Topic: Donations to keep this distro going

[mercyh]

Hi,

I think it is time to once again open a topic about donations. The old "Time to Pitch in for SME 8.0" thread seems to have died.

I have been thinking about the status of this project. We current have 3 core developers. 3 Quality and Testing team members and a bunch of Documentation team members. There are various levels of users on this forum from hobbyists and home users, Small businesses and larger Corporations. There are IT professional consultants who have many SME's installed and are charging a monthly maintenance fee.

All this adds up to 16,750 installs per http://smolt.contribs.org/stats.html. It would seem like a minimum donation of $5 per install would be in reach for most users, even the hobbyists should be able to swing this. It is cheap if only for the education that can be received from the forum. And the opportunity to get your feet wet with an open source server solution.

I would suggest that at the Business and Corporate level a $50 - $100 donation per installed server would be very doable. (I have seen some very sizable IT budgets in some pretty small companies  ).

I would suggest from the IT consultant level that $25 added to the cost of a client's server is not going to drive away very many customers. I realize that many of you although not core developers have developed contributions that very much enhance the base distro and for this reason feel that your donations could be somewhat reduced if you are such a contributor.

Almost any software package has some charge for new versions, with SME 8.0 in process I think this is a good time to polish off the conscience and consider helping this distribution go forward.

If you have read clear to here, congratulations. Here is your link to do what you know is right.

http://www.smeserver.org/donate

[Elliott]

We've been running since early versions of 5.x in testing and production. We only really use it as an email server now but I convinced the boss to donate $100. Hope it helps.

[mercyh]

Great, Your kind of posts do much more good then mine. 

[qvindesland]

Hello list,

I agree this distro is really useful and it would be such a shame if it would get lost due to financial issues, I have just started as a IT Manager for a new larger company here in Europe so I will be looking at using SME server on some of the smaller branches, sadly I can not use SME on the larger server frame due to it's template system.

For now I am busy setting up a second mirror for SME that I hope to have up and running in a few weeks here in Sweden.

Regards
Per Qvindesland

[frederikbay]

Just installed on a Intel SS4200-E Entry level storage for a client (server-only), worked like a charm 

So guess it was time for another donation, here's my $100.

-Frederik

[smeerbartje]

Just donated 10 USD.... I'm just a student, so bear with me . Just love SME server!

[rick1908]

You got me for $50 this time (I have given so much more to crappy share ware and thouands more to M$)....I would sign up for $5-10 reoccurring each month. I'll try and figure that out with paypal.

[brianr]

ok, time for another $100 from me....

[Stefano]

You got me for $50 this time (I have given so much more to crappy share ware and thouands more to M$)....I would sign up for $5-10 reoccurring each month. I'll try and figure that out with paypal.

Hi.. I'm interested too in reoccurring payments each month.. as far as I can see here https://www.paypal.com/us/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=p/xcl/rec/subscr-intro-outside it's not something you and me can do.. it's something that has to be enabled by the "seller"..

My 2c

Stefano

[Paspv]

We also made a donation (100 euro = $140) to keep this going. We are very happy with SME server, it works great. We have everything we need, so big thanks for everybody!

[blackbird098]

I'm proud to say that I've just made my second donation....I to have been using SME since 5.x and it's been a champ.....I'd like to extend many thanks to all of those people that keep this going, with any luck I'll have a little more to donate soon until then thanks a ton.

[slicknic]

I have been using this distribution for several years now and am happy to donate again.

Nick

[pabby_s]

Hi,

Donation for this product, this is good. I am new to this but this product is great. My side as starter $10 hope this doesn't offends

[gbgowdy]

I too have benefitted from this distro.  Count me in for $100.00  Again thanks to everyone involved in the support and development of SME

[mercyh]

There is now an option in your profile called "Paid Subscriptions" that allows you to set up a recurring donation.

[compsos]

This may seem like a strange question, but if someone knows the answer that would be great.

We are thinking of making a donation for this year but as the last one we made last year was never acknowledged. We were not sure if it got to where it was intended.

If someone knows the status of the financial system behind the organisation and can confirm receipting systems are in place we are more than happy to put the transaction through.

[cactus]

This may seem like a strange question, but if someone knows the answer that would be great.

We are thinking of making a donation for this year but as the last one we made last year was never acknowledged. We were not sure if it got to where it was intended.

If someone knows the status of the financial system behind the organisation and can confirm receipting systems are in place we are more than happy to put the transaction through.

There has been a lively discussion on this in the devinfo and discussion mailing lists (archives can be found here: http://lists.contribs.org/mailman/listinfo/). If you want to be sure your donation of last year was received try and contact Garett, his address is listed on the discussion mailing list AFAIK.

The new donation system works through the forums, using paypal IIRC and AFAIK it should be listed in your paypal account so I think a new donation could be confirmed like that.

[compsos]

Thanks Cactus
The donation screen is preconfigured for select amounts. We are looking at making a one off payment for the year. Is there another way of doing it?
And do you know who is now collecting (responsible) the money etc?

[cactus]

Thanks Cactus
The donation screen is preconfigured for select amounts. We are looking at making a one off payment for the year. Is there another way of doing it?
And do you know who is now collecting (responsible) the money etc?

Your best bet is to contact admin AT contribs DOT org.

[stephen noble]

The wiki home page has a prominant link to another donate page,
here you just enter an amount of your choice

[dmcguire]

I've subscribed for $30, hope that helps a bit. Henceforth I'll add €50 to any install I do for an SME and donate that amount. There's a lot going for this distro, I'd hate to see it melt into the ether. Thanks to all of the developers, contributors, doc team and everyone involved for all of your hard work.

[shawnbishop]

Made my Donation...great Distro..didnt know only 3 people working on it??, well done

[johnp]

Now that wasn't too hard. Making donations is so easy via the paypal links. 

Thanks to all those involved in the support and development of this project.

[stephdl]

i just want to say to people  : don't forget to give some money to help the sme project

[larieu]

10$ for this month

keep this distribution alive

[bloodshoteye]

SME is doing an outstanding job at a senior school (Edgemead High) in SA. They happily donated $100 today.
Thanks to the devs for a super reliable distro.

cheers,

[bcliburn]

I mainly use SME for a firewall and internet filter to keep my kids out of stuff they shouldn't be into.  I signed up for the $5 a month. 
And thanks to all of you for such a great server and community!

[stephdl]

5$ this month....and you....