I haven't come up with any new ideas, but I thought it was worthwhile to keep this topic up towards the top. Instead of being about to go to page 2.

Nice one. Don't know whether the following is sensible............

How about 2 special donation drives, Individual & company.

The company that donates the most being given free advertising on the main seti page for a year & the individual that donates the most in a year given a unique gift from the project.

Wonderful idea, but the University strictly regulates advertising on University properties -- like the SETI@Home web site.

I thought it might be that. However, what about providing a sponsored link page showing the companies that donate & on that page provide links to each company? Surely, that can't be construed as advertising?

Like this one? Sponsors

I haven't come up with any new ideas, but I thought it was worthwhile to keep this topic up towards the top. Instead of being about to go to page 2.

Nice one. Don't know whether the following is sensible............

How about 2 special donation drives, Individual & company.

The company that donates the most being given free advertising on the main seti page for a year & the individual that donates the most in a year given a unique gift from the project.

Wonderful idea, but the University strictly regulates advertising on University properties -- like the SETI@Home web site.

I thought it might be that. However, what about providing a sponsored link page showing the companies that donate & on that page provide links to each company? Surely, that can't be construed as advertising?

Like this one? Sponsors

Oooooooooooops, thanks Richard. didn't realise there was one already. Will have to check site before new ideas crop into my head.

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My idea starts with a question. How much of a presence does seti have on the berkeley campus? I notice that there isn't a seti group on campus. Why not try to get some of the kids involved with the project and have them on campus raising funds?

Also, while looking around on the berkely site there are only two links on the entire site to seti. Maybe you guys should request a larger presence on the site.

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My idea starts with a question. How much of a presence does seti have on the berkeley campus? I notice that there isn't a seti group on campus. Why not try to get some of the kids involved with the project and have them on campus raising funds?

Also, while looking around on the berkely site there are only two links on the entire site to seti. Maybe you guys should request a larger presence on the site.

David Anderson said that the idea of a berkeley@home was voted down by the Berkeley U professors. Maybe they are not enthusiasts of the association of Berkeley U with SETI.
Tullio

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Some really good (imho) ideas already surfaced in this post:

-Make a calender with a universe related theme (eventually one month with a picture of a seti Classic WU with fancy spikes and gaussians -- one month with pictures of the working staff, or the eqipment of the project) -- and others shown planets or something related.

-Sell unique SETI-merchandise like caps and shirts (eventually with an autogramm of the staff on it?) - eventually done through a partnership with a company - something like ThinkGeek.com that sells the stuff with the seti logo and pays/donates 1$ or so for every item sold.

-If the project need hardware, make it a money-donation theme. For example:
20 Harddisks 1TB (2000€), 10 SATA Controllers (100€) uswusw.
You would get a summary of money that is needed to push the project forward. -- in this example it would be 2100€ (+ the money that goes to Berkley -- so in reality ~3000€ ore more would be needed in this case...ok, it´s just an example).
The donators would have a goal, how much money is needed - and they would see the direct effect where the money did go -- after a new server boots up and starts to show himself an the server-stats page.

I agree!!

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Current status:
Seti = free = 4 computers contributing 60% to seti, 40% to Rosetta
Proposed at start of thread status:
Seti = pay towards = 4 computers contributing 0% to seti, 100% to Rosetta

No issue, no need to think about. Just do it.

One could suggest that Rosetta could offer more to mankind that Seti.

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Current status:
Seti = free = 4 computers contributing 60% to seti, 40% to Rosetta
Proposed at start of thread status:
Seti = pay towards = 4 computers contributing 0% to seti, 100% to Rosetta

No issue, no need to think about. Just do it.

One could suggest that Rosetta could offer more to mankind that Seti.

Unfortunately, the project-side of SETI@Home needs some money, or your current status may be:

SETI = unfunded = 4 computers with 60% resource share, but no work available.

One could suggest that if SETI@Home runs out of money, they won't particularly care what other projects you find -- they'll be gone.

So, how about suggesting interesting and innovative ways to get money into SETI@Home so they don't have to consider a "pay" model?

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I thought it might be that. However, what about providing a sponsored link page showing the companies that donate & on that page provide links to each company? Surely, that can't be construed as advertising?

They can acknowledge donors, but there are limits. It doesn't provide a whole lot of value in the same way actual "advertising" would.

Thanks Ned. Oh well, have to get my brain cells thinking again. ;)

Wondering, could they put the top corporate donor's logo on the home page? Link as they have now to the complete list of corporate donors. Not exactly advertising, but puts the profile a little higher.

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Had another thought. A gage on the home page for how much as been donated and how much they need for the budget. A simple way to call attention to the need for funds.

Gary

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That is definitely an idea to be considered...and I have just forwarded it to Eric

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Since these aren't credit cards, the usual credit terms don't apply. You give the company some money, and they give you a "credit card" with that limit.

Some are free (and make their money off of the "discount rate" merchants pay) and some charge a fee.

We'll be interested in anything you can report.

Received the Virgin Mastercard this morning & activated it. All I need to do now is to top it up which can be done free of charge from any post office.

Minimum top up is £5.00 & maximum single top up is £500.00. Maximum amount allowed on the card is £3,500.00. So for those in the UK without a CC, this is ideal.

I won't be in a position to top it up until the end of the month, but as soon as I do, a donation for October will be made directly to UCB - This sure beats Western Union!

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OK, i have also taken the time to read this whole thread, and here is my take on this. What i am about to suggest is a very viable option for raising a lot of money for SETI@home and it can be implemented if users and SETI@home management take the suggestion seriously. It will need the co-operation and consent of the SETI@home staff.

The Idea;

SETI@home raffle competition

The prizes;

Total prize fund of about $9,000 or $10,000, this can be debated. Prizes payed for by the ticket sales.

First prize - All expenses payed holiday for 2 people to visit the Arecibo radio telescope in Puerto Rico for 5 days. Full prize value to be determined, maybe $5,000 might cover flights and accommodation from anywhere in the world.

Arecibo visitors center; http://www.naic.edu/outreach/describe_fset.htm

Arecibo telescope; http://www.naic.edu/



Second prize - Top of the range PC to the value of $$$$(To be determined, maybe $2,000).

Third prize - Standard Dell PC to the value of $$$$ (To be determined, maybe $1,000).

Plus 10 runner-up prizes of $100 voucher for large Internet PC store like PC world in the UK or US equivalent.

Tickets;

I would estimate that with good prizes like these, tickets should be priced at about $25 or $30. This could be debated as we don't yet have a final price on how much the prizes will cost. People can buy as many tickets as they like. There are loads of ticket agents on the Internet that take a small cut for selling your tickets.

@ $30 each, we would need about 300 people to buy a ticket to cover the cost of the competition prizes @ $9,000.

Implementing this competition;

1. First general agreement needed from people that this is a good idea.

2. Consent needed from SETI@home staff namely David Anderson and Eric korpela to help support this as a serious fundraising activity. This might need advertising on the SETI front page news and maybe an email to all SETI@home users.

3. A group of people agree to research all the necessary information about average and maximum price of flights from around the world to Puerto Rico, hotel costs, spending money, computer prices, other prize costs, etc,etc

4. Once all the information has been researched, we decide if this is viable. If everything looks good, we go ahead with the competition. If it looks bad, we quit the idea before it starts.

Possible outcome and money that could be raised;

If this is organised properly, and an email sent to all users, i see no reason why we could not raise $50,000 or $75,000 or more!. At $30 a ticket, 1,000 tickets would bring in $30,000, 2,000 tickets, $60,000, etc,etc. All proceeds go to SETI@home staff wages, SETI@home science research or hardware for the SETI@home project.

I personally don't mind doing some PR for this competition in my spare time.

John in Ireland.

Images of the Arecibo visitors center;

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Absolutely excellent idea John.

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Absolutely excellent idea John.

While I like the idea, two things come to mind. The first is I don't know if the Regents of the University of California can do a raffle. California has some constitutional restrictions on games of chance.

The second is the Regents would be on the hook for the prizes if the ticket sales didn't cover it. They would be right to refuse a request.

But if the prizes were donated, that might make it a go if it is legal for UC to have a raffle at all. Of course there would be piles of legal stuff and lots of flaming hoops.

Gary

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Elsewhere I joked that for the people concerned about their RAC, SETI should offer them the option to pay ten cents a cobblestone to be Nez's wing man so they would get quick credit. Well, maybe not Nez only, but get paired with any cruncher with a RAC in the top 1% of crunchers.

Just put your credit card on file and watch your RAC go higher faster. It would be a continuing source of income for the project.

Gary

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Absolutely excellent idea John.

While I like the idea, two things come to mind. The first is I don't know if the Regents of the University of California can do a raffle. California has some constitutional restrictions on games of chance.

The second is the Regents would be on the hook for the prizes if the ticket sales didn't cover it. They would be right to refuse a request.

But if the prizes were donated, that might make it a go if it is legal for UC to have a raffle at all. Of course there would be piles of legal stuff and lots of flaming hoops.

Gary

I think whatever is done, "we" have to do it.

If we want a raffle, I think it'd have to be done outside the University framework.

If we wanted to create some salable items and put them on eBay, we have to figure out a way that we're making them (perhaps with help) and then putting them up for sale -- and that they aren't parts of an old server that is U.C. property.

If we want a "PayPal" system, then we can do that outside the project.

If money magically shows up, and the project isn't directly involved, I don't see that the Regents of the University of California would actually care, or have much of an action they could take if they did.

... as long as it's completely outside the UC.

-- Ned

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Absolutely excellent idea John.

While I like the idea, two things come to mind. The first is I don't know if the Regents of the University of California can do a raffle. California has some constitutional restrictions on games of chance.

The second is the Regents would be on the hook for the prizes if the ticket sales didn't cover it. They would be right to refuse a request.

But if the prizes were donated, that might make it a go if it is legal for UC to have a raffle at all. Of course there would be piles of legal stuff and lots of flaming hoops.

Gary

I think whatever is done, "we" have to do it.

If we want a raffle, I think it'd have to be done outside the University framework.

If we wanted to create some salable items and put them on eBay, we have to figure out a way that we're making them (perhaps with help) and then putting them up for sale -- and that they aren't parts of an old server that is U.C. property.

If we want a "PayPal" system, then we can do that outside the project.

If money magically shows up, and the project isn't directly involved, I don't see that the Regents of the University of California would actually care, or have much of an action they could take if they did.

... as long as it's completely outside the UC.

-- Ned

ebay, hmm, I'm not sure, It would have to be something that sells really, really good, Some things there don't sell for much(if for anything) and I've bought and sold My share there too.

Agreed. Seems to be too many cheapskates on eBay that want to pay 10% of the item's worth. Nothing wrong with being frugal, but sometimes it gets ridiculous.

Absolutely excellent idea John.

While I like the idea, two things come to mind. The first is I don't know if the Regents of the University of California can do a raffle. California has some constitutional restrictions on games of chance.

The second is the Regents would be on the hook for the prizes if the ticket sales didn't cover it. They would be right to refuse a request.

But if the prizes were donated, that might make it a go if it is legal for UC to have a raffle at all. Of course there would be piles of legal stuff and lots of flaming hoops.

Gary

I think whatever is done, "we" have to do it.

If we want a raffle, I think it'd have to be done outside the University framework.

If we wanted to create some salable items and put them on eBay, we have to figure out a way that we're making them (perhaps with help) and then putting them up for sale -- and that they aren't parts of an old server that is U.C. property.

If we want a "PayPal" system, then we can do that outside the project.

If money magically shows up, and the project isn't directly involved, I don't see that the Regents of the University of California would actually care, or have much of an action they could take if they did.

... as long as it's completely outside the UC.

-- Ned

ebay, hmm, I'm not sure, It would have to be something that sells really, really good, Some things there don't sell for much(if for anything) and I've bought and sold My share there too.

Agreed. Seems to be too many cheapskates on eBay that want to pay 10% of the item's worth. Nothing wrong with being frugal, but sometimes it gets ridiculous.

... but we're getting hung up on the name "eBay" and ignoring the important part:

There are lots of good ideas here that SETI@Home can't do officially -- and there is nothing to say that we can't do them.

I'm asking folks to think about what they can do, and if that's stick junque on eBay then that's one thing that can be done. There are others.

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... but we're getting hung up on the name "eBay" and ignoring the important part:

There are lots of good ideas here that SETI@Home can't do officially -- and there is nothing to say that we can't do them.

I'm asking folks to think about what they can do, and if that's stick junque on eBay then that's one thing that can be done. There are others.

All fine an well, but there are some issues. Most every thing someone comes up with is an idea to sell stuff. Selling stuff gets the tax man involved. Fine if the person selling doesn't mind footing that bill. If any of us want to sell our junk and donate the receipts to SETI that is a great thing. But I doubt we can sell candy bars door to door or put out give to Seti jars at local businesses like other fund raisers without jumping through all the registration steps.

Another issue that comes up is trust. How do we or the public at large know the person doing the selling is really going to send the money to SETI?

Next comes a legal issue. Without permission from SETI/Regents can someone even use the Seti@home name?

One thing we all can do is put a link to http://www.setiathome-store.com/index.html on all of our personal web pages, and we can do that today.

I won't suggest a "I've donated, how about you?" because everyone has donated at least their computer time and electric bill. I just don't think it would go over well.

I think what we need is a bunch of reasons for the 90+% of the people who crunch to consider giving to SETI. That may just be a much better explanation of what SETI is doing and how it gets funded. Perhaps a comparison of a wish list budget and the what we actually get budget.

One thing that Seti may be able to do is a lunch or dinner with Seti. I don't know if Berkley does an open house but done in conjunction so you can get a tour of SSL and Seti as well as a rubber chicken with the staff ought to bring in some $$ if there is good advance notice.

Gary

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... but we're getting hung up on the name "eBay" and ignoring the important part:

There are lots of good ideas here that SETI@Home can't do officially -- and there is nothing to say that we can't do them.

I'm asking folks to think about what they can do, and if that's stick junque on eBay then that's one thing that can be done. There are others.

All fine an well, but there are some issues. Most every thing someone comes up with is an idea to sell stuff. Selling stuff gets the tax man involved. Fine if the person selling doesn't mind footing that bill. If any of us want to sell our junk and donate the receipts to SETI that is a great thing. But I doubt we can sell candy bars door to door or put out give to Seti jars at local businesses like other fund raisers without jumping through all the registration steps.

Another issue that comes up is trust. How do we or the public at large know the person doing the selling is really going to send the money to SETI?

Next comes a legal issue. Without permission from SETI/Regents can someone even use the Seti@home name?

One thing we all can do is put a link to http://www.setiathome-store.com/index.html on all of our personal web pages, and we can do that today.

I won't suggest a "I've donated, how about you?" because everyone has donated at least their computer time and electric bill. I just don't think it would go over well.

I think what we need is a bunch of reasons for the 90+% of the people who crunch to consider giving to SETI. That may just be a much better explanation of what SETI is doing and how it gets funded. Perhaps a comparison of a wish list budget and the what we actually get budget.

One thing that Seti may be able to do is a lunch or dinner with Seti. I don't know if Berkley does an open house but done in conjunction so you can get a tour of SSL and Seti as well as a rubber chicken with the staff ought to bring in some $$ if there is good advance notice.

Gary

Another road block is the fact that many people think SETI is a large corporation already - or they heard that Paul Allen donated a large sum of money to the SETI Institute without knowing that the SETI Institute is completely different from SETI@Home. Without knowing this, if people start asking for donations to SETI, it can give the appearance that SETI@Home simply wants more and more than they already have, making them look greedy.

I know I've had this discussion with more than a few people - enough to give me the impression that people just don't know enough about SETI@Home. Awareness would have to be raised so that people know there's a difference.