Since AIE first set up a member database and a wiki in 2007, the expenses of the guild have been paid out-of-pocket by the officers. As we continue to expand the AIE footprint and bridge the gaps between game universes, we feel that we need to pay off the hosting and network service expenses that we’ve incurred up to this point. At the same time, we are looking forward at the resources we will need during the next year and have decided to hold a fundraiser to allow us to meet the communication needs of the guild.
And so, we introduce the 2013 Alea Iacta Est Fundraising Drive.
It would be extremely difficult, if not impossible, to estimate how much has been provided in time and effort towards building the community and infrastructure we have today. However, we do know what our costs for the hosting and network resources have been up until now.
Just under half of our fundraising goal is intended to cover the costs of improvements to the services we have now.
- Moving the UMAMI and AIE Wiki databases away from shared servers to improve performance and availability.
- Increase the percentage of our services on dedicated hosts.
- Improved VoIP communications.
The goal may seem a bit on the high side, but we feel the needs are clear and the amount translates to approximately $2.60 for each member who has used UMAMI in the past 90 days or $0.85 for each member who has used UMAMI in the past year.
Again, the details of the real geld revenue for the guild operations are available as a Google Spreadsheet.