[Important Update] November 2023 Donations & Finances

[Cipher]

Hello everyone!

 

As always with these posts, I’d like to drop a quick reminder that there are more ways to support Homecoming than just through donations. For a general overview of the different ways you can help Homecoming, check out this thread.

 

---

 

Important Update

 

Beginning this month, we’re going to be increasing our contingency fund to cover a full month of our average operating expenses, or around $4,600. This number may change with our monthly expenses as we’re looking into consolidating some of our physical hosts to reduce our infrastructure costs, but for now this will cover our average/scheduled expenses +/- $10.

 

For those unaware, Homecoming has held $2,250 in a contingency fund month to month in order to cover unexpected expenses or overages. We have dipped into this fund a number of times over the past few years, and when this happens we usually just include the overage in the upcoming donation window to cover the difference and bring our balance back up to $2,250. This worked well when we were reaching our donation target within one or two days, but has started to become an issue as our donation windows go on longer. Using October as an example, we opened the donation window on Saturday, September 30th, then Google, Paperspace, AWS, and OVH billed us on Monday, October 2nd, before the donation target had been met. Fortunately in this case, our contingency fund did cover the difference until the donation window closed, but it’s clear that we need to make a change now and ensure that we’re covered for at least a full month going forward.

 

On a final note, it is worth mentioning that Homecoming’s accounts are set up to fall back to my personal account as a safety net. While this isn’t great for a number of reasons, it does ensure that we always have a fallback for disaster recovery and continuity.

 

---

Last Month: October 2023

 

Last month we accepted $4,984.78 in donations, $11.95 over our target for the month. As always, any additional funding remaining at the end of each month is put towards our operating expenses for the following month or additional expenses for the current month.

 

Here is the breakdown of our expenses in October:

• $4,416.99 for our hardware infrastructure from OVH
• $300.00 for our annual DocuSign renewal
  • The invoice for this will bill on November 1st
• $121.18 for our Google G-Suite services
• $87.26 to pay our legal counsel for work completed up to August 31st
  • Shown as Wise on our invoice, this is the service we used to facilitate the wire transfer
• $25.00 for our Air instance from Paperspace
• $19.78 for the AWS EC2 instance serving our email
• $9.73 for security / administration software (redacted)

 

 

---

This Month: November 2023

 

The donation target for November 2023 is $7,086.51. Here is a breakdown of how the funds are allocated:

• $2,350.00 towards the contingency fund (see above)
• $4,416.99 for our hardware infrastructure from OVH
• $137.76 for two domain renewals from NameCheap
• $121.57 for our Google G-Suite services
• $25.00 for our Air instance from Paperspace
• $19.25 for the AWS EC2 instance serving our email
• $9.73 for security / administration software (redacted)

---

 

Our donation system will be open as of the time of this post with a donation target of $7,086.51 and will automatically close once that target is met.

 

- The Homecoming Team

[Iconoclast]

Ouch

[Abraxus]

That's a lofty goal, compared to months past.  But, the reasons are understandable, and I don't mind doing my part every month.

[starro]

Good idea to have a contingency plan and a good idea to plan ahead.  Lofty goal, but happy to donate.

Edited October 29, 2023 by starro

[McCavity]

Makes perfect sense to plan ahead, rather than getting caught short after unexpected costs.

I hope folks are able to respond and donate a bit extra this month.   I know I will.   

 

[Fire Chief]

Well done HC I will do my part and donate now and in the coming weeks.

[Bionic_Flea]

About a third of the way to new, big goal one hour into the donation drive.  We got this!

 

Update: Sunday at 11:00am Eastern US time we are about 2/3rds!  All hands on deck!

Edited October 29, 2023 by Bionic_Flea

[Asacledhae]

As always, I'm here to contribute as well.

See you guys in-game. 😎

[Tacheyon]

Got to it this month!

[Sanguinesun]

To be pragmatic, this may be a signal to start tightening belts so to speak on the offerings of the game, such as starting to consider the number of servers being hosted or other things such as looking into other services that may provide same/better needs for maintaining the game.  The bulk of the costs are OVH, after all.  It may be an unpopular consideration but wants do not always equal reality in these situations and something more sustainable perhaps may need to be considered.

[GoldenAvariel]

I donated 3 month's worth since I missed the last two for work/being out of town. I also got on a couple of times and used the General channel to remind people. I was surprised one guy didn't even know this was a thing but he promised to do his part. I would be crushed if the game went away again.

[MoggieCanada]

53 minutes ago, Sanguinesun said:

To be pragmatic, this may be a signal to start tightening belts so to speak on the offerings of the game, such as starting to consider the number of servers being hosted or other things such as looking into other services that may provide same/better needs for maintaining the game.  The bulk of the costs are OVH, after all.  It may be an unpopular consideration but wants do not always equal reality in these situations and something more sustainable perhaps may need to be considered.

My understanding is that the servers are virtual rather than physical, so even running with Everlasting alone at the expense of other servers would not make a big difference. Correct me if I am wrong.

[TorontoSunshine]

5 minutes ago, MoggieCanada said:

My understanding is that the servers are virtual rather than physical, so even running with Everlasting alone at the expense of other servers would not make a big difference. Correct me if I am wrong.

No no, Everlasting is a "realm" not a server.

Once again I have donated to ensure a Rogue's work continues, especially when Desdemona needs her butt saved because she can't do anything right.

 

We also need to spread the word better about the donation window, maybe even open it a week earlier since people need more time to donate for financial reasons.

 

[Marine X]

Perhaps an option would be to start the Donation Process on the 2nd to last Saturday of each Month, giving a larger window to collect the necessary funds before bills would start coming due. It would also allow those with limited budgets 2 pay days from which to donate.

[TorontoSunshine]

3 hours ago, Marine X said:

Perhaps an option would be to start the Donation Process on the 2nd to last Saturday of each Month, giving a larger window to collect the necessary funds before bills would start coming due. It would also allow those with limited budgets 2 pay days from which to donate.

Agreed. I would donate more if I could have two paydays before the bill is due.

[Hardship]

I'm all for the idea of having a months worth of contingency funds. That way the donation window COULD go a full month if it needed to -- hopefully that will never be the case.

 

-H

[Murcielago]

In all the years of playing I am FINALLY able to donate because the window hasn't closed.

[Kinestron]

Donated. Thank you again, HC team.

[WanderingAries]

I just wish companies would be so transparent.

[ArtoriosRex]

Hmm, if everyone who plays who hasn't donated yet chipped in $1.50, we'd meet the goal easily!

[MoggieCanada]

Okay so I went into the D and let people know the Donation window was still open. Many were not aware the window was still open, thinking it was already closed because they saw no Admin message. Two players said they would donate after I told them.

This is just my humble redsider option so take it with a grain of salt but maybe a "sticky" message at logon might help put more coins in the piggy bank?

[ArtoriosRex]

53 minutes ago, MoggieCanada said:

This is just my humble redsider option so take it with a grain of salt but maybe a "sticky" message at logon might help put more coins in the piggy bank?

I suggested something similar last month. It really needs to be a MOTD until we're funded. 

[biostem]

Got mine in.  Thanks CoH:HC staff for all you do!

[MoggieCanada]

23 minutes ago, ArtoriosRex said:

I suggested something similar last month. It really needs to be a MOTD until we're funded. 

Great minds think alike and you are way ahead of the curve.
 

 

23 minutes ago, biostem said:

Got mine in.  Thanks CoH:HC staff for all you do!

Ty friend. Spread the word if you can. I told some more players just now in grandville.

[American Decoy]

YAY!  I made it to the donation party! 

 

(84% of the way there!)

Edited October 31, 2023 by American Decoy