Campaign update: two weeks in
Tomorrow marks two weeks since we kicked off our crowdfunding campaign, and we’ve got lots of exciting developments to share with you.
Firstly, we know you’re all dying to find out how much we’ve raised so far. And we’re going to tell you, but it’s… not quite that simple, so we want to explain first.
Blended totals and fuzzy maths
Our supporters — WikiTributors, if you will — can either make a one-off donation, or sign up for a subscription. Either one can be for any amount they choose, and subscriptions can be monthly, quarterly or annual.
Because of that, it’s kind of difficult to tell you how much we’ve ‘raised,’ because a lot of it’s based on the subscription fees we’ll get in over the next year. We know we’re getting a whole cake eventually, but so far we’ve only got the first slice.
OK — how big is that slice?
Up to now, we’ve raised an incredible…
$181,265
(converted to US Dollars for convenience).
If you’re wondering how that compares to the progress bar on the website, wonder no more.
Our website total — calculated by some near-geniuses who kindly agreed to advise us — is based on a blended average of one-offs and subscriptions, mixed with our projections for how much we’ll need to spend on salaries and overheads. It’s taken from real figures for other businesses, average salaries for various levels of journalists, estimated tech costs, that kind of thing. We’ve set the number conservatively so that we are sure we aren’t overpromising.
But while you can read the MPG rating for a new car, you don’t know exactly how much your petrol’s going to cost until you’ve been commuting in it for a while — and that’s where we are. It’s a (very) educated guess.
So what can you tell me?
Lots!
Firstly, we’ve smashed our subscription target. Based on similar projects, we were advised that 95% of our contributions would be one-offs, and 5% would be ongoing subscriptions.
Well, we’re very happy to have been very wrong. Nearly 50% of our contributors have committed to funding us on an ongoing basis. That’s about 5,000 people who know good journalism needs to be sustainable. We’re not trying to fund a big launch party and a fancy office here: we’re building a long-term, transparent model that we hope will keep you informed for decades to come. We really appreciate your support.
Secondly, we hired our first journalist and we’re well on our way to hiring more. Interviews are happening right now, and according to that fuzzy maths we mentioned, there’s already enough in the projected piggybank to hire another four. We’re aiming to spend around half of our total on salaries, and the other half on tech and overheads, but that might need to change depending on how the project progresses.
Lastly, we’re approaching a major milestone: 10,000 supporters. Right now, we’re in the high 9000s, and every single one counts. If you believe in the value of journalism, if you want to be a founding member of something important, if you want to fight fake news, please join us.
