A number of people have contacted us over the last few weeks wondering if they could chip in a few quid to help us fund our work… now they can. See: Paypal donate button, on your right.
Now, as those who have read our prior posts will know, we’re always harping on about transparency and the wisdom of The Crowd. However, at the minute we’re unsure as to how to set up our donations system in the most transparent, but practical, way possible.
At present the donate button is linked to Gavin’s PayPal acount (to which I also now have access), that’s a temporary measure, we plan to open a joint account specifically for TheStory donations. When we get that sorted here’s what I’m suggesting: We publish details – monetary amounts, name of donor, general location – in a post at the end of each month.
Then, we will receipt spending and publish it all here. These would essentially be our receipts, made public when the story is complete or gone stale… FOI, Land Registry, CRO and all other government documents would be included…
Gavin wonders if people will be comfortable having their names listed as donors – I said if they can provide a solid reason why their name should not be published, we’ll accept that but names should be published by default perhaps.
Any alternative suggestions?
FYI: Circa €250 has already been spent on FOIs etc in the last three weeks, would people agree that this would be covered? Opinions wanted. No profit will be made from this, all time, travel expenses and communication costs etc will be taken from our own pockets.
I don’t think there’s the need for publishing donor’s names. I think this will discourage people. You’re not a democratically elected body, you’re doing this off your own bat and I think private individuals would be more comfortable donating without their names being revealed. If it gets to the point that there’s potentially compromising donations arriving that could lead to accusations of conflicts of interest, that would be the time to review it. If you’re getting donations it’s because people trust you, and I personally don’t care if you’re buying toilet paper with my donation as you’ve both been donating from your own pockets for long enough. Now, what can you do about this bit of land I need rezoning?
I have to admit that I would only make a donation if it was anonymous.
This is mainly because of my job, which is gov related and well this might be a problem at some later point.
I WAS LISTENING TO A COMMENTATOR TODAY STATING THAT THE 1.5% INTEREST CHARGED BY THE E.C.B. BANK IS NOT A FIXED CHARGE AND CAN INCREASE. WILL SOMEONE OUT THERE RAISE THIS ISSUE? WE ARE DEALING WITH BILLIONS . NOW THIS IS A DEFINITIVE REASON WHY NAMA MUST BE STOPPED.
Idea: On the subject of donations, maybe you could set up a real time stlye clock, when a donation is made it is immediately calculated and shown to the Irish Public – also every amount spent the receipt could then be shown as proof and keep any future scare mongering black propaganda questions at bay. A lot of people are scared to be named as mentioned above – that is completely understandable because people are definitely sounded out and challenged in unspeakable ways when they try and choose another alternative for transparency. This is the way this corrupt state use there military might to stump any challenge. So you dont really need to publish names – just publish each amount donated – date, time and amount – the people themselves will know which ones is theirs so if there was any underhandedness there is always the prospect of a challenge after all they will have a receipt of such a donation. Keep the fund public and in real time – keep the spending public and in real time – give daily updates of spending i.e. how money will be spent and on what – the rest really is all about Trust – so far you have done great work and have the trust – for my donation which I will definitely donate regularly I would like to see updates because information and knowledge gives the people back the power – VOTS will research this real time donation area for you much as can be research in terms of the technology available, it might just be a simple piece of software needed to be added to your site and hey presto problem solved. Another suggestion Mark maybe you being a journalist and your friends, why not produce a freelance style online newspaper in a PDF format that can be read on line or printed in hardcopy – give the people the choice of method to read same – maybe call it The Story – then ask for donations or charge a fee to read/print after all we are buying papers everyday – this is an interesting subject so people who like to read something about all this are now, not admiting to donating to what THE ONE PARTY STATE mongerals refer to as an activist the donators are purchasing a product….just an idea
I suggest that you run another site called “your story” this could be a kind of public private site, where the public could be advised on getting information from the departments for a fee. The basis of the site is that one story leads to another? And everybody has that 600,000 dollar question?
publishing names of donors is a problem for some,not for others.
Those of us who despise this government and are not involved in commerce with a cross section of the public-for example would have no problem.However an accountant whose customers come from a wide cross section of society might not wish to publicly air his politics.Presumably such a person seeking openness and transparency in politics and government would be presumed (whether or not he is) to be an enemy of the “Fianna Fail” ,as much of their skullduggery depends -and thrives- upon secrecy.