Poll: do you suppose Skins is having trouble raising money?

[franksolich]

I've been really bothered, troubled, distressed, by something lately; if superficial hints are accurate, my fellow alum Skins is having some, uh, problems raising money during the current fund drive for Skins's island.

Most here might jubilate if that in fact is the case, but because of the old school tie, I myself must differ.  I happen to think my fellow alum deserves to get every cent he can, from the primitives, and more.

Handling the primitives is a tough job, and a job I wouldn't like, no matter the pay.

I've begun noticing that many PoP (Primitives of Prominence) don't have that notation about them being donors this time around; Pedro Picasso was the first omission I noticed, and shortly thereafter the der alte sau primitive, the dysmenopausal Kansas school teacher.

I haven't dragged out the boat yet, to row over to Skins's island, to see if there's other PoP who haven't donated, but I'm wondering if there might actually be quite a number of the stingy bastards.

So as to encourage the primitives to be as generous of their wallets as they are of their mouths, I think I shall institute a new policy, that of not quoting primitives who haven't donated to my fellow alum Skins.

I'll treat them as if they don't exist*, the skinflint tightwads.

Primitives yearn, lust, hunger, salivate, for attention and notoriety, and so perhaps this new policy of mine might encourage them to flow some bucks towards my fellow alum; no donation, franksolich pretends they don't exist.

*with one notable exception.

[The Village Idiot]

Maybe he should create a new secret forum that you cannot even see without donating $100 and call it the Citizens Forum. He can pretend that all sorts of celebrities show up, like Dennis Kucinich or something...

[miskie]

what I do is I count the stickies to get a rough estimate - One gets a sticky for every $10 they donate. Some of the stickies are 'art' and don't add into the coffers, and some primitives donate the $5 minimum. So, I assume that the art stickies and the cheapskates nullify each other.

At this moment I estimate a take of just 44 thousand bucks.

When one considers that there are three of them who get paid out of this, as well as server leasing, bandwidth costs and whatever costs are involved in maintaining an office in D.C. (I don't know the expense, but I do know how much Boston costs - So, I use that as a guide)

So, lets extrapolate -- If they stay on this trajectory, they will gross 320K for the year. I suspect at least +-100K goes into overhead, leaving +-200K split three ways.  Thats about 66K for each of the three principals (Skinner, Elad, EarlG) --Unless the unheard from Plaid Adder gets a cut.. Which I doubt at this point. 

Going again by Boston expenses, 66 Thousand a year is pretty much nothing.

So -- I think there will be no Carnival Cruises or trips to Disney this year for Skins - unless Mrs. Skins pulls down some serious green.

[thundley4]

what I do is I count the stickies to get a rough estimate - One gets a sticky for every $10 they donate. Some of the stickies are 'art' and don't add into the coffers, and some primitives donate the $5 minimum. So, I assume that the art stickies and the cheapskates nullify each other.

At this moment I estimate a take of just 44 thousand bucks.

When one considers that there are three of them who get paid out of this, as well as server leasing, bandwidth costs and whatever costs are involved in maintaining an office in D.C. (I don't know the expense, but I do know how much Boston costs - So, I use that as a guide)

So, lets extrapolate -- If they stay on this trajectory, they will gross 320K for the year. I suspect at least +-100K goes into overhead, leaving +-200K split three ways.  Thats about 66K for each of the three principals (Skinner, Elad, EarlG) --Unless the unheard from Plaid Adder gets a cut.. Which I doubt at this point. 

Going again by Boston expenses, 66 Thousand a year is pretty much nothing.

So -- I think there will be no Carnival Cruises or trips to Disney this year for Skins - unless Mrs. Skins pulls down some serious green.

There's only one problem with that.  The fundraising will drop off once the admins stop starting threads about it.   Look at most fundraising efforts, there are big surges during the drive, but only trickle in donations later on.

[miskie]

There's only one problem with that.  The fundraising will drop off once the admins stop starting threads about it.   Look at most fundraising efforts, there are big surges during the drive, but only trickle in donations later on.

Oh I know - My guesstimates are definitely biased toward "best case scenario" - there will be dropoff, and only a few primitives will donate between the four yearly fundraisers.

Even the overhead figure I give is probably a bit on the low side, as Skinner laid out his server costs a few years back, at a staggering 5K per month (IIRC) - So, 60K of the 100K for overhead is server space alone, leaving only 40K for office rental, utility bills, taxes, etc. etc. etc. 

[thundley4]

Oh I know - My guesstimates are definitely biased toward "best case scenario" - there will be dropoff, and only a few primitives will donate between the four yearly fundraisers.

Even the overhead figure I give is probably a bit on the low side, as Skinner laid out his server costs a few years back, at a staggering 5K per month (IIRC) - So, 60K of the 100K for overhead is server space alone, leaving only 40K for office rental, utility bills, taxes, etc. etc. etc. 

I find it ironic that the admins have multiple threads going fro donations after skinner made fun of freerepublic for running a long fundraiser.

[miskie]

I find it ironic that the admins have multiple threads going fro donations after skinner made fun of freerepublic for running a long fundraiser.

What you or I may call 'irony', they call 'truth 2 power'.

[miskie]

I made a huge mistake in calculating donations - Its much much worse. It seems that Grovelbot's Big Board has gotten much smaller - and now it contains pages of past donation drives as fluff.

Reduce my initial figures by at least 50% (probably more like 75%) - DU is a hurtin'.

[The Village Idiot]

What you or I may call 'irony', they call 'truth 2 power'.

Democrats speak power to truth now.

[franksolich]

Well now, don't forget; it was money from that organization the primitives most despise, the Democrat Leadership Council (DLC) that first set up Skins's island, and perhaps their financial support went beyond that.

Perhaps Skins's island is still getting money from the DLC, for all the good work it does in sequestering the fringe elements of the Democrat party away from the general public, so as to not make the Democrats look bad.

[Rebel]

BTW, should I start my, "Trying to get the hell away from my soon-to-be ex-wife closing costs for a home" now? Or wait a little while? 


I'm so looking to move out of this BS.

[GOBUCKS]

what I do is I count the stickies to get a rough estimate - One gets a sticky for every $10 they donate. Some of the stickies are 'art' and don't add into the coffers, and some primitives donate the $5 minimum. So, I assume that the art stickies and the cheapskates nullify each other.

At this moment I estimate a take of just 44 thousand bucks.

When one considers that there are three of them who get paid out of this, as well as server leasing, bandwidth costs and whatever costs are involved in maintaining an office in D.C. (I don't know the expense, but I do know how much Boston costs - So, I use that as a guide)

So, lets extrapolate -- If they stay on this trajectory, they will gross 320K for the year. I suspect at least +-100K goes into overhead, leaving +-200K split three ways.  Thats about 66K for each of the three principals (Skinner, Elad, EarlG) --Unless the unheard from Plaid Adder gets a cut.. Which I doubt at this point. 

Going again by Boston expenses, 66 Thousand a year is pretty much nothing.

So -- I think there will be no Carnival Cruises or trips to Disney this year for Skins - unless Mrs. Skins pulls down some serious green.

You forget the Adbot millions. Skimming SSI checks off the DUmmies may just be a hobby for the Three Wisemen. Or maybe it's the pin money that Skimmer divvies up for his two-man Geek Squad

[whiffleball]

Well now, don't forget; it was money from that organization the primitives most despise, the Democrat Leadership Council (DLC) that first set up Skins's island, and perhaps their financial support went beyond that.

Perhaps Skins's island is still getting money from the DLC, for all the good work it does in sequestering the fringe elements of the Democrat party away from the general public, so as to not make the Democrats look bad.

Not to mention how much they received last year for supporting The One.  Skins had to have been compensated for kicking off so many donating members during the primaries. 

[JohnnyReb]

Not to mention how much they received last year for supporting The One.  Skins had to have been compensated for kicking off so many donating members during the primaries. 

 ...so you can't give a candidate umpteen million dollars for his campaign. Just give it to Skinner and he gets the DUmpmonkies to donate it. Brilliant.

[Freeper]

They cant afford this in this bush Obama economy.

[Freeper]

Another plea for dough. http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x6355852
 

Like all the banners and grovelbots aren't enough.

[Duke Nukum]

I think Skins made a huge mistake when he kicked the radical homosexuals off the island.  They may be insane but many of them are very affluent, as a demographic.

[franksolich]

I think Skins made a huge mistake when he kicked the radical homosexuals off the island.  They may be insane but many of them are very affluent, as a demographic.

Also, if you glance in the gay forum there, you'll see that damned few of the posters there donated.