Financial Update: Jawns Club has a new fiscal host!
Published on June 13, 2024 by Alex Hillman
Hello citizens of jawns.club,
It took more than 3 months, but we've finally secured a new fiscal host!
We mentioned this back in march but without the details about which local nonprofit, and now we're happy to share that our friends at Amplify Philly not only agreed to be our fiscal host but to do it in a way that lets us keep our Open Collective-powered page going.
In this update, I want to share what comes next, and a bit about our new fiscal host.
It took more than 3 months, but we've finally secured a new fiscal host!
We mentioned this back in march but without the details about which local nonprofit, and now we're happy to share that our friends at Amplify Philly not only agreed to be our fiscal host but to do it in a way that lets us keep our Open Collective-powered page going.
In this update, I want to share what comes next, and a bit about our new fiscal host.
What Comes Next?
The biggest priority is to reactivate our recurring contributors to rebuild our financial cushion.
When our previous fiscal host folded, they manually turned off ALL recurring contributions (monthly, annual, etc) that were helping keep our server bills paid. At the same time, our server expenses didn't stop (in fact, we pre-paid them for a year).
Now that we've transferred, we're able to start accepting contributions again!
Thing is, for security reasons, reactivating those recurring contributions is a manual process where each contributor needs to click to reactivate. Open Collective has a built in tool that lets us invite people to re-subscribe, but we won't know exactly how that works until we've started.
Which is why we're notifying you now, so you know to look out for that email about re-activating!
New recurring contributors, and one-time contributions are also very welcome and appreciated. With your help, even at just a few dollars a month, we should be able to rebuild our balance to the point where we don't have to worry about server bills again anytime soon!
Specifically, we need to resume at least $150/month in total contributions to continue running our servers. With more than 160 active users on the jawns.club server (and 60+ people who have contributed in the past), this should be VERY achievable.
And hey, if we can exceed our goals, we'd love to use some of the resources to host in-person events that let jawns.club members get to know each other even more :)
When our previous fiscal host folded, they manually turned off ALL recurring contributions (monthly, annual, etc) that were helping keep our server bills paid. At the same time, our server expenses didn't stop (in fact, we pre-paid them for a year).
Now that we've transferred, we're able to start accepting contributions again!
Thing is, for security reasons, reactivating those recurring contributions is a manual process where each contributor needs to click to reactivate. Open Collective has a built in tool that lets us invite people to re-subscribe, but we won't know exactly how that works until we've started.
Which is why we're notifying you now, so you know to look out for that email about re-activating!
New recurring contributors, and one-time contributions are also very welcome and appreciated. With your help, even at just a few dollars a month, we should be able to rebuild our balance to the point where we don't have to worry about server bills again anytime soon!
Specifically, we need to resume at least $150/month in total contributions to continue running our servers. With more than 160 active users on the jawns.club server (and 60+ people who have contributed in the past), this should be VERY achievable.
And hey, if we can exceed our goals, we'd love to use some of the resources to host in-person events that let jawns.club members get to know each other even more :)
Who is Amplify Philly?
Amplify was originally started as an effort to promote Philly on the global stage that is SXSW. Eventually, the two primary organizations (WittyGritty and REC Philly) who teamed up to create those experiences formed a new 501c3 nonprofit that describes itself like this:
Amplify Philly elevates Philadelphia locally and internationally as a welcoming place to experiment and learn, and an affordable place to take risks. We leverage Philly’s resourcefulness to create meaningful connections.
Their organizational values include: Learning & Experimentation, Flexibility & Adaptability, and Cultural Representation. All of which feels very in line with our goals for the jawns.club server!
During our recent trip to SXSW in March 2024, I realized "wait, maybe Amplify could be our fiscal host?!" so I drafted a one pager of the situation, our needs, and how they could help.
After a meeting with the board, and a bit of research, their board agreed! And since we're their first and only fiscal host recipient, it made sense to get them on Open Collective to help make the transition as smooth as possible for everyone. They even offered the same % fee that we paid previously, 5% of all transactions, for their services in supporting us.
As of this week, they've received our full remaining balance of $1,057.57 (after fees) from the previous fiscal host and that amount is reflected on the balance of our public page. Going forward, Amplify will continue to receive all new contributions on our behalf.
Questions? Concerns?
As always, we've done our best to steward this community and volunteer a lot of time to make sure that this server runs smoothly and is a kind, thoughtful place on the internet.
If you have any specific questions or concerns, feel free to leave a comment or drop us a line privately: [email protected]
Otherwise, please be on the lookout for an invite from Open Collective to reactivate your recurring contribution!
-Alex & Nelson
If you have any specific questions or concerns, feel free to leave a comment or drop us a line privately: [email protected]
Otherwise, please be on the lookout for an invite from Open Collective to reactivate your recurring contribution!
-Alex & Nelson