Ayn Rand Books Fundraiser - Any Interest?

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1

I was sufficiently motivated by Dr Yaron Brook’s talk yesterday to come with the following proposal, which is not entirely original, but exciting nevertheless. At this point, I am looking for indications of interest, not definite pledges.

As you probably know, the Ayn Rand Institute ships free books to teachers willing to teach Ayn Rand. The demand for Miss Rand’s novels far outstrips the ARI’s budget, so getting the funds to ship more books is very important. To encourage donations, ARI allows donors to customize a bookplate inside each book, and “buy” a geographic area.

Meanwhile, ObjectivismOnline.Net has been growing like crazy during the last three years. Recent research has indicated that our primary growth demographic is new college students and high school students, and that word of mouth is our most important marketing method. I have also discovered a need to recognize certain members of our forum in order to improve and highlight the quality of discussion here. I did this by charging a small fee for “Patron” memberships, but have not decided how to spend the fees from those memberships.

To resolve the above dilemmas, I have the following proposal: ObjectivismOnline.Net will sponsor a city through the Ayn Rand Institute’s program. We will begin a yearly campaign to raise money for the book program through this website. This has several advantages for you, the donor, and the site: First, getting our name in front of thousands of students would be a great marketing opportunity for this forum. Second, it is in your immediate interest, because I will count 100% of the contribution towards your Patron subscription to the forum. Third, it can make your usual contribution to ARI have a dual benefit. And of course, all contributions are tax-deductible.

To provide some further motivation, I will pledge 100% of the patron subscription income (including existing subscriptions) to the campaign, with a minimum of $100, and jumpstart the campaign with $100 from myself, and $100 in matching funds for each $1000. Furthermore, each donor will have a chance to pick the city to receive the books, with the city receiving the most donations being the winner. (I will be hoping to lose.)

Again, at this point, I would like to get a sense for your interest and ideas for this program. I would like to be have some confidence that we can raise at least $1000 before trying to launch it and work out the details with ARI. If you’re willing to participate, please let me know.

2

This sounds like a very good idea, and I would be more than happy to contribute, although the amount will be quite small (I am in college). I don’t think it would be too hard to reach the $1,000 mark.

3

I would participate as well.

4

So, just to clarify – the bookplate will have a mention of OO.net or at least a URL related to OO.net (like a special landing page for student)?

5

Yes

6

Good idea!

http://forum.ObjectivismOnline.com/index.p…indpost&p=77456

(Interestingly, my suggestion came just a short time after Yaron Brooks’ similar talk down here in South Florida.)

You can count me in for a few bucks. Not too much though, this year anyway. If I may blow my own horn here, I am thrilled to be sponsoring (with a friend): Lee, Charlotte, Hendry, Glades, DeSoto and Hardee counties, Florida. Together with a few other friends, we’ve got almost all of South Florida covered.

7

Good idea! http://forum.ObjectivismOnline.com/index.p…indpost&p=77456

:smiley: I need to re-read that older thread.

I’m in. I’m nearly “maxed” out this year, but the new year is just around the corner.

8

To encourage donations, ARI allows donors to customize a bookplate inside each book, and “buy” a geographic area.

I looked on the ARI website but did not see anything regarding sponsoring a specific geographic region - I am interested in viewing those regions in need of sponsorship. Can anyone point me to this? Thanks.

9

As far as I know, ARI has no graphic depiction of which areas are sponsored and which are not (it’d be cool if they did though). You have to call them and ask for the specific area you’re interested in. They’ll let you know whether it’s sponsored, and if not, how much it would cost to sponsor that area.

10

Skimming through old editions of “Impact” I found some information that’s one year old. In Nov. 2004, the following states had been fully sponsored: Alaska, Delaware, Georgia, Kentucky, Minnesota, N.Carolina, N.Dakota, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, South Dakota, Virginia, Washinton D.C., Wyoming.

In many other states, entire counties or cities had been covered.

Also, the economics of the program are roughly like this: the cost per book is about $10 (I’m guessing the cost of administrating the program is a large component). Assuming that the book has a shelf-life of 5 years, the cost per student over that period is roughly $2.

As an extremely rough comparison, if one looks at OO.net Google ads and how many people sign-up after clicking on ads, my very approximate estimate of cost-per-person-signing up is somewhere in the $ 10 - $20 range!

11

Sounds like a great idea.

12

Here’s great news: because of the $1 million donation that ARI received earlier this year, to be earmarked for the free books program, all new donations (or existing donations for new or expanded locations) will be “matched”, effectively doubling any donations. Get 2 locations for the price of one! (Or get one location for half price).

ARI expects to distribute 300,000 books this year!

13

WOW! That’s fantastic.

14

OK, I am going to contact ARI and see what I can work out.

15

Playing devil’s advocate, one little problem with the scheme is the tax-deductibility. This could make donating to ARI via OO.net a little more expensive than donating directly to ARI. Personally, I would still contribute a certain amount via OO.net, thinking of the additional amount as “paying for the ad-placement”.

16

I will ask ARI if we can donate directly to them and get “credit” for it.