September 2019 Donations & Finances

[Cipher]

Hey everyone!

 

It’s hard to believe that we’re four months into this already, yet here we are - still saving citizens, smashing Skuls, and arresting lots of well-dressed fire-breathing cosplayers atop a meteor.

 

It’s time to talk finances again. In case you aren’t aware, our donation window has moved from the first Saturday of the month to the last Saturday of the month in order to align better with our billing schedule.

 

In October and going forward we will have some additional charges; we have engaged both a games industry specialist attorney and non-profit specialist attorney to provide us with legal advice and handle some legalese. We will not be posting the invoices for their services in order to protect their identities, but we will be including their service fees in our donation windows after this month.

 

Finally, we wanted to go ahead and let you all know that we are looking into alternate hosting for better stability and support. While this is still likely a few months out, we wanted to go ahead and let the community know as this may significantly change our monthly operating costs compared to previous months which have been mostly static.

 

Now, here are the breakdowns for the past and upcoming month.

 

---

 

July Breakdown

Last month we accepted $4,897.06 in donations - $1,773.13 over our target (this happens when donations are processing or pending at the time that the system closes). The $1,773.13 will be going towards September’s upkeep, reducing the amount that we need to take in.

 

Here's what the funds from the July donation window went towards:

• $4,717.40 to OVH for our servers
• $96.00 to Google for our G-Suite account
• $10.00 to Atlassion for Jira Cloud (10-user)
• (New) $30.00 to 1&1 IONOS for domain / email service.

 

Here is a screenshot of our payments / expenses since the last donation window:

 

---

September Breakdown

After adding a 1&1 IONOS charge of $30.00 in July, our monthly expenses have settled in at $4,853.40. We do not have any planned additional expenses for September and our $1,250.00 contingency fund is still full. As we are currently $1,743.13 over from the July’s donations, this amount will be subtracted from our donation target for the month of September. All of this brings our September donation target to $3,110.27.

 

Here is an updated list of our recurring (monthly) expenses:

• $4,717.40 to OVH for our servers
• $96.00 to Google for our G-Suite account
• $10.00 to Atlassion for Jira Cloud (10-user)
• (New) $30.00 to 1&1 IONOS for domain / email service.

 

---

 

The donation system will be open as of the time of this post until our monthly target of $3,110.27 has been met, at which point the system will automatically close.

 

The donation goal for September has been hit and donations are now closed. Thank you!

 

Thank you all for your continued support! We know things have been a little slow lately, but rest assured that we’re still working on things :).

[Giocondi]

WOOO I got you bastards this time! Been trying to allude me for months! NOW YOU HAVE MY MONEY AND THERE IS NOTHING YOU CAN DO ABOUT IT.

 

<3333

Edited August 31, 2019 by Giocondi

[Abraxus]

...AND DONATED!!!

[Abraxus]

Just now, Giocondi said:

I don't see a link to donate! where do I go?

https://homecomingservers.com/donate/

[cinkidd]

Got my donation in today.  Thanks for all that you do.

 

Rich the Wish It Could Be More Guy

[Indystruck]

Just now, Giocondi said:

I don't see a link to donate! where do I go?

https://forums.homecomingservers.com/donate/

 

e: beaten.

Edited August 31, 2019 by Indystruck

[Yeoman]

1 minute ago, Giocondi said:

I don't see a link to donate! where do I go?

Me neither.  Where is the link?
 

EDIT Damn you guys are fast :)

Edited August 31, 2019 by Yeoman

[Kistulot]

Got one in! 🙂

 

It wasn't much given the cost, but to support this brilliant community-funded gaming endeavor, I had to chip in a month's sub.

 

Now I can joke "you didn't pay my donation" to people.

 

...I promise, I won't do that to people who aren't my friends. Probably.

[bluesteel1]

First donation within time frame achieved today!!! :)

[TraumaTrain]

Donated! I just made it in too!

 

Now back to my regularly scheduled content...

[Yeoman]

The donation goal was reached within 7 minutes of the post going up?

[Searinaux]

announced 6 minutes ago... already full and can't donate???

 

[stsai465]

Donated.

[Widower]

The official time for this month's donations is 3 minutes and 47.78 seconds. People like City of Heroes, apparently.

[Kinestron]

I was doing something else then looked over at the game, saw the announcement and thought I would make it this time. What was that like 3 minutes? Missed it again. ☹️

 

Well, thank you everyone that donated!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  As usual, the CoH community rocks! 👍

Edited August 31, 2019 by Kinestron

[Water]

Haha, I'm so chuffed that I was able to throw some $'s at you this month.

 

Thanks for all the effort you guys put in.

 

Edited August 31, 2019 by Water

[diemensionx]

mist it too. only just read the message, least we know a lot of us wanted to donate but haven't had the chance yet so the game is not in danger.

thanks all.

[mrultimate]

Yay! Finally got one in! Cannot thank you guys and gals enough for giving us our City back!

[TCUFROGS]

Won't let me donate, already full?! Can't believe the support of the player base! I love you all! I will attempt to donate next month!

[PaxArcana]

1 hour ago, Cipher said:

The donation goal for September has been hit and donations are now closed. Thank you!

... well, damn.  Here I was, all ready to open my wallet, and .... 😞 ah well.

 

🙂 HUGE THANKS to all the players who were quicker off the mark than I wasn't. 🙂 

[Asacledhae]

2 hours ago, GM Widower said:

The official time for this month's donations is 3 minutes and 47.78 seconds. People like City of Heroes, apparently.

Gee, I wonder what gave you that idea.... 😄

I wasn't quick this month though, but you won't get away the next one...

 

Huge appreciation for everyone who donated today, and for our Homecoming team who brought back our city.

Have a nice day.

[Wufftype]

I finally managed to donate! It wasn't a lot, but I wanted to give at least something!

 

Thank you for all you lot do! 🙂  I'm a VERY happy hero again. 

[natewest1987]

13 hours ago, Cipher said:

Hey everyone!

 

It’s hard to believe that we’re four months into this already, yet here we are - still saving citizens, smashing Skuls, and arresting lots of well-dressed fire-breathing cosplayers atop a meteor.

 

It’s time to talk finances again. In case you aren’t aware, our donation window has moved from the first Saturday of the month to the last Saturday of the month in order to align better with our billing schedule.

 

In October and going forward we will have some additional charges; we have engaged both a games industry specialist attorney and non-profit specialist attorney to provide us with legal advice and handle some legalese. We will not be posting the invoices for their services in order to protect their identities, but we will be including their service fees in our donation windows after this month.

 

Finally, we wanted to go ahead and let you all know that we are looking into alternate hosting for better stability and support. While this is still likely a few months out, we wanted to go ahead and let the community know as this may significantly change our monthly operating costs compared to previous months which have been mostly static.

 

Now, here are the breakdowns for the past and upcoming month.

 

---

 

July Breakdown

Last month we accepted $4,897.06 in donations - $1,773.13 over our target (this happens when donations are processing or pending at the time that the system closes). The $1,773.13 will be going towards September’s upkeep, reducing the amount that we need to take in.

 

Here's what the funds from the July donation window went towards:

• $4,717.40 to OVH for our servers
• $96.00 to Google for our G-Suite account
• $10.00 to Atlassion for Jira Cloud (10-user)
• (New) $30.00 to 1&1 IONOS for domain / email service.

 

Here is a screenshot of our payments / expenses since the last donation window:

 

---

September Breakdown

After adding a 1&1 IONOS charge of $30.00 in July, our monthly expenses have settled in at $4,853.40. We do not have any planned additional expenses for September and our $1,250.00 contingency fund is still full. As we are currently $1,743.13 over from the July’s donations, this amount will be subtracted from our donation target for the month of September. All of this brings our September donation target to $3,110.27.

 

Here is an updated list of our recurring (monthly) expenses:

• $4,717.40 to OVH for our servers
• $96.00 to Google for our G-Suite account
• $10.00 to Atlassion for Jira Cloud (10-user)
• (New) $30.00 to 1&1 IONOS for domain / email service.

 

---

 

The donation system will be open as of the time of this post until our monthly target of $3,110.27 has been met, at which point the system will automatically close.

 

The donation goal for September has been hit and donations are now closed. Thank you!

 

Thank you all for your continued support! We know things have been a little slow lately, but rest assured that we’re still working on things :).

Transparency is sexy AF 

[justicebeliever]

On 8/31/2019 at 11:02 AM, Cipher said:

In October and going forward we will have some additional charges; we have engaged both a games industry specialist attorney and non-profit specialist attorney to provide us with legal advice and handle some legalese. We will not be posting the invoices for their services in order to protect their identities, but we will be including their service fees in our donation windows after this month.

@CipherI’ll waste my time again and ask this question, especially since you are asking us, the community, to pay these fees:

 

What is the non-profit shaping up to look like?  Give us an idea - 501(c)(3)?  Something different?  Will the board members names be made public?  Will we be supporting a charitable cause?  

 

You can obfuscate the letterhead and still post the invoices for the attorneys...

 

It’s not really transparency if the answer is wait and see, and trust us.  And if that’s the answer, then I’ll just wait again until next month to ask.  

 

I appreciate the work you guys are doing, but as you are moving from hobbyist to something more legitimate, I think it’s fair to expect you to show more of your cards...

[ArtoriosRex]

I know jack-all about running a non-profit... but I'm wondering if it would be possible to set up an interest-bearing account (like certificates of deposit or something), allow anyone to donate any amount at any time, and have anything not earmarked for the month's maintenance goes into said account. That gives us free(?) interest income, and slakes the maddening thirst that the players have for donating (yet, like me, are shut-out on a monthly basis).