Just One Look Forum Archives

I have an idea for increasing monthly donations. Instead of asking for a monthly donation, give it a title like a 'membership' or 'supporting member' in the manner of NPR or other non-profit organizations. Give some perks... Everyone likes to get something tangible for their donations (not that the work you do isn't tangible). Five dollar a month members might get a hat or t-shirt. Ten dollar a month might get a mug. Fifteen or twenty a month will get you a copy of John's upcoming book or a little owl necklace or pin.....a box set of 'classic' retreat talks, etc. Members might get some perks around the website, less moderation on the forums, their name on a members list.

I don't know the psychology of this, but I give larger one-off donations every several months and for some reason resist the idea of signing up for monthly donations, but if it was a membership and I get a t-shirt I would be in. Seems silly, but it might work.

What do the rest of you think?

Definitely! More perks could be a flair saying "monthly donor" under the portrait in the forums. Or perhaps monthly donors get emailed a download link of the video recording after each online meeting for free.

It's a good idea, but the maybe the perks should be handled by volunteers, so Carla and John won't have even more on their plate!

hi, I just made a donation because I really like that John and Carla focus on the practical benefits of inward looking in everyday life. I like that so called spiritual experiences and theory are not the main event and that talk about recovery seems to be welcome and not put down as story.

my first comment didn't show up last year, maybe I hadn't read the rules thoroughly. I am back again as I like the down to earth practicality here and have seen recovery in the last year in my life and am not searching for spiritual experiences. I am not committing to monthly donations yet as I don't know how moderation is going to work for me.

It's beautiful that John and Carla are doing this work and not charging exorbitant prices, making it accessible to all.

I love their honesty and openness about this process and when i read the rules today with the ban on theory and spiritual comparison etc I had such a big smile John, rebellion, maybe it's just what's needed.

whether or not this place is for me time will tell. Best wishes and thank you either way.

Dear Amanda, welcome! We're really glad that you're here and we look forward to reading about your experiences related to Just One Look.

Regarding a previous post of yours: I looked at your account and searched the forum archives but I could find no posting from you other than the one you made today. Maybe you did not submit the posting. That happens sometimes...

I agree Jackx, I think there is something, psychologically, to doing things like that. I guess that's why a good amount of non-profit organizations do offer something like that.

This is a good idea, and I just came from the IRS website, and confirmed that what is called "quid pro quo contribution" from a donor that has a value of less than $75 does not have to be reported on our IRS reports.

This means that we could do something in the forums like the badge you suggested, and even a free ebook or recording or other small thing to be sent automatically when the donation is captured.

But implementing it in forums with badges or anything else is a problem because there is no direct way to identify the donors in the forums since forum members do not use their real names as usernames.

Maybe it could be up to the forum users to give their user name when making the pledge (or at any time after) to get their badge. This could be communicated to users/donors in a sticky thread on forum and on the relevant product descriptions in the web store, maybe elsewhere too, like the thank you email.

We are now developing a forum subscription structure and it will be available soon.