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Don McRitchie
09-19-2003, 09:53 PM
First - an apology. I have been remiss in not promptly acknowledging those kind enough to make financial contributions towards the running this site. I have partially addressed this by updating our contributors page here:

http://www.audioheritage.org/html/our-thanks/financial.htm

These donations have had a significant impact in reducing the out-of-pocket expenses. However, we continue to run a deficit with a total debt to date of $1827.88. On top of this, I am facing some near term costs for updating the licenses for the software used to create this site that will run another $500. A detailed cost accounting can be downloaded as an Excel workbook by clicking this link:

http://www.audioheritage.org/custom-theme/sitecosts.xls

These costs have reached the point where I find myself in the position of having to make a direct appeal to try and reduce, if not eliminate, our accumulated debt. Any contribution at any level (as little as $5) will be greatly appreciated. I have added a “Donate” button to the top right corner of this forum to make the process easier. Clicking this button will take you to our Paypal account that can accept credit card payments. Thank you in advance for your help.

JBL Dog
09-20-2003, 10:34 AM
I challenge the rest of you to meet or exceed my donation. $50.

:D

This message comes from JBL Dog :band:

boputnam
09-20-2003, 10:55 AM
Originally posted by JBL Dog
I challenge the rest of you to meet or exceed my donation. $50. Done that! I figured the donations should be pro rata by the number of posts! Uh oh... ;)

JBL Dog
09-20-2003, 11:00 AM
615 posts X $1.00 = $615??

Cool, Bo! What a kind hearted guy!

:cheers:

This message comes from JBL Dog :band:

:D :D :D

Alex Lancaster
09-20-2003, 11:57 AM
Bo: If You come across, I´ll come across.

Alex.

Robh3606
09-20-2003, 01:10 PM
Lansing Pledge Drive

Ok just don't set up a web cam and interupt regular programing like PBS. :p

JBL Dog I will meet ya. :thmbsup:

With all the time I spend here it's the least I could do:cheers:

Rob:)

Alex Lancaster
09-20-2003, 05:17 PM
Bo:

Not counting up to 2 days ago, did You donate $610?, ,if You did, I will donate $93 to the pledge.

Alex.

boputnam
09-20-2003, 06:04 PM
I've been supporting the Heritage site, and am very glad we can now support this one, too.

Full disclosure: I've been pm'ing Don for some time to get that Donation button added here, front-and-center, because I had a feeling this hobby of his, like ours, was costing him, and that we could all help.

What I've gained here has saved me plenty, and has brought me untold riches of near-perfect sound.

speakerdave
09-20-2003, 07:33 PM
This site is a lot of fun--and that besides providing information which simply is not available anywhere else. Thanks to all you more experienced speaker tweekers and thanks to Don and others who are doing the work.

Regards,

David

P.S. Lessee here now I gotta come up with about thirty posts.

Alex Lancaster
09-20-2003, 09:10 PM
Bo:

6 months ago I would not have thought to donate, 2 months ago I made a small one, and now, with the $ problems, anyone that benefits from the fun, enlightenment, and all around enjoyment on seeing things that You like should donate according to their means.

Cheaper than therapy, drinking, etc.

JBLDog: You owe another $44.

Alex.

Alex Lancaster
09-20-2003, 09:14 PM
JBLDog:

Correction: $63.

Alex.

JBL Dog
09-20-2003, 11:45 PM
:banghead:

Alex:

Baby needs new JBL's, maybe next month!

Buenos noches, amigo!

This message comes from JBL Dog :band:

Alex Lancaster
09-23-2003, 06:55 AM
How is the fund raiser coming along?

Alex.

Don McRitchie
09-23-2003, 08:08 AM
:jawdrop: Beyond my wildest hopes.

I am working on a more detailed reply and will be contacting the contributors individually. So far, the current $1800 debt is nearly eliminated with $1,700 raised to date. There have been some real surprises in a couple of extrodinarily generous donations.

My sincere gratitude to all that have contributed to the maintenance and enhancement of this site.:cheers:

GordonW
09-23-2003, 09:17 PM
Though my cash crunch continues (man, even PLANNING to start a business is EXPENSIVE), I still have a pair of C36 cabinets and a pair of PR8 passive radiators, to give away to someone, in exchange to a donation to Don here. See my ad over in "Marketplace", titled "Donations to the Cause"... if someone took advantage of those two, sounds like it would wipe out the remaining $100 or so, Don mentioned, to get to the $1800...

Regards,
Gordon.
just trying to do SOMETHING, to help keep things rolling here... :scoot:

Don McRitchie
09-27-2003, 04:52 AM
As I write, the total raised to date during this Pledge Drive is $1905 that has been made through 40 individual donations. To everyone that has participated, you have my sincere gratitude. This eliminates the accumulated debt for the site of $1827 and provides working funds for upcoming expenditures.

By now, I had hoped to have contacted each contributor individually to express my thanks. Unfortunately, a work situation has arisen suddenly that is taking me out of town for the next week (I have a plane to catch in 3 hours). Preparation for this event pretty much used up all of my spare time this past week. As soon as I return, I will followup with all that have participated.

Again my thanks.

4313B
09-27-2003, 07:03 AM
Wow! Only 40 people donated? I'm stunned. I figured that absolute worst case maybe only 25% of the member list would donate. That would have worked out to roughly $25 each. Instead it appears we have roughly 88% dead weight. What a shame. I'm quite disappointed. I know several people made substantial contributions.

Thank you very much to those who contributed.
I'm glad you've found this excellent site worthwhile.

Alex Lancaster
09-27-2003, 07:16 AM
To the 88%: $5 is nothing, compared to what You get; Also, I know some of the big contributors, post the good threads.

Alex.

luxmanlover
09-27-2003, 08:16 AM
Hopefully donations will continue to come in. Even thought enough cash was raised to eliminate current debt, "upcoming expenditures" will continue.
Kelly

Robh3606
09-27-2003, 10:23 AM
'Wow! Only 40 people donated? I'm stunned."

Hello Giskard

Well when you look at the membership list and see how many are 10 or less posts I am not to surprised. The important thing is the "core" of the site is sound and we were able to pull it together to help when it was needed. With any luck the site will continue to grow and the number will be 80 next time!

Hello Kelly

Point well taken

So how about we do $5 a month??

I will do it, cost less that a lunch at McDonnalds.
If we can get 1/2 of the people who did donnate that will cover a good portion of the comming year. If you look at the expenditures in 2003 it costs $60 a month to host the site. We can cover that with only 12 guys.

What do you think??

Rob:)

Tom Roper
09-27-2003, 09:23 PM
And it's not that I mind. But it really irritates me having paypal collecting information, sharing it with whoever I had to consent to, to process the payment.

Tom Roper
09-27-2003, 09:33 PM
And these companies have "privacy policies" that protect them for exploiting yours. How many times do we read about them violating or changing their own privacy policies without notice to you of course?

And then, with 400+ members of congress and the executive branch in full support of a national no-call list, and guess what? One filthy, stinkin', pathetic corrupt federal judge reverses it all, calling it a violation of free speech.

/rant_off

Mr. Widget
09-28-2003, 01:04 AM
Thanks again Don!

PS While I was on vacation I had a trained eye out looking for Vintage Lansing, I even found one example. I may post it later if the photo is interesting...

I must admit to spending most of my time being distracted from anything remotely audio related.

boputnam
09-28-2003, 01:09 PM
Originally posted by Tom Roper
/rant_off Ha! Nice switch code! :rotfl:

And on the rest, I can only concur.

scott fitlin
09-28-2003, 04:36 PM
Me donated to this great site! :cool:

4313B
09-30-2003, 11:32 AM
Originally posted by Tom Roper
And these companies have "privacy policies" that protect them for exploiting yours. How many times do we read about them violating or changing their own privacy policies without notice to you of course?

And then, with 400+ members of congress and the executive branch in full support of a national no-call list, and guess what? One filthy, stinkin', pathetic corrupt federal judge reverses it all, calling it a violation of free speech.

/rant_off
Sounds to me like that judge is trying to keep a job or two available for Americans to fall back on... :p

"Millions of U.S. jobs will be exported in the coming decade, forecasters say. Here are the jobs that are especially vulnerable, plus 5 that aren't..."

"Software giant Oracle (ORCL, news, msgs) said it's moving 2,000 developer jobs from the United States to India"

"Then Hewlett-Packard (HPQ, news, msgs) announced plans to close a customer-service operation in Florida and send the operation's 1,200 jobs overseas, again to India."

"Though negligible when compared to the sheer numbers of job losses in manufacturing, the shifts by two technology companies are alarming for what they likely foretell: no less than the relocation of millions of high-end technology and service jobs from this country to less expensive foreign venues. In the process, there will be a redefining of what constitutes “safe” employment in America."

Let's all become Telemarketers? :rolleyes:

My vote is for the United States Government to tax these companies right into the ground.
For every American job that is moved overseas, a 500% Federal Tax should be paid on that lost job's wages for a period of ten years.
Perhaps "American" corporate executives that advocate moving American jobs overseas should be immediately relocated to any location outside the United States. They no longer need to consider themselves Americans. Just tossing some ideas around :)

Tom Roper
09-30-2003, 01:01 PM
It seems like our problems would be solved if Oracle, and Hewlett Packard would just hire the fired telemarketers for customer service jobs. The former telemarketeers would be happy to have customers who actually want to talk to them versus angry people like me hanging up on them because I'm in the middle of supper.

boputnam
12-11-2004, 11:10 AM
Hey, Don...

You tend to sit on stuff like this - not that it's bad to do so... - but reading the Thread on "Member Inflation" reminds of the recent software upgrade, and I wondered how the LH balance sheet and operating budget look?

Donate is only a click away. This place has been, and continues to be, an amazing resource for things JBL, for all manner of audio, and for great friendships...

Lemme know. :)

Don McRitchie
12-13-2004, 08:07 PM
Hi Bo

Thanks for the concern and it is valid. Personally, I am fine financially as far as running the site since John Nebel has generously removed the major ongoing expenditure by hosting our site at no charge. However, Project May finances are nearing a critical point. We currently have approximately $1000 in the kitty, but have that much in committed expenditures in the short term. In the longer term, we project at least another $3,000 in expenditures in fabrication and testing. The easiest way to address this is to become a participant in our L100 raffle. All of the proceeds go the Project May and you get the chance to win a truly unique prize. Therefore, I would greatly appreciate the donations of anyone willing to participate in our raffle. The simplest way to do this is to click on the "L100 Raffle" button at the top of the page. We'll be making weekly announcements regarding progress towards our financial goal.

Thanks
Don

MJC
12-14-2004, 10:38 AM
I just donated. Its the first time I've been able to use paypal on this computer. The last ms update I did must have corrected this thing.

jblnut
12-14-2004, 12:28 PM
Don et all,


This site is the best run of any on the net and a class act all the way around. Many kudos for keeping the JBL "sound" alive for all of us. I just donated and I'm ebmarrassed that I didn't notice the "donate" button sooner.

Happy Holidays all,


jblnut

boputnam
12-14-2004, 01:37 PM
...John Nebel has generously removed the major ongoing expenditure by hosting our site at no charge. Just re-quoting this oh-so-important line, so everybody knows what generosity there is supporting Don's endeavor. JBL's there too, all over project May.

'tis the season... :window:

Don McRitchie
12-15-2004, 08:59 AM
Don et all,


This site is the best run of any on the net and a class act all the way around. Many kudos for keeping the JBL "sound" alive for all of us. I just donated and I'm ebmarrassed that I didn't notice the "donate" button sooner.

Happy Holidays all,


jblnut
Hi jblnut.

Thank you for your donation and kind words. Your donation ended up going to the old Paypal account. I am curious how the payment was directed there since I thought I had changed all of the Paypal buttons on the site to be directed to the new account. At any rate, I'll transfer it to the new account and when Dennis gets it, he'll issue you the raffle tickets.

Don