It’s time for a pledge drive

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Folks the inevitable has happened.  As more people visit SM (thanks!) our hosting costs are rising.  Every time someone clicks on one of our postings it takes up bandwidth on the servers that host our site.  Last month’s bill spiked to an amount much larger than we can handle.  Some of us are poor students.

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p>We feel a bit guilty for having to ask for donations right now, especially since we’d rather you gave to a charities in support of disasters like Katrina and Niger, but if you can spare a few dollars (whatever you think we are worth) we’d appreciate it. If a bunch of you just donate $1 to $5 that might be enough to do the trick.  That’s less than a beer at the bar tonight.  Just click this button:

Just like NPR and PBS we would like to stay ad-free for as long as possible, and would thus rather rely on donations like many larger blogs do.  In the coming days we will also be linking any books we write a post about to Amazon.com.  If you buy the book by linking through our site, then we would get a small percentage.  Also we are finally getting the ball rolling on Sepia Mutiny t-shirts featuring some of the stuff we’ve blogged about.  If we think of other revenue generating ideas that don’t ruin the Sepia Mutiny experience then we will switch to relying on them instead of asking for reader donations.

We aren’t yet ready to sell out to the man! Thanks in advance!

51 thoughts on “It’s time for a pledge drive”

  1. I hear you. How about an SM party? Where proceeds collected at the door can be used for SM host fees and the rest can be donated to Katrina causes? Like a fundraiser happy hour. Talk to a bar owner or two. They are always willing to do this on a slow night (Tue/Wed)

    I’d be happy to help and attend! 🙂

  4. Saheli, did you click on the link on the sidebar? The icon in the post isn’t a link (I took five minutes to figure this out!)

  6. Dear abhi,

    What’s wrong with selling out?

    sincerely,

    MD, happy capitalist and believer in markets.

    P.S.

    Ok, ok: I’ll give my fine SM friends. You are quite good at this blogging thing after all…

  7. All addictions come with a cost, she said somberly.

    Of course, now who gets the rights to complain? 😉

    Um, so, speaking of fundraising.

    I have a wacky seed of an idea. Can anyone of think of a good way to leverage the Asian American Hotel Owners Association to do some good in the post-Katrina mess? Surely there’s gotta be contacts between the wider brown community and these folks, and maybe they could earn themselves some good karma by making it easier for the ballyhooed wealthiest minority in America to raise funds to put up the homeless? I dunno. Somebody with some management or non profit chops, please chew on this idea for me.

    I thought I commented about this last night, but I guess not.

  9. Like a fundraiser happy hour.

    Sepia Mutiny kegger!!!

    Seriously – y’all could throw simultaneous (?) parties in NYC, DC, and SF and hit a good number of people.

  10. why don’t you just get ANNA to do a photo shoot?? should take care of funds for life 🙂

  11. MD: hey, seriously, email me if you have any ideas. I know nothing about these groups or this stuff. saheli AT gmail dot com.

    Seriously – y’all could throw simultaneous (?) parties in NYC, DC, and SF and hit a good number of people.

    hit or hit on? /grins. a whole new way to raise money. . .

    Seriously though, that would be good. Especially if it wasn’t in a venue that had to be paid for and didn’t mind their being a tip jar. And a good way to sell t-shirts. we could vide-log it (and store the video on blip.tv to save costs. 😉 )

  12. I just dropped you some dollar$ from my friends paypal account – the one he uses for scams and money laundering – spend it well and abhi – I dont mind if you use my contribution to buy a couple of cold beers for yourself – let others buy you server space or whatever 😉

  14. ..or charge cents for posting a comment 🙂 ofcourse, i get a waiver for coming up with the idea….Or How about a SM preffered status membership – allows you to post in a click and your handle is displayed in gold…SM credit cards or are we going overboard here…Ok final suggestion – once a month do a Commercial Post or a Plug for a business / restaurant / party / event etc, for a low cost amount of $50. Disclose that its a commercial post etc. etc.

  15. Somewhere in the Caymans black money is turning brown….as it is wired mysteriously to the First Bank of North Dakota. Where does this money come from? Why does it flow Dakota-ward? Rumours of massive brown lobbying of Dakota state senators abound.

  17. If we got every Patel to just give you a dollar…ahhh, none of the Patels I know will do it! Anyway I think you should sell some T-shirts saying… its Mutiny time or something. The amount of time we all spend reading this blog, I am sure a lot of work doesnt get done, so none of us earn very well!! ha ha ha If there is a party in DC, I am there, my money is your money. Brown Power.

  21. I honestly don’t mind seeing Google Ads, though I appreciate your concern for not ruining the Sepia Mutiny experience. Also, will there be any status on how muhc money is raised? What if you raise more than this month’s server bills – will it be applied to next month’s bill?

  24. Now, let me save you some money 🙂

    How much data does this site transfer? he.net may be giving you a bad deal–there are fairly cheap hosting services e.g. dreamhost.com offers ~190GB/mon @ $50/mon (and cheaper if paid in advance). Transferring the site isn’t all that painful…

  25. I used to be a part of a group called “PIGS” (Poor Indian Graduate Students) 🙂 .. so I have been there. The Amazon.com idea is good. All the best for it. My small contribution to your project (which is great and totally addicting) is on its way.

  26. Thanks for the pledges thus far everyone!

    Runnerwallah, we are trying to assess the total we are hoping to meet to get in the clear so we will update you soon.

    Cinammon Rani, the samosa idea is good but my brother is on his way home right now and my mom has been making samosas and eggrolls for the past week soley in preparation of his arrival. She’s out of steam.

    SP, If you email me I can send you a snail mail address. I’d rather not post it so that nobody breaks in to our ND HQ. Plus there are the groupies to worry about. What?! It could happen some day. 🙁

    MD, I just can’t sell out to the man unless it involves a luxury box at 9ers games.

    Brimful, I TOTALLY owe you a dinner when I come up there (which I promise will be soon).

  27. I’m all for supporting you guys with some green.

    And I’m looking forward to buying some wicked smart, stylish SM tees soon!

  28. Ad-free is one of the reasons SM is so cool – unobtrusive things like linking to Amazon for books are ok, but please no Adsense. It sucks.

  29. Have you given any thought to listing a pledge-goal? It makes the receiving-end of “giving” tangible and finite, goal-oriented and not so vague and unregulated for those who contribute/are thinking of contributing. I know it’s a little odd and maybe awkward to list this on the site, but there’s a way to do it discreetly and it’s better than having to ask people for money in one post, then ask again in another, and another, and another… I don’t think fans of the site will have a problem, especially if you use contribution-caps to stop any one person from claiming ownership or feeling slighted in any way.

  30. Have you given any thought to listing a pledge-goal?

    Yep, I’m working on it. We are about a third of the way to our goal of staying funded through next June. I will try to work up one of those fancy thermometers or something showing our progress by the end of the weekend. Thanks

  31. So I ponied up a certain amount times three, to represent the 3 mutineers that I’ve met.

    Well, I just met Ennis – which means I have to donate again! 🙂

  32. Just how much bandwidth are you using up? I’m sure I can find a way to reduce this and perhaps find you a better hosting deal somewhere.

  34. Well, a few cursory checks show that I can cut that down a fair bit pretty easily. Mail me (email linked) if you like.

  35. Abhi: You should have come to your old man – as always. I just sent in my token contribution. Keep up the dialogs – no matter how heated up it gets…..That is how we as humans have evolved, i.e. mentally. Ah, the beauty of learning process!! Love ….Dad p.s. There are plenty of “Samosas” for “Cinnamon Rani” – if she is interested……

  36. you might already be going down this path – but have you considered incorporating sepiamutiny – possibly an npo – the structure and the processes will ensure transparency and help in the long run.

  39. once more try…(sigh)

    but have you considered incorporating sepiamutiny – possibly an npo – the structure and the processes will ensure transparency and help in the long run.

    I don’t know about that. Taxes, red-tape…more time on paperwork, less time for the mutineers to blog!

    btw Abhi…do you think your dad would consider adopting me? He’s so awesome…

  40. I will try to work up one of those fancy thermometers or something showing our progress by the end of the weekend.

    Yay! those thermometers remind of of fundraising in elementary school. You have my moola.

  41. Ahh, that so sweet of you Abhi’s dad! I might just take you up on it! Mmmm samosas with coriander chutney….

  42. Ad-free is one of the reasons SM is so cool – unobtrusive things like linking to Amazon for books are ok, but please no Adsense. It sucks

    Very Very true.

    Abhi –> Your Dad is so Damn cool. I wish my Dad is of the same type.

    Just sent a small contribution from my side through Paypal. Keep up the good work fellas

  43. You got my donation—well as soon as I find my credit card and figure out how to use Pay Pal.

    BUT… HERE IS MY FUNNY SEPIA MUTINY STORY !!

    my friend vidya used to read the blog. then on april 1st she read the entry where you all claimed you were fighting and were ending the blog [http://www.sepiamutiny.com/sepia/archives/001287.html]. she believed you and for the past 5 months has not read the site! how hilarious is that?

  45. A small personal sacrifice for those who need it… skipping that $4 latte at Starbucks will help feed and clothe underprivileged mutineers and give them good medical care and enrich their lives. With your donation of mere pennies a day, your sponsored mutineer will send you a personal letter, and a picture of themself, to express their gratitude and affection…with a bit of pocket change and a warm heart, you too can change a mutineer’s life.

    SM merchandise would be FOBulous! Can you swing it in time for Eid/Diwali/Christmas?

  46. Al Mujahid for debauchery, If you email me (my address is linked to my name), I can send you a snail mail address.

    DesiDancer, Thank you for your donation. You will soon be receiving information about your sponsored mutineer. ;P