £18 per year !

With that example in mind, I would suggest that if you wanted to be a member of PHO then how about a mandatory nominal annual subscription if you wish to remain a member ? It is a guaranteed generated income which I presume is what is needed.

I think that sending out reminders is a false economy because it is one thing to send out a reminder but quite something else to get someone to open their wallets and make a donation. Giving people a nudge or a prompt doesn't guarantee income unfortunately, though it might help to some some extent in the short term. Private donations can never be relied upon.

The remark that as long as PHO remains an advert-free, sponsorship-free site is obviously having a detrimental effect and that thinking needs to change dramatically. If you want to remain independent then you have to find funding and herein lies the contradiction.

There is a bigger picture that could be explored and that is turning PHO into a charitable organisation and raising it's profile ! This would help fundraising as directed under the charity commission guidelines. I am for this. Have Mods ever discussed this ?

[Chappers_27]

You say it costs £120 to run and get about £22 in donations. How much do you need to run the site without much input?

I've noticed that you spend money on Adwords. Is that necessary? How much do you spend on adwords? I have some experience in all things ecommerce / web related as I run my own company website doing just that (see You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login) - so I'd be happy to help out.

Some ideas to generate some cash:

(1) put Google Adwords on the site. Perhaps only put adverts on certain sections of the website. Its important with adverts to make sure that they blend with the site, and are placed in the correct position. All that's required is to paste some code in the relevant places. Adwords wont make a huge amount of cash, but perhaps enough to cover costs.
(2) Offer banner advertising to selected companies - means PHO can retain control over WHO advertises. With Adwords, you don't have control.
(3) Offering surveys to pharmaceutical companies. Those that market psoriasis medications would like to get some feedback.
(4) I know you don't have product promotions on here, but one way of making cash is to have a 'walled-off' section of the site where products can be advertised. You charge for advertising products or the site takes a commission on the sale. You ensure people register and tick a very tight terms and conditions page which means PHO takes no responsibility for any medications/advice offered.
(5) The problem with making PHO a charitable organisation is the requirement for people to put a LOT more time into the forum.
(6) Offline Activities: Rather than making PHO a membership organisation, PHO could arrange socials, which cost, say £3 to go along. Pub Nights, Restaurant Nights, Days Out etc. Take a leaf out of the City Socialising model (You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login). London Social once a month, say. If 20 people go, then that's £60 per month just from London. It would take one person to organise.
(7) In order to try to get the DONATIONS income to increase, put a donations page during the registration process. e.g. the pho is free, is maintained free and is run on donations. please consider a small donation - then move on to complete the registration process. Then a 6 monthly automated email reminder to everyone's email address.

I will probably have a lot more ideas, so if I think of any, then I'll post again.

[Nicky]

Yay, good contributions so far, keep 'em coming.

I am confident the Mods will read all these replies, discuss the ideas put forward and post further down this thread.

We have discussed on many occasions in the past the ideas of advertising and turning PHO into a charitable organisation but in the light of comments here, those ideas and others would perhaps warrant further investigation.

Nicknackwack, regarding your comment that sending out reminders is a false economy, I beg to disagree. Without doubt, it's helped us so far ...

but ... let's see what else we can do ...

Nicky