Regular patronage / donations for OFN global

Continuing the discussion from Governance of the commons: inputs from:

[DRAFT under construction - it’s a wiki, you can contribute]

We have started to discuss with @serenity about using regular micro-crowdfunding as a way to contribute to finance OFN global.
We talked about Patreon, which is a platform used mainly by artists and other content creator to get project-based support from “fans”
It seems there are lots of alternatives to receive donations, either via micro-crowdfunding platforms, donation modules to install on our website, or even crypto-donations :wink:

I found other interesting platform and I wanted to list them as a base for discussion:
(source: Snowdrift Wiki - Other Crowdfunding / Fundraising Services)
###Micro-crowdfunding platorms
####- Snowdrift:
It looks like very value aligned but not yet properly launched, doesn’t seem ready to be used.
+++ Run by a non-profit cooperative with a democratic governance process + open source

  • Based on a “snowball” effect, each existing patron gives a very little more when new patrons join (is it good?)

####- Patreon:
Take a 5% commission + you need to add payment processing fees in (mutualization process to lower the fees) and out (https://patreon.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/204606125-How-do-you-calculate-fees-)
Mainly focus on creative industries, but the scope is “content creator”, so maybe we can manage to fit in it.
“For creators: Patreon is a way to get paid for creating the things you’re already creating (webcomics, videos, songs, whatevs). Fans pledge a few bucks per month OR per thing you release, and then you get paid every month, or every time you release something new (whether it’s on SoundCloud, YouTube, your own website, or anywhere).” > could work for us on a regular donation type.

####- Ratafire
Seems to be a free alternative to Patreon, that you connect with a paypal account… so I guess you only pay the 2% paypal fee? http://encore.celebrityaccess.com/index.php?encoreId=533&articleId=52087
Doesn’t seem fully launched yet… or reinventing themselves. 3.0 version is launched soon, I signed up to be informed.
http://www.digital.nyc/startups/ratafire sounds like pretty adapted to OFN…
http://www.crowdsourcing.org/site/ratafire/wwwratafirecom/32893

####- Bountysource:

####- Recurrency:
5% commission(to check)
Various projects, focus on creators but seems pretty broad (https://recurrency.us/discover)

Donation module to install on the OFN global website

- DonorBox:

They take a 0,89% commission if you get more than 1000$ a month + as the donation is done thrugh Stripe merchant, Stripe takes 2,9% + 0,30$ per donation (reduced for non-profit. For example for Charities registered in France: 1.2% + €0.25 per successful transaction in France and Europe / 2.9% + €0.25 per successful transaction outside Europe.)
+++ Accept donations in multi-currencies
+++ CRM integrate to manage easily communication with donors (Salesforce + Mailchimp)
++ Donors can pay with credit card or paypal

  • Donors can choose if they give a monthly donation or a one-shot donation (is it good? not sure, maybe we want onlly recurring…)
  • We can embedd the donation form into the OFN global website

DonorBox seems easier than Patreon or Bounty like sites, as there is no “intermediate”, it seems the money is directly sent to the Open Food Foundation account, so no fees in and out. And no commission below 1000$ per month, and then only 0,89%… I’m waiting for an answer about the fee when we are a non-profit.
It’s a different logic, because DonorBox is more something you integrate in your website to receive donations. So maybe both can be done, like Patreon (as a crowdfunding campaign) + Donorbox (in the OFN website). To be discussed!

Donation coupled with distributed retribution (“take what you want” model)

Gratipay

  • Payment received by a team: credit card processor, Braintree, charges 2.9% + 30¢ per transaction. We upcharge ~users to cover this fee at cost, and Teams receive the face value of the payment. For example, we’ll charge $20.91 to cover a $20 payment (https://gratipay.com/about/features/payments)
  • Payment distributed to the people in the team: use Paypal as payment processor, wich take a 2% commission capped at 1$ in US, 20$ in other countries (https://gratipay.com/about/features/payroll#fees)
    ####Liberapay
  • similar system as Gratipay, but with much less fees as it uses the Mangopay e-wallet system (when a donation is made, Mangopay takes 1,8% + 0,18€, then transfering the money to the contributor account is free within Euro zone, 2,5€ per transaction outside (+ eventually change fees).)
  • but anyway that’s the same principle, no project base, but team & people based

These systems don’t seem adapted, VERY expensive at the end, and we can’t manage the distribution to project (goes directly to people).
It seems what we need is a way to collect money for the global via:
-direct donations / micro-crowdfunding
-voluntary contributions from instances
And the we need a tool like Co-budget where instances who contribute can decide what they want to allocate their budget to, and maybe for the global crowdfunding that pot can be decided with equal votes from all instances.

###Open up the possibilities, we could also accept donations in cryptocurrencies:

  • when receiving a donation in FairCoin or BitCoin, if we keep it without converting there is no commission, but we need to be able to use them :wink:
  • if we want to convert in Euros or $ the commission will be around 0,5% in total, which is MUCH cheaper than ny other donation system…
  • the problem is that thos coins are very volatils, so we need to find a way to convert them as soon as possible… that is possible if someone is able to implement an automatic process. Else if we need to use a payment gateway that’s no point…