A jar full of fail: Why tipping and donations don't work on the Internet
1–10 of 61 posts
Re: A jar full of fail: Why tipping and donations don't work on the Internet
#2A counterexample is Causes on Facebook, a for-profit entity which utilizes social pressure to drive donations to nonprofits and has its own successful "tip" system.
Re: A jar full of fail: Why tipping and donations don't work on the Internet
#3There are a lot of things in this article I disagree with.
1) Wikipedia doesn't have 5 billion unique visitors (there are only 1.6 billion internet users in the world). And they only put up banners asking for money when they need it, not all the time. So both variables in coming up with the "$.00124/visitor" estimate are incorrect.
2) Tax deduction does not make something cost-free. For most people, a donation saves them nothing (since they use the standard deduction) but even for those who itemize, it only saves them the tax they would have paid on that income, not the income itself.
3) Tipping doesn't have to create price uncertainty. As someone who has tried the donation model, it's clear that if you set the price of a donation (such as placing a banner that says "Give $5 now"), that's the exact amount that 90% of people will donate. So in essence, you do get to influence what the perceived value of your site is worth.
4) The article claims that in order to orgs like NPR to succeed on the donation model, they have to have federal grants and corporate sponsorship, etc. But this argument ignores the low barrier to entry (and low cost) of online content; it's not a valid comparison.
5) The article also mentions that those orgs can succeed because they offer physical goods and imply scarcity, but there's no reason that a donation-accepting site could do those as well.
Re: A jar full of fail: Why tipping and donations don't work on the Internet
#4Anybody know approximately how much is donated to OpenCourseWare for the free content they provide?
Re: A jar full of fail: Why tipping and donations don't work on the Internet
#5I tip out of fear.
Re: A jar full of fail: Why tipping and donations don't work on the Internet
#6There are a lot of things in this article I disagree with. 1) Wikipedia doesn't have 5 billion unique visitors (there are only 1.6 billion internet users in the world). And they only put up banners asking for money when they need it, not all the time. So both variables in coming up with the "$.00124/visitor" estimate are incorrect. 2) Tax deduction does not make something cost-free. For most people, a donation saves…
Thank you for your notes.
1.) I didn't say Wikipedia has 5 billion uniques. I said it gets 5 billion visitors. In ad sales a visitor is different than a unique. I changed it to "visits" so avoid the confusion.
2.) Tax deduction makes the perception of something's cost free.
3.) If you can still get a product without paying for something (i.e. tipping) the price is either what you ask for ($5) or nothing. That's the definition of price uncertainty.
4.) I pointed out the problem in using NPR as a model. Federal grants and family endowments are not the best model for a blog...
5.) A donation accepting site can suggest scarcity, but the questions is how compelling will it be? PBS and NPR offer content in a very limited channel space. Most blogs and podcasts do not.
Best,
Andrew
Re: A jar full of fail: Why tipping and donations don't work on the Internet
#7There are a lot of things in this article I disagree with. 1) Wikipedia doesn't have 5 billion unique visitors (there are only 1.6 billion internet users in the world). And they only put up banners asking for money when they need it, not all the time. So both variables in coming up with the "$.00124/visitor" estimate are incorrect. 2) Tax deduction does not make something cost-free. For most people, a donation saves…
With #1 the point is that although tons of people use Wikipedia, only a microfraction of em donate. I, for example, have gotten tons of value out of it yet have never given them anything. I think that they should petition universities for sponsorships.
I just donated $5 because I realized how ridiculous my lack of patronage is.
Re: A jar full of fail: Why tipping and donations don't work on the Internet
#8A counterexample is Causes on Facebook, a for-profit entity which utilizes social pressure to drive donations to nonprofits and has its own successful "tip" system. http://www.facebook.com/causes
My post was about using this model to support blogs and podcasts. Not bona fide charitable organizations. I actually have experience in doing successful online fundraising for those kinds of groups.
Re: A jar full of fail: Why tipping and donations don't work on the Internet
#9I tip out of fear.
Always the best motivator.
Re: A jar full of fail: Why tipping and donations don't work on the Internet
#10I'd guess that tipping is mostly a socio-cultural thing -- it is expected; it would be considered rude not to. In addition, peer pressure is a factor -- unfortunately, I doubt that I would tip as high as I do or as often as I do if I didn't have other guests at my table.
Online, you just don't feel bad if you don't tip -- there is no peer pressure and no expectation. So, of course it doesn't work out.