Who pays for all this?

[Bulucanagria]

Just curious. There's a lot going on here and it must cost something to maintain. I've seen no advertisements anywhere and nobody has hit me up for a contribution. So just who do I owe a great big thank you to?
Dan

[lonediver]

Originally Posted by Bulucanagria

Just curious. There's a lot going on here and it must cost something to maintain. I've seen no advertisements anywhere and nobody has hit me up for a contribution. So just who do I owe a great big thank you to?
Dan

Hi Dan,

I am but a member myself who has enjoyed the site as apparently you are . My understanding is that that this site was started with a core of some 10 ecologically conscious individuals who ponied up money out of thier own pocket to do this site . Seeking to avoid outside influence (advertisers) desire to keep this an independant site . So we have 10 worthy individuals to thank for this . As I understand it those 10 have been whittled down to half or less due to a variety of reasons . Those of the remaining are still fianancing this out of thier own pocket as I understand it .

Maybe we could offer to pass the hat ?

[Hedgerowe]

We owe a great deal to the dedicated and hard-working (volunteer) staff who keep it all working so well, too. The rest of the success of the site can be attributed to the community that the site has attracted: Decent, thoughtful people with a shared mission and like-minded principles.

[suunto]

This does bring up a good point. Is there any way that members other than Staff can ante up a bit? And although given the overall philosophy of this group this may seem a bit against the grain, has the possibility of (appropriate) corporate sponsorship been explored?

[Staff]

Huge thank yous to popowich for last week's new server.

Big thank yous to Dave Stiles for running and judging our Photo of the Month Contest and suunto for our annual Insect/Arthropod Photo Contest.

Big thank you to National Wildlife Federation for contacting us and offering to send books and DVD's. Their books and DVD's have been used for our photo contests.

Very big thanks yous to members that turn their friends onto Wildlife Gardeners.

A few helping pay bills did pass away unexpectedly and another had a series of strokes. There was talk of adding a button to accept voluntary contributions to help offset monthly costs of the site. I honestly don't know what happened to that. They should revive the talks. I would gladly contribute.

[lonediver]

Originally Posted by Staff

Big thank you to National Wildlife Federation for contacting us and offering to send books and DVD's. Their books and DVD's have been used for our photo contests.

Lightly curious Staff , when did NWF contact you ?

[Staff]

When they first opened their doors on the internet. About this time last year:
Attracting Birds, Butterflies and Other Backyard Wildlife

They contacted us again to offer more books and DVD's.

Please think about supporting the National Wildlife Federation:
Garden for Wildlife - National Wildlife Federation

[WG Admin]

The money comes from people's pockets.

The heart and soul of Wildlife Gardeners comes from members.

[Sage]

I think everyone should contribute more photos to the Desktop threads, NOW! Your best pix could be chosen for calendars or other items to make money for WG!

North American Natural Areas

North American Native Plants

North American Wildlife

[Equilibrium]

Cool idea Sage... you can have anything I've got. I'd ante up with $$$ too as suunto calls it. I HATE ads at sites and even more when they're those unrelated ads trying to sell you "stuff" that isn't even "stuff" you'd normally buy and then the dog hops into the middle of what you're typing to bark at you and sell you dog bones or heart worm tabs and then something pops up for you to take a survey and and and when you close out there's another ad underneath offering you coupons to more "stuff"... I hate those ads. If you guys ever do ads... make them tasteful and something that we'd buy like organic products or native plants would ya.