Date: Sun, 28 Jan 1996 23:19:30 -0800 From: Roger B.A. Klorese Subject: Donation Drive Update and Continuing Appeal This is an update on our fundraising drive. I have more details of our upgrade plans and approximate implementation schedule, plus a status report and an additional application of guilt. ;-) If you're new to QueerNet's lists, you will probably wish to read the background section, Part I, to get an idea of what's going on. If you were around since the beginning of this appeal last November, you can skip to Part II. Check out the list of lists, though -- we've added two more lists (and a digest), with more on the way. And we're up by almost 1,000 subscriptions since November, too. I. BACKGROUND I started QueerNet in early 1991, so it's about to celebrate its fifth birthday. My goal was simple: to provide a site (originally UUCP, but for the last three years, connected to the Internet) dedicated to providing gay/lesbian/bisexual/transgendered/queer folk and their friends with general and specialized information. Our services are mainly mailing lists. I felt then, and feel now, that ability to pay should not keep anyone from access to information, which is why access to QueerNet information doesn't cost you anything, other than your network costs. I am the sole operator/administrator of the system, and also manage a few of the mailing lists; others are managed by a small dedicated troupe of associates. At the beginning of 1994, QueerNet hosted four mailing lists, with about 2500 subscriptions; we now serve just under 11,000 subscriptions total on the following lists (with more coming), to at least one of which you subscribe: align Newsletter of the GLB Ally Program at Carleton U. apanet Subjects of concern to queer Asian-Pacific-Americans avengers A worldwide networking tool of the Lesbian Avengers avengers-digest Digest format of "avengers" ba-cyberdykes SF Bay Area lesbian/bi chat for self-identified dykes ba-cyberdykes-digest Digest format of "ba-cyberdykes" bears-digest News and discussion for "bears" and their admirers boychicks Butch identity and gender issues for queer women caregivers Support for caregivers of people with AIDS/HIV cdcsumms Centers for Disease Control daily AIDS summary cs Cigar Studs members & Hot Ash news dq-announce Digital Queers announcements dqsf-announce Digital Queers/SF announcement list dqsf-members Digital Queers/SF members-only discussion list dqsf-steering Digital Queers/San Francisco - Steering Committee egale Canadian Gay/Lesbian/Bisexual/etc. news and discussion esteem Gay and Bi Men's Self-esteem Project euro-queer European Gay/Lesbian/Bisexual/etc. news and discussion euro-queer-digest Digest format of "euro-queer" euro-queer-studies European queer studies researchers and students faerie Radical Faeries mailing list faerie-digest Digest format of "faerie" femmedykes Femme identity, femme support for queer women fl-motss Florida g/l/b/t news, discussion, etc. gaynet Gay/Lesbian/Bisexual/etc. news and discussion gaynet-digest Digest format of "gaynet" gl-asb Discussion of same-sex bondage and S&M interactions gl-asb-digest Digest format of "gl-asb" kenslist l/g/b political/academic info forwarded by Ken Sherrill kinky-girls Discussion list for women who do S/M with other women lesac-net Networking for lesbians in academia (women only) lesac-net-digest Digest format of "lesac-net" lesbian-studies Lesbian studies academic discussion list (women only) odd-girls private lesbian chat list (currently closed) primitives Modern Primitives (piercing, tattooing, ritual, shamanism, etc.) primitives-digest Digest format of "primitives" qn Queer Nation and other in-your-face queer activism rainbowraven Newsletter of the GLB Centre at Carleton University ring-list Information list for The Ring (Bay Area Men's S&M seminars) rubifruit Bi-positive/bi-friendly women (women only) rubifruit-digest Digest format of "rubifruit" somethingelse Butches, FTMs: identity, passing, transitioning, etc. QueerNet is funded from two sources. Until now, I have paid for the operating costs (network connection, phone lines, etc.) myself. I also paid for the original system. Additional hardware has been purchased using funds raised by soliciting donations from QueerNet list subscribers. We've held two fund drives; the first, in late 1993, provided funds for a new system and operating system, while the second, in early 1995, replaced our disk drives and modems, as well as funding a new backup drive. II. UPGRADE PROPOSAL Once again, we're at a point where we need to consider expanding our capabilities: - to increase network bandwidth for more timely delivery - to provide web pages for community not-for-profits - to upgrade the mail server (This section contains some technical detail, which you may or may not find interesting; it should, however, give you some insight into what it really costs to keep this going.) IIa. NETWORK I currently pay about $205 out-of-pocket per month to keep QueerNet on the air. This is allocated as follows: - dedicated full-time 28.8k SLIP & domain service $145 - outbound phone line for SLIP connection 12 - outbound phone line for UUCP connections 12 - inbound phone lines for local admin access 36 --- $205 Exploring the options available to us for a lower-latency, higher-speed full-time connection, the options available to us point to implementation of a Frame Relay 56KB connection; this has twice the top speed of our SLIP connection, with much lower latency. With this connection, we have three options for guaranteed rate: 19.2KB, 38.4KB, and 56KB. The plan is to start at the lowest, and work up as we see our bandwidth used. Costs under this plan would be: 19.2 38.4 56KB ---- ---- ---- - Pacific Bell Frame Relay port $ 75 $ 75 $ 75 - Pacific Bell Frame Relay access $ 50 $ 50 $ 50 - Internet provider fee 90 180 285 - outbound phone for UUCP 12 12 12 - inbound lines 36 36 36 ==== ==== ==== 263 353 458 Startup costs would total $375 (for the port) plus $630 (for the access), or $1,005, to Pacific Bell. Additional startup costs would require the purchase of a router and CSU/DSU (sort of a dedicated-line modem), plus $150 configuration charge. But our ISP has donated a router and CSU/DSU, with a discounted street price of over $2,000! (It's so nice dealing with a queer-managed group...) People have suggested use of ISDN for this connection. To be frank, the experiences of most people I know with long-running ISDN connections has not been stellar, and the proposed Pac Bell tariffs for ISDN make it no better a deal, and in some ways worse, than Frame Relay for a full-time connection. While the increased bandwidth would allow us to provide additional services, I must stress that we can't get by on what we have -- we MUST upgrade. IIb. SERVER The increased network capacity will allow us to deliver list mail more quickly, as well as beginning to support web services. However, this also requires more server horsepower. Our current server, bought in the 1993 pledge drive, is a generic 486DX2/66MHz system purchased from a reputable local dealer, and held together by my own efforts. I've since upgraded the motherboard out-of-pocket, to increase its memory capacity. We occasionally have peak periods where the system is simply not up to the load of 55,000 mail deliveries a day. And that load will climb as we add users and lists, web pages, and a few tricks for accelerating mail delivery. I'd like to put in place a system that will support multiple times the load of the current system. Through a friend's employee discount, we are about to order a 166MHz Pentium server; this should provide us with 3 to 5 times the processing power of the current system, on average. The expected cost of this system is between $2900 and $3200, including three years' on-site service. (Did I mention that I really don't want to play PC technician any more either?) The current system would be turned over to our benefactor at the Community of Saint Matthew, to support document preparation and web publishing for the AIDS Info BBS, and for the Caregivers and CDCSumms lists. Oh, yes: we still need a high-speed high-capacity tape drive, for about $700. IIc. TOTAL COSTS A quick bit of addition, then, indicates that for us to keep running the new resources for two years would require: $3000 server $ 700 backup tape drive $1005 Frame Relay startup $ 150 ISP startup $3600 PacBell monthly -- Frame Relay $1152 PacBell monthly -- phones ===== $9607 ...plus... $2160 $4320 $6840 19.2KB, 38.4KB, 56KB rate ISP service ===== ===== ===== 11767 13927 16447 Of course, we don't NEED to fund the project for two years at once. But this gives us a chance to get more infrastructure, additional support, and other funding sources (NOT including advertising) in place. III. WHAT YOU CAN DO A little quick math would show you that if we were to receive $2 for every subscription, we would have enough money to pay for even the full 56KB option for two years. If we had more, we'd be able to meet costs for several years (heading off a few more of these beg-a-thons), plus allow us to keep our equipment and services growing with the requirements the interesting times ahead will impose. Of course, some of you can afford to give more, and many of you can't afford to give that much at all. Of course, I understand. But if you can give *anything* I urge you to do so, not only for the financial support, but as an indication of moral support for the continuation of this resource. After all, the commercial providers have nothing at stake, no particular reason to make sure our information continues to be available as times get tough. If you've ever learned anything, gotten support, laughed, or otherwise gained at something you saw on a QueerNet list, please give. IV. HOW YOU CAN GIVE There are now three ways you can donate to QueerNet's funding: * You can make out checks or money orders to me, Roger B.A. Klorese, and send them to the address below. (Please pay in US funds; we pay a significant charge to convert or deposit foreign currencies.) * If you wish your contribution to be tax-deductible in the US, you may make it out to The Community of Saint Matthew CoSM is incorporated as a 501(c)(3) spiritual/educational organization. It operates the AIDS Info BBS here in San Francisco, as well as Feydish (the Radical Faerie BBS); its aegis was used to purchase the land for the Radical Faerie sanctuary in Wolf Creek, Oregon, as well as helping other community activities here in San Francisco. Its proprietor, Ben Gardiner, is an inspiration and a great assistance to me, as well as the list manager of the "caregivers" and "cdcsumms" lists. * Donations may also be made using MasterCard and Visa cards (as well as their world-wide equivalents). You can mail me a note at the address below, giving: - your name as it appears on the card - the card number - the expiration date - the amount Donations made in this fashion can be tax-deductible, *if* you enclose a note that you would like a receipt. * Also, please consider if your company has a matching program, and if The Community of Saint Matthew would be an eligible recipient for their matching funds. V. WHERE SHOULD I SEND IT? Mail donations to: QueerNet Roger B.A. Klorese 2215-R Market Street #576 San Francisco, CA 94114 Also, drop me a mail message at: donate@queernet.org And let me know how much you're sending. VI. RESULTS SO FAR I'm afraid my reaction to our response so far is mixed. We've raised $5549, which is more than we've raised in each of the previous two years. But, as you can see from the goals above, it's not nearly enough. And one statistic worries me even more. While we've received more money so far, it has been from fewer donors. In fact, while last year's drive brought us 183 donations from approximately 5000 people (one donation per 27 subscribers, or 3.7%) and approximately 6600 subsciptions (one donation per 36 subscriptions, or 2.8%), this year has brought us 167 donations from approximately 9500 people (one donation per 57 subscribers, or 1.8%) and approximately 11000 subscriptions (one donation per 66 subscriptions, or 1.5%). When I hear our public radio pledge breaks talking about how only one in eight listeners subscribe, I'm disheartened. Imagine how these statistics make me feel. I realize it's difficult for many of you to give a lot of money. And for those of you outside the US, getting American currency can be costly and difficult. (The credit card option, though, should help.) But to keep going, we need the support of our subscribers. Your Internet service provider, BBS, or on-line service payment simply doesn't pay for the information we carry. We need your help. I can't do this without you. --- ROGER B.A. KLORESE rogerk@QueerNet.ORG 2215-R Market Street #576 San Francisco, CA 94114 +1 415 ALL-ARFF "There is only one real blasphemy: the refusal of joy." -- Paul Rudnick