I would like to hear some other people's ideas, too. Individual donations aren't what Max needs, I think. Fund drives are fine now and then, but what Max needs is guaranteed income. Otherwise, every month will become a fund drive, with some folks feeling satisfied because of the amount they can give, and others feeling guilty because they don't have much.

I'd like to see people try to come up with more ideas. (Of course, I'd also like to have won the lottery or find out a rich aunt has died and left me a couple mil.)

I don't want us to end up welcoming new members and saying "Welcome to Mudcat, a fine, friendly, folky forum where social status doesn't matter - only our love of music. Now please click the fish and give us some money."

So far Max's funding has mostly come from Onstage, which is also in trouble. On the radio, he joked about how much money he would need to run Mudcat from his apartment if Onstage went belly up. It's not funny that the situation has become this scary without us knowing there was a problem.

Max, if you need any long-distance part-time elves for OnStage with only moderate HTML skills, I volunteer. I'm afraid I won't make the board meetings, though.

Ideas - how Max can have a guaranteed monthly income:
Individuals giving him money. People must have money and must be willing to give it.
Grants. Somebody has to write them. I would guess Max puts in a 16 hour day at work already,
Businesses giving him money.
--Maybe hit up folkie organiziations and business. Won't be a lot of money, because even the organizations don't have it.
--Bigger business. Maybe they'll donate money for a link. Maybe they'll want banner ads.
Do something that will generate montyly income - this is where the possibilities lie, but is also where there's work involved.
--Sell something. Requires donated (at least partially) items.
--Provide a service. There are things we could volunteer for. We have an amazing pool of talent here. We can write web pages, create databases, paint, draw, sculpt, pot, cook, transcribe music, play, sing, make jewelery, write...etc.

I don't know how to make those things translate to money. The auction hasn't been too good for this - people sell the things they create rather than their skills.

Ideas?