“This article is a one-year report on the experiments with Donationware at DonationCoder.com. Throughout the article I will focus on the specific experiences of our site in attempting to strike a kind of middle ground – keeping software free but making enough money from donations to fund the site.”
Users donate when there are less taxes. More money in your pocket from less taxes mean you have more freedom to do what you want with it. You even have some left over for good causes.
I myself donate money to great causes when I can afford to. Which now in the US with the Republicans in office, is often
I am a Libertarian at heart. I suggest you read up and turn off the television if this seems “crazy” to you.
The only thing that sounds crazy in your post is me turning off the TV.
No thanks.
I can see how the a libertarian at heart might rejoice in having lower taxes, but how does that same libertarian feel about less civil liberty. I seems to me that the democrats are incompatible from the monetary standpoint and the republicans from the citizen rights standpoint. Neither party is a perfect fit for you ideology.
Anyway, back to the topic at hand, does anyone know of a study done on this issue. I can see myself wanting to try a publicly supported endeavor and results from such a study would be extremely useful
Also, getting donations for something that is completely non user space (ie. systems software) would prob have to come from other corporations and developers rather than end users? What do you guys think
The Enlightenment project recently questioned how many users out there would be willing to donate money so that the project could purchase a dedicated server for it’s CVS repository, web page etc.
The response was apparently surprisingly positive (it hasn’t actually been required yet, as they found a new temporary home for their repository).
I think if people like a given project enough, and use it often enough, they will be more inclined to donate.
People who claim to be willing to donate are different from people who actually will donate. I think the ratio is somewhere between 10:1 or 100:1.
I think if people like a given project enough, and use it often enough, they will be more inclined to donate.
I think it helps if you have a clearly defined goal to donate towards too, like the server in your example. This way people can share in the feeling of accomplishment when the goal is achieved in the short term and pictures are posted of the new server with kudos alround. Plus it overcomes the cynicism and distrust people tend to get when they can’t directly see what you’re using their donated funds for.