Re: [kFW] Needed: Collaborative systems for driving consensus...

[Daniel Harris <daniel@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Hi there All,

Some thoughts on the "let's charge a membership fee thread"...

At 13:37 02/11/01 +0000, Kennedy, Steve wrote:
>The reasoning behind a fee (however small) is that if people pay for
>something, it puts a value on joining the organisation...
http://www.kendra.org.uk/lists/archive/k-framework/msg00034.html

I'm all for a formal legal entity but I'm not convinced about charging for 
membership. To follow your logic, am I right in saying that there is no 
value to participating in Kendra Initiative unless you pay for the 
privilege (however small)? Surely the value comes from what we are aiming 
to achieve, yes?

At 16:44 02/11/01 +0000, lisag@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx wrote:
>I however, am not sure if I'd come along - if I had to pay - i wonder if
>many other not-much-money-in-their-pocket people would come...
http://www.kendra.org.uk/lists/archive/k-framework/msg00036.html

That's an important point and I'm so glad that Lisa spoke up here. I have 
always gone with the notion that we should remove as many barriers as 
possible to participation in this project. So, if mandatory membership fees 
present a problem for people (especially content producers that we need 
more of here) participating then we should seriously consider their 
viability, yes?

At 21:00 02/11/01 +0000, John McHugh wrote:
>... decide how much you can afford and then you give it, if you can
>afford more then you donate it, if you see something that requires funding
>and you can afford it, then you fund it...
http://www.kendra.org.uk/lists/archive/k-framework/msg00037.html

I like that idea of people donating what they can afford or, I guess, what 
they think it's worth. But, because John suggests it's now up to the 
participant what they pay (if anything), it completely obviates Steve's 
reason for having a membership fee in the first place, namely, to put a 
"value" on joining.

Other than Steve's call for membership fees there's been no talk of needing 
to fund Kendra Initiative and, until we've established *requirements* for 
funding (like: what are we going to spend it on?), is there any reason to 
talk about *methods* for collecting funds?

Cheers Daniel