The following is the first e-mail message I sent to Brian Harner and the third message of our conversation. This was sent on August 25 2020.
Hi,
I will
split my response into two parts. This is part one. For clarity, read
the last couple of sentences first.
I have run in many footraces
in the last 12 years and it is common to hold races for the purpose
of fundraising. Many trail ultramarathon events are hosted on a
service called Ultrasignup. My initial idea was to hold a race hosted
on Ultrasignup. A virtual race can be set up in a relatively short
period of time once the details of the event are decided upon: no
in-person actions (e.g. creating a racecourse, securing permits) are
necessary. Virtual races have potential as an engaging way to raise
money: just create an event page which allows people to pay a fee to
run a certain distance in a given timeframe (e.g. a certain week or
month), record the run using GPS, and upload the GPS data so that
their results can be recorded. On the page communicate what the money
raised will be used for. That's it, and it tends to work decently.
This method of fundraising is typically more effective if some kind
of community or group of people connected to an organization is in
place. Runners tend to gravitate towards opportunities for an
organized, timed run and also to financially support those things
that keep them running (e.g. trail maintenance). That leads to the
next point.
I was content with only the virtual race idea until I
found that running club membership can also be hosted on Ultrasignup.
This led to the idea of creating the Arian Technologies Running Club
(description is under “Club Concept.”). For now I'll call it the
Arian Technologies Association (ATA) instead.
First of all, I
should clarify that it is possible for a club or event to accept
donations regardless of whether a person signs up. So, much like
GoFundMe or Patreon, contribution is open to anyone. One of the
biggest downsides is that a credit or debit card must be used: no
PayPal and definitely no cryptocurrency. It is possible for a person
to proceed to payment as a guest. I do not know whether the personal
information provided needs to be legitimate aside from the payment
information. I do not think donors need to be concerned about anyone
other than the event director (i.e. you and/or me) seeing their name.
It is possible to make the list of entrants public, but I don't see a
reason to do that and I imagine that most will want to remain
anonymous anyway. One thing is, for both you and donors, I do not
know what is the inforation that GoFundMe banned you over. I noticed
that on their fundraising pages the full name and location of the
creator of the page is usually present. Ultrasignup definitely does
not demand that of you. The primary thing you have to show to the
public is a webpage with relevant details (and the staff at
ultrasignup do check this before they approve your event). Many races
create a Facebook page for this purpose. Some, especially clubs or
race directors who have incorporated, have their own websites. I've
figured that I could either make a page hosted on my website or one
of us could create a paste on pastebin. I do not think a Facebook
page is ideal. It would also be possible to create a small website on
a service like Blogger but that would require a larger time
investment than a paste or a webpage on my existing website.
A
slight pickle is that it is not standard to create a running club
without any events. Likewise, running clubs are usually based on a
local geographic region as opposed to being international. That
detail will have to be communicated on the webpage. I could
potentially say, “Once we have gained some membership we are
looking at holding a virtual run in the Fall.” Again, that would
not be difficult to actually create. It could be as simple as asking
people to complete either a 3, 5, or 10-mile run in the month of
October and pay $10 to have their results recorded.
Another
downside (but not surprise) is that there is a base processing fee of
$3.25 on all transactions (paid for by the customer/donor). This may
discourage donations smaller than $10. That processing fee does not
increase much until the amount paid reaches $50. For transactions
larger than that amount, the processing fee is 6-7%: so if I want to
donate $100 I must also pay a processing fee of $6.75 along with
that, for a total amount paid of $106.75. The event director has the
option to pay the processing fee themselves instead of having
customers do it, but I have never seen this.
There are two
potential approaches to this. One approach is to just set the page up
and make it possible to donate. No worries about whether people
actually sign up: maybe there even is no membership fee (so it would
be listed as free). The other approach is to actually make meaningful
membership options. On this basis I have had a major consideration:
those who pay/donate at least a certain amount could become eligible
to receive a holy grail as a gift when they are ready. If the holy
grails were to be distributed exclusively in this manner, as opposed
to selling them like a normal product, that might make your life
easier in some ways (pre-payment tells you how many you need to
produce; you might also dodge certain obstacles?), but I would not
know that for sure. It might also limit the number or variety of
people who obtain a grail. This gifting process would be much easier
to follow through on for donors who use an account instead of signing
up as a guest. If someone initially pays a certain amount and then
wants to contribute more at a later time, the way they can do that is
to click the “STORE” tab (see examples near the end) and select
how much more they would like to donate at that time. Again, if the
donor uses an account to do this then it is easier to keep track of
and verify the total amount they have donated.
All entry fees
received through Ultrasignup are deposited in your bank account twice
a month. I would guess that one time is in the middle of the month
and the other is either at the beginning or the end. So if this
event/club is set up before the end of August then hopefully any
donations received by then will also be deposited immiently.
Club
Concept
The description of the club/association. This should be
centered around preserving the environment which makes trail running
possible. It is also about furnishing a mindset of community with all
life. Here's what it could include:
“The Arian Technologies
Association has been formed to combine the interests of the trail
running community with means which can preserve those interests for
thousands of years, if not eternity.
What are those interests?
Trail runners value their physical health and fitness. To make it
through races they must prepare thoroughly and always keep their
survival needs in mind. They run as a spiritual quest to realize the
best versions of themselves and commune with nature in its true, wild
form [potentially realizing their place in nature in the process].
The sport is simultaneously a peaceful and a difficult one which
requires humility, self-discipline, and knowledge of the human body
and of nature. Trail runners also value the community of like-minded
individuals who are interested in self-realization and who care about
being stewards to a planet which is holistically healthy.
What is
Arian Technologies and how will it preserve these interests? Arian
Technologies is the outgrowth of one man's mission to liberate
humanity from inefficiency, unsustainability, and debt. Funds raised
will be used to produce tools which are powered by sound as opposed
to electricity. Methods of building are possible which are unmatched
by mainstream methods in their precision and ability to endure. The
goal of Arian Technologies is to make these superior methods
available to all people by providing both proper tooling and the
education to use those tools. By supporting Arian Technologies you
are making a long-term investment in the health of the planet and by
extension the well-being of your descendants and of all humanity.”
An
idea is that one day the club could put on in-person races. I'm
thinking a serious event like a 100-mile race which coincides with a
much shorter race (or a fixed-time one, e.g. 30 hours, so they can
progress at any pace of their choosing). This encourages both a true
challenge on one hand and on the other hand people who are interested
in the path but do not have the fitness nor desire to run that far.
The people in the shorter race will have plenty of time to complete
their distance at a slow pace and then stay around and talk to each
other. The idea is that an in-person race could be a safe way for
people dedicated to the path to meet each other. I know there will be
concern about “fed boys”/detractors, but since both your message
and running are peaceful there is no illegal activity for them to
find. Also, I read the new thread where you said that they have
backed down. The appeal of this race, for me, is the premise of
people taking on this running challenge together and bringing a
mindset of brotherhood to the sport rather than one of withdrawn,
egotistical competition. The goal, to state it one way, is to run in
a divine manner rather than a satanic one. That is the only way to
achieve our true potential. There is a good chance the race would
also attract entrants who have not necessarily educated themselves on
your work. This is normal: people run at charity events regardless of
how much they know about the charity organization, because they are
interested in the race itself. That is fine because the race serves
as an opportunity to educate people about the organization which
holds the race: I have learned about a few charity/non-profit
organizations that way. This is the same reason why businesses
sponsor races: to increase their visibility. Maybe a super-ideal
situation is that an in-person race put on by the club would finally
give you audience with a group of interested people.
But, let us
not get ahead of ourselves. First things first.
Here are a few
examples to make this
tangible.
https://ultrasignup.com/register.aspx?did=75574 A
membership page (ATRA). Note the different levels of
membership.
https://ultrasignup.com/register.aspx?did=75524 A
race. If you click on the STORE tab you'll see the options to donate
money.
https://ultrasignup.com/register.aspx?did=64621 A race. If
you click on the WEBSITE tab you'll see that the webpage is a
blogpost which contains details about the race. Note that the one
page alone suffices: the rest of the website is not about that
specific race.
https://ultrasignup.com/register.aspx?did=73462 On
this page you can see that a written description of the race is not
necessary as long as there is a sufficient website to back it up
(which there is).
Now, what about that DIRECTIONS tab? Every event
and club on Ultrasignup has to have some kind of location. I think it
is acceptable to choose a city rather than a specific location (such
as a building/your address), especially for clubs. For example, the
DIRECTIONS tab on this club brings up the Georgia state capitol in
Google Maps: https://ultrasignup.com/register.aspx?did=72527 .
If
there are no social media pages then the SOCIAL tab will just lead to
the little-used forums on Ultrasignup. This is
fine.
https://trailsroc.org/virtual-covid-19-miler/ Not on
Ultrasignup (I think it was originally), but this is an example of a
virtual run that was held to raise funds for local running stores
that were closed due to COVID. This particular running community is
rather cohesive, and they managed to raise $17,000.
Obviously
I want you to finalize the decisions. I know there is a lot of info
here. My goal was to lay out the details and options for creating
races and/or a running-related organization for the purpose of
fundraising.
P.S. Protonmail is the most secure email
service I am aware of. https://protonmail.com/