Progress Report

[Mike]

I promised to let you know how we are going with Magpie Mail.

At present we have 15 subscribers.

Income

15 subscribers @ $20 = $300
3 donations to Nick's Collingwood Page @ $5 = $15

Total Income $315

Expenses

GST - 15 @ $2.27 = $34.05
Credit Gateway Charge @ $29/mnth = $29.00
Credit Card Bank Facility Charge @ $22/mnth = $22.00
Credit Card Bank Charges @ 4.5% of $225 = $10.13

Total Expenses $95.18

Magpie Mail Net Income $219.82

We are slowly getting there - although now that the 'initial rush' is over, things have almost stopped.

Magpie Mail is obviously not going to do the job, we need some more ideas.

One thing I thought of was a tipping comp. I'll post this idea in another topic to get some feedback and some idea of its potential.

[jeff#2001]

But we will all be tipping collingwood each week
so actually it will be only 7 games per round??

ugh..knew that wasnt goin to make sense!!!!

[AlfAndrews]

Oh, shit. I didn't think to nominate Nick's Collingwood Page for my $5 donation. Instead I put the Collingwood Football Club because it was all I could think of.

If it's not too late is it possible to change mine to Nick's Collingwood Page? I would much rather you had it than The Club because I know you'd make better use of it.





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**floreat pica**

[CQ]

what $5 donation is this?

[AlfAndrews]

Part of the $25 includes a $5 donation to an organisation of your choice. When you sign up for Magpie Mail there's a square you have to fill in that nominates which organisation you want your $5 to go to. For some reason the default option is the Collingwood Football Club. I found that a bit puzzling but chose the option anyway, but I was thinking at the time that $5 wouldn't go far at the Collingwood Football Club. That wouldn't even pay for a broken ash-tray in the Social Club. If my brain had been switched on at the time I would have changed it to Nick's Collingwood Page.

Anyway, I think the default option should be Nick's Collingwood Page ... surely.

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**floreat pica**

[Mike]

The reason for the donation in the first place Alf was to appease my conscience. I have a problem charging money for a service that relies on the Club's existence. It's been that hurdle that has prevented us from trying to recoup costs in the past, and it's only been the current crisis that has forced us to do it now.

We have to remember that all supporters of this site are first and foremost supporters of the Collingwood Football Club. It's easy to lose track of that when we are trying to raise funds, but without the Mighty Magpies, there's no Nick's Collingwood Page.

You're correct in saying that $5 wouldn't be noticed at the Club, but if we managed 100 subscribers we'd have $500. Still not much when you look at total Club income, but enough to sponsor a player. Then we could enjoy ourselves having a brawl over who that was going to be - and it would certainly bring the site a lot closer to the Club. Sponsorship includes season tickets, guaranteed seating in the sponsors box and all sorts of goodies. We could have a weekly comp, perhaps the footy tipping, to decide who was going to use them each week.

So I think the donation to the Club is important, both to the Club and to this site.

[This message has been edited by Mike (edited 16 October 2000).]

[CQ]

oh alright then. well if i get some money then i might just get one of these maggie addys.
anyway yeah $5 wouldnt be noticed @ collingwood after all they have got $65,000 to waste on salary cap charges or something.
well if i get an addy my $5 would go to this page because its way better then the official 1.

[TBirdsRGo]

Sorry Mike....when I signed up for Magpies Mail I thought the $5 donation was only for the footy club, didn't realise we had options. If it's not to late I would also like to redirect it to Nicks page.

The footy tipping comp is a great idea. The general standard I've been involved in is $2 per week..$44 for the year. Not too expensive for a good cause.

Hope it is accepted by one and all and aids in keeping the site Alive and Kicking.

[jeff#2001]

im in so just let us know whatever you decide.

[Mike]

I don't want to sound ungrateful, but I still think the donation to the Club (or other organisation) is a good idea. It would have been a better idea if we'd been a bit busier, but even so it gives us a chance to make ourselves known to the Club in the most meaningful (for them) way.

Don't feel guilty because you didn't think to make this site the beneficiary of your donation. I didn't make it an option because we're already getting $20 and the extra $5 is not going to be the difference between surviving or not.

Politically, I think the donation is very important. It's also a good way to introduce ourselves to other clubs (such as Belgrave Doug) - "Here we are, have some money. Wouldn't you like to join in and use us to raise some funds?"

[Mike]

Andrea

I've been totally humbled by the reaction to this whole thing. Nick's still in his shell. Both of us under-estimated the importance of this site and really believed that we were the ones hanging on to it - that it was just a matter of making the decision and walking away. Although the decision making part wasn't as easy as it sounded either - it was incredibly difficult.

Your offer is accepted with thanks, however I'm going to allocate an email address to you anyway and then it will be up to you whether or not you use it. It's just a metter of handing out your magpies email address rather than the one you use at the moment. You don't have to do anything else. andrea@magpies.net - that has a nice ring to it, doesn't it? or maybe andrea@go-pies.com.

Anyway you'll get it, because it's important to me that you do - you decide on what you do with it.

Our postal address is:

Computer Support tasmania
P.O. Box 1982
Launceston TAS 7250

All cheques and money orders should be made out to Computer Support Tasmania.