Help Out Any Way You Can

Looking to start a RoundTable in your area? Hosting a mythological event in your area? Have a suggestion how to enhance the forum conversations?

Moderators: Clemsy, Martin_Weyers, Cindy B.

jd101
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Post by jd101 »

aaaHaaa, the bodhi factor very tricky guy.....jd very impressed with your level of expertise playing in different lokas....must be genuine renaissance man!
john

Cindy B.
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Post by Cindy B. »

Understood, bodhibliss. The JCF portal it is. 8)

(I'll probably not be able to bring myself to "work the system," though, but that's just me. :? Yet the good news for you is that over time I'll be buying more from the Bookstore. Too honest for my own good, perhaps?)

Cindy
If the path before you is clear, you’re probably on someone else’s. --Jung

bodhibliss
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Post by bodhibliss »

We're hardly "working the system" or being dishonest - far from it. We're just letting people know the system exists while following the rules. We didn't stumble across this by accident - Amazon set the system up to work like this and told us exactly how it works, so we would get rewarded when people buy blenders as well as books through our portal. They're the ones who let us know we earn fees on more than just what's in our bookstore, and that anything placed in the shopping cart that's purchased within 24 hours earns us a fee once we've placed a book from the JCF booktore in the cart - and they make a point that we don't have to buy the item from the bookstore placed in the cart to get credited for what else we purchase

... not exactly working the system when we're following the directions of the folks who designed the system

(they just don't want it publicized to tens of thousands of people at once, so ask the details not be published in a newsletter or on the main page of the website - not a problem, as we've complied fully. Clearly few Associates have figured this out despite the regular yet vague allusions in the UpDate over the last two years; meanwhile, describing the full details here in CoHO impacts a handful of people - so far, less than 250 views in this thread, and at least 30 of those are the same 6 people posting multiple times, not counting the times the 6 of us read a response and didn't reply, or those who who have been returning to the thread every time there is a reply but don't post. Far less than 100 unique individuals have been following this discussion. Meanwhile, my explanations in earlier posts about Amazon's rules are not to provide secret info about gaming the system, but to let people know why we haven't been making a bigger deal about how their purchases benefit JCF in the UpDate).

Even better, Amazon earned several hundred dollars last Christmas that they wouldn't otherwise have received from me alone, and a couple thousand more from colleagues, friends, and family, which is the whole point of the program. I certainly normally wouldn't buy anything other than books from Amazon - how many people do any of us know who buy their cameras and shoes and computers and candy through Amazon? That's a boon to Amazon, and a boon to us, which is why they reward us for bringing in this extra business

... so if you buy a watch this Christmas through Amazon because it benefits JCF that you might otherwise pick up at Macy's, or are moved to add a Stephen King novel to your order when buying a book on dreams from the Campbell bookstore that you might or might not remember to get another time, that's a win/win for us and for Amazon - which is how they explained it in the first place.

Hardly working the system or being dishonest, and not an "easy" way to funnel money to JCF - if anything, it requires extra effort and concentration to purchase items outside the bookstore and make sure they are credited to JCF. Given the tough times facing us, and the very real possibility that these forums might go away at the end of the year because we can't afford to maintain them, I don't mind letting a few more people know about this and counting on word of mouth to spread the news

... and Amazon has no problem with that.

jd101
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Post by jd101 »

tongue in cheek aside, it appears that the real beneficiary is Amazon as they get the bulk of the sale...and as Bodhi says, Amazon designed the whole program and communicated it to JCF...which brings me back to my initial point that perhaps Amazon would not object to JCF publicizing it to 'the membership'. It seems that there are significant $$ to be gained, and I for one really did not understand that JCF could benefit with purchases of items outside the listed books.

Why not include something in this fall's newsletter, with a link to an instruction page? I think it could be worded as to be tactful and acceptable.
john

jd101
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Post by jd101 »

I have been thinking a bit more about the fundraising issue and here are a few suggestions.

I remember that there are lots of new fundraising ideas in the last few years, and I believe there are now some interesting ways to channel almost any shopping activity from friends and associates to the benefit of JCF.

Now while it clearly is not the mission of JCF to be a fundraising org., here are several ideas that the powers that be might consider....

It is possible to funnel 1-2% of everyday grocery purchases from all the major supermarkets, such as safeway, vons, etc...(probably whole foods, too)...here is a link to one such program.

http://www.escrip.com/merchants/identit ... /index.jsp

There is another company, www.goodsearch.com that offers some very interesting programs. Here you can purchase almost any product in the world, from ebay, amazon, dell computers, travel, etc. and get pretty nice rebates to your org. There also appears to be no restrictions on how JCF could promote this as well.

Goodsearch also has a program that will pay a portion of the ad revenue they receive from 'internet searches'. Apparently this program will pay a small fee everytime a person performs a search with a search engine(in this case yahoo search I believe)

Anyway, although I have not really researched this thoroughly, I thought it was interesting enough to post.
john

Clemsy
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Post by Clemsy »

I just want to thank any of you who are helping us out. People are making donations, but we still have an awful long way to go to get out of the Dark Forest of Contemporary Economics.

Anything you can do, folks, anything at all would be greatly appreciated. Just choose one of our options on the splash page.

Thanks! You guys are the best!
Clemsy
Give me stories before I go mad! ~Andreas

Clemsy
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Post by Clemsy »

Dear Associates,

With the release of the new lecture series, we'd like to ask a favor of you. If you participate in a social networking site like Facebook, could you please share the link to the new lectures with your "friends?" Considering who you folks are, I can only imagine you probably have a few like minded people in your own circles who may be interested. Here, I'll make it easy for you!

The Collected Lectures of Joseph Campbell: http://www.jcf.org/new/index.php?categoryid=104

We greatly appreciate helping us spread the word!

Thanks,
Clemsy
Give me stories before I go mad! ~Andreas

Clemsy
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Post by Clemsy »

Hey Everybody!

Help us promo a bit. If you have a social networking presence, share this website with your friends and contacts with the share function on our Home Page.

Thanks!
Clemsy
Give me stories before I go mad! ~Andreas

Clemsy
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Post by Clemsy »

Dear Associates,

On behalf of the Joseph Campbell Foundation, please allow me to extend to all of you a heartfelt Happy New Year! We hope the coming year sees you realizing, or at least catching up with, your bliss.

Since it is the new year we have received the Foundation's financial report. Basically, the math is easy: the coffers are empty. Although there are some exciting events in the works for later in the year (including the re-release of Power of Myth on PBS!), right now we need your help as never before.

Donate if you can. Send friends and relatives our way. Add a link to our splash page on your blogs, websites and social networking pages.

We deeply appreciate anything you can do. If this were NPR or PBS, we'd be holding a fund drive! All we can do here is remind you that maintaining this website does cost the Foundation.

Please consider helping out in any way you can. Here the link to the Donations Page.

Thanks!

Cheers,
Clemsy
CoHO Moderator
Give me stories before I go mad! ~Andreas

nandu
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Post by nandu »

Clemsy,

I would like to contribute, and maybe get a book or DVD as a gift, but I am unable to estimate the shipping charges either to the United Arab Emirates or India. Why I am worried is that the shipping charge sometimes proves prohibitive.

Can you, or anybody, help out?

Otherwise, I will contribute without the gift option.

Nandu.
Loka Samastha Sukhino Bhavanthu

Clemsy
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Post by Clemsy »

Thanks, Nandu. That's something to check out. I'll send a message up the line.
Give me stories before I go mad! ~Andreas

jonsjourney
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Post by jonsjourney »

Done. :D
"He was a dreamer, a thinker, a speculative philosopher... or, as his wife would have it, an idiot." -Douglas Adams

Clemsy
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Post by Clemsy »

Thanks, JJ!
Give me stories before I go mad! ~Andreas

bodhibliss
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Post by bodhibliss »

nandu wrote:Clemsy,

I would like to contribute, and maybe get a book or DVD as a gift, but I am unable to estimate the shipping charges either to the United Arab Emirates or India. Why I am worried is that the shipping charge sometimes proves prohibitive.

Can you, or anybody, help out?

Otherwise, I will contribute without the gift option.

Nandu.
Thanks, Nandu,

I understand your trepidation. Shipping a DVD overseas as a thank you for a $20 donation can cost anywhere from $13 to $80, depending on weight and the shipping option selected (which is why we asked donors to start paying for shipping last year - most items we sent outside North America cost more to mail than the amount of the donation!).

If you ask for a thank you gift when you make a donation, once you select an item (but before you add it to your cart) you should notice at the bottom of that page an option that allows you to estimate the shipping cost. The best option for items that weigh less than four pounds is the International Priority Mail Envelope, which runs about $13 - $15 dollars, depending on destination and currency exchange. That then is the amount that will be added to your donation on your credit card when you check out.

However, occasionally a donor will ask for several gifts that total up to less than four pounds, but won't all fit in the priority mail envelope (for example, three DVDs, or a couple DVDs and a book, or two books), so we have to use a second envelope which doubles shipping costs (the extra ends up being absorbed by the Foundation). Hence, if you are having something shipped, please try to keep it to a couple DVDs or one book at a time.

Also, I'll piggyback on my response to your post, Nandu, to remind everyone that when donors request a gift, JCF only receives about half the amount of the donation - books and DVDs and t-shirts and such are not free to us (e.g., asking for the Hero's Journey DVD in exchange for a $20 donation means that only $10 ends up benefitting JCF).

Sometimes it seems that a number of contributors think of JCF less as a nonprofit organzation and more as a glorified bookstore (and a rather expensive one at that - just like PBS, our thank you gifts can be purchased retail for less). In this crisis we are urging direct donations rather than emphasizing gift premiums, which increase our costs.

So anyone who would like to give $40 dollars to the Foundation, and at the same time is interested in a copy of, say, Mythos II, please consider giving an extra $20 to JCF to cover the cost of the DVD, or give a straight $40 donation and purchase the DVD for less through the JCF online a-store (maintained by Amazon).

Just to put things in perspective, in 2010 JCF took in barely $15,000 in online donations (a significant portion of which was used to pay for gift premiums), while our annual expenses are in six figures (that's after cutting to the bare minimum - most costs relate to longterm publishing contracts).

We have three full time staff members working 50 or more hours a week, but stipends exist on paper - it's been spotty all year, and no one is receiving remuneration at the moment. Certainly it's a labor of love for us - clearly no one is in this for the money - but not being able to pay the mortgage or buy food will eventually take its toll on existing staff.

At the same time, it's not all doom and gloom. The final post-production costs to get Mythos III out the door is what's eating our operating fund at the moment. JCF does have money that is owed to the Foundation, but none of that will land during the first quarter of 2011, so we have a significant hump to get over.

Thanks to you, Nandu, and to all CoHO participants for doing what you can to help.

Namaste,

Stephen Gerringer
JCF Community

nandu
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Post by nandu »

I have put by bit into the collection box.

BTW, Bodhi, I decided not to go for the free gift. Buying by myself is easier.

Nandu.
Loka Samastha Sukhino Bhavanthu

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