Are you a "supporter/fan" of Joomla?
Would you like a simple and easy way to show your support?
How about joining a "Joomla Supporters Club".
Last week I wrote about "How much Joomla cost?" and suggested several ways that Joomla could, in my opinion, do more than it currently does, but that they all required extra funding.
I also pointed out that as it currently stands Joomla is dependent on google for virtually all of its income and that is not an income stream that is likely to rise drastically. In fact it could of course even disappear completely and anyone in business will tell you that it is never a good idea to rely on a single source of income.
So I would like to propose a new income stream for Joomla -
The Joomla Supporters Club.
The Supporters Club conveys no rights or privileges and is merely a way for individuals, web sites and companies to support joomla and to receive acknowledgment for their support.
I propose three types of Supporters. These are not hierarchical levels they are just different types, no type is better than the other etc.
Individual Supporter/Fan
- Who is it for? Private individuals
- What do you get? Listing in the Supporters Club and the right to add the words "Joomla Supporter No. 123456" in a forum signature.
- How much does it cost? $10 per annum
Web Site Supporter/Fan
- Who is it for? An individual web site e.g. www.example.com
- What do you get? Listing in the Supporters Club and the right to add a banner with a logo and the words "Joomla Web Site Supporter No. 123456" on a single web site
- How much does it cost? $50 per annum
Group Web Site Supporter/Fan
- Who is it for? A group of up to 5 web sites operated by the same person/company e.g. http://www.example.com and http://www.example2.com
- What do you get? Listing in the Supporters Club and the right to add a banner with a logo and the words "Joomla Group Web Site Supporter No. 123456" on up to 5 designated web sites
- How much does it cost? $200 per annum
For the Supporters Club concept to work I believe that it would require several things
- A public listing of all Supporters e.g. http://supporters.joomla.org (SJO)
- The banner for each Supporter links back to the SJO site for verification. An example of this process can be seen in operation at http://100.newzealand.co.nz/
- A public and transparent reporting of the revenue received from the Supporters Club and the "planned" expenditure for this income.
By calling it a Supporters Club and not a donation I do not believe there would be any issue with US charity tax laws.
By calling it a Supporters Club and not a membership I do not believe that there would be any implied rights or privileges.
The $ amounts above are just suggestions and are priced at a level to take into account the different earning levels across the globe.
[Please note that the "Supporters Cub" does not preclude Joomla/OSM from operating a higher revenue "Sponsorship" scheme]
