Need some opinions

Jstas

If you belonged to a national club that was divided up into regions and then further into chapters within those regions, what would you think of this?

I belong to one such club. I created a website for my local chapter because it is a volunteer basis and I want to help out as best as I can. So I cunstructed a very basic website and put a good deal of time in to it because it directly benefits me and my chapter. I now have 5-6 other chapters trying to solicit my time to them to build and maintain thier own websites for them.

Maintaining 6-8 websites that will have regular updates will take up a good deal of my own personal free time. I already have problems getting people in my own chapter to help out even a little, dealing with that on a level 10 times greater would be extremely time consuming and not how I would prefer to spend my free time.

So the other clubs that are asking me for help, I thought that I would charge a flat fee of 200 bucks a year for website maintenance. That includes monthly-bi-weekly updates to the site and any emergency updates as needed. I would also maintain thier domain name and the server space and include the basic fees for those in the 250 dollars a year. I'd work with then on a site design also. If they used my friend's hosting service, I'd give them that deal for 200 bucks a year. Given the fact that I am not too willing to get into advanced website programming for this, I don't think that it is that bad of a deal for thier service agreement plus my time.

A couple of chapters have scoffed at that idea because they think that because I am not charging my chapter I should not charge other chapters either. My argument is that my time is important to me and if I am going to be spending so much time doing this, I want some pittance of compensation.

Is it wrong for asking for a sponsored club with corporate backing to fork over a few hundred bucks a year to cover web hosting services and website design and publishing?

Most chapters have 20-30 active members so the total cost would be about 5-10 dollars per person. Thier sponsors would see the 250 dollars a year as a drop in the bucket and petty cash the expense. Given that, I didn't think I was out of line but so far I have been met with opposition.

So what do you think? Am I that wrong?

gmorris

Of course you are not wrong.

It is your time, charge what you want. Tell the other chapters to quote out a site from someone other than you, and I'll bet they come begging for your $200-250 deal.

I think you are totally justified in asking a fee from the other chapters, and your minimal fee is very fair.

RuSsMaN

The maint. side can, and probably will be time consuming.

I'd charge a flat fee for EACH update they request, if you choose to service them at all. If I'm understanding that this is NOT a business undertaking, and your schedule is pretty full already - maybe just offer a flat fee for the intial website, then maint. is up to them?

I used to do 'home pages' for individuals, and some REALLY small businesses. This was back right after Al Gore invented the internet, when everyone was on dial-up and HAD to have a cheesy home page for their family. I only charged $35-$50 (at the time) for a simple main page, with a couple linked pages - updating etc was up to them to learn how, or for someone else to do.

Just thinking, at a lower price, for just 'the page', you can get in, get out, and have a little extra scratch in your pocket.

Cheers,
Russ

danger boy

no you are not wrong.. but the perception is that you should donate your time to any and all of these clubs.. since you are a member of one of them.. and designed a web site for your chapter.

It sucks.

Lots of people will come up with suggestions and ideas on this or that.. very few of those same people will actually volunteer their time to make their suggestions a reality. Basically what i'm saying here is.. people are lazy. Plain and simple.

Anything that costs them money directly is a bad thing. Maybe you could raise the needed extra money thru increased membership fees... instead of making it look like the money is going directly to the web page.

If i was you.. or this was me in this situation. I'd just say NO to the other clubs. Unless they can come up with some form of compesation. To me, it all seems like even if you do get the other clubs to pony up some money.. it's going to be a helluva a lot of your time spent doing all the work. and not much of the glory. When you could bettter spend your time doing something you enjoy more. It seems like it is another job (hassle).. instead of something you might enjoy doing

that's my two cents. Just some things to think about. I volunteer my time in my own ways.. but i don't let it run my life. I keep it under control.

good luck.

Jstas

Originally posted by RuSsMaN

Just thinking, at a lower price, for just 'the page', you can get in, get out, and have a little extra scratch in your pocket.

Cheers,
Russ

Well, the guy I know said he'd give hosting services to other people I could bring in for what it costs him. It ends up being about $2.50 a month for a whole pile of disk space (several hundred gigs) and a gig worth of bandwidth a month. He is looking to ramp up his server load to actually start using the hosting service as his business and lively hood. Since I have an account at GoDaddy.com already, I can get a whole pile of domain names registered at like 8 bucks a pop. So I can get the service hosting stuff done for about 40 bucks a year and the rest is compensation for me and my time. Besides, if I can get him people to host thier sites with him, he'll give me a finders fee. It's not much but I'd rather see him succeed than rob him of all his money. So I'd get like 160-210 bucks a year. Carry 10 sites that I update on a regular basis and it's 1600-2100 a year. Not too bad IMO.

kingkip

You're not wrong at all. With 20-30 people apiece there must be someone who can do their own websites anyway. Why haven't they stepped up and followed your example? The amount you are talking about is chump change for the service you're offering, don't get sucked into meaningless charity.

Jstas

Originally posted by danger boy
It seems like it is another job (hassle).. instead of something you might enjoy doing

You are 100% correct, even with the rest of your post and I agree with you. I don't necessarily enjoy it but I don't mind doing it either. It's quite easy since about as advanced as I would get is CSS stuff.

I do have other things to do with my time. I have many expensive hobbies, cars and audio being a couple of them. I also volunteer with my local Boy Scout council and I recently joined my friend's ambulance squad because they are hurting for members. So no, I do not want this to take up all of my time at all. But if these guys were willing to meet me halfway with the compensation thing, I would not have a problem scheduling a few hours every week or so to do the updates and such. As far as dues go, I don't control that, it's controlled by national on a national level so I can't really change it. The chapters are sponsored though so there is available funding from the sponsors to support chapter activities and a website does qualify.

madmax

Once you start it you WILL be expected to continue. No glory, only heartache. Don't try to cut their cost for them. Charge at least twice what you really want because your time will be twice what you think it will. Just tell them the cost and let them make the decision whether or not they still want you to do it. The value of the job in their mind will be what you ask for. If you told them $50 they would think $40 was more what they think it is worth. If you told them $500 they would probably think it was worth like $400.
madmax

Pauly

Charge em!

VE6OHV

I would not recomend mixing any personal profit ventures with the non-profit groups groups. The minute that you start collecting money from a non-profit group it gets messy. I'd say that you should let an established business handle it. Help set up the deal and then turn everything over. The best thing here I feel would be to walk away from the website, no hurt feelings, and you retain some of your spare time.