Re: financial support according to The Lilypond Report #24

[David Kastrup]

Marek Klein <address@hidden> writes:

> Hi David,
> I am willing to support the development of LilyPond financially with
> small amount of money regularly.
> I am not sure I understand your payment plans. For example (quoting
> from http://news.lilynet.net/?The-LilyPond-Report-24):
>
>     * [Lifesaver] Minimum €0, cap €250 per month, monthly target €800.
>       That means that if the target (which basically allows me to
>       postpone my decision to work elsewhere) is reached with
>       everybody’s minimum already, you are not billed. This is the
>       option to pick if you don’t want to support a single person as
>       much as keep the LilyPond project from losing me. You do what is
>       necessary to avoid my leaving, but nothing else. Yes, it will be
>       annoying if it turns out you have to pay the cap more than once,
>       but it will also be annoying for me not even to afford survival
>       in spite of highly qualified work.
>
> Does it mean, that people should express their interest to "keep the
> LilyPond project from losing you"

Well, the means of expression required here is rather blandly money.

> and you will let them know according to the number of payers how much
> should everyone each particular month pay?

That's it more or less, except that I tell people on the first each
month how much they _overpayed_ last month according to the payments
that got in, so that they can subtract that from next month's payment.

For one thing, I have no way to know in advance how many spontaneous
payments will arrive.  For another, it turns out that it is hard to
guess how many people will actually stick to their promises (I don't
quite get the point in announcing support, exchanging mails and phone
calls and getting the required banking data, then dropping off the face
of the Earth, but yes, it happens more often than I understand), and of
course I have no standing to make them.

So if you are opting for "Lifesaver", you pay €250 on the first month
(unless the total carryover from last month already exceeds €800, in
which case you get "into the program" for free until it doesn't).
Whatever is not used up in the first month due to other people
contributing to the goal of €800 is carried over into the next month, so
you'll have to pay less.

Of course, right now it does not look all that likely that there will be
much of a carryover.  In March, there have been some one-time payments
already due to the article, and there will probably be a few more.  I
have not ruled out yet that March could indeed be good for €800.  But as
monthly payments, I have so far secured €100, and I consider it likely
that the one-time payments will drop off again in the next months.  So
if you want to commit to a regular plan, you should realistically pick a
cap that you can sustain for more than just a few months: larger
one-time payments are nice, but smaller sustainable payments tend to add
up in the long run, and _feel_ like they are less of an effort, so they
are more likely to continue.

Does that answer your question?

Thanks

-- 
David Kastrup