Read the related news article about this online fundraiser.
Q. What is Textpattern?
A. Textpattern is a Blog-CMS (Content Managemant System). It is a web application to publish content on the web easier than it was possible in earlier times of the Internet. It is based on the script language PHP and a database. You can create all kind of sites with Textpattern not just blogs. Textpattern was developed by Canadian Dean Allen some years ago. He published the software about 2 years ago under the GNU General Public License. That means everybody can use the code for free and modify it as he likes. ShareAfrica.org runs on TXP as far as i know and it is doing it quite well :).
Q. What is the Textpattern community? How large is the community and what made you decide to be a part of it?
A. TXP became quite popular right from the beginning. A strong community settled around it and started developing more and more features. Everybody can join and discuss technical stuff on the TXP boards. TXP´s community is rather strong although not very large. Probably a couple of thousand people use TXP. A smaller part of them are very active members that work as the moderators and developers. I got involved by accident 2 years ago. I was not particularly looking for an online community. I just slipped into TXP and stuck to it as i like the people there; very friendly and helpful. That is not always the case. And, of course, I like the software. I am an internet afficianado :)
Q. What was the purpose of the recent fundraiser that you organized? What are the challenges of organizing such a drive completely online? How did you communicate with prospective donors?
A. In Open Source communities like TXP has, everybody contributes their help and software code for free. Usually no one is paid. Some people contribute tremendous help and put a lot of effort into such a project. Some people and I got the feeling it was about time to say ‘Thank You’ and express our gratitude to those who support the project so much. So the fundraising was born.
I have never done a fundraising before. It was quite some work although a great experience to me. I learned a lot. It is certainly a great challenge to get that all organised online. I did post on the TXP boards but also sent out many, many emails to individual TXP users. The responses to my emails were overwhelming. More or less everybody answered and wanted to donate. (That was just before Christmas, which is usually a good time for fundraisings.) I opend up a PAYPAL account so people from the United States and Europe could donate via the Internet. As I was not familiar with PAYPAL I was a bit nervous at first that something could go wrong. But everything went well. For a small fundraising like ours i can recommend PAYPAL. They charge their fees but that is much less than transferring money via international banks.
My fundraising resume is: it is a lot of work, nearly a fulltime job. Hats off for everybody doing it.
Q. How did you manage to send presents to the developers and administrators of TxP when they live in different parts of the world? How did you know what they would like to receive?
A. I sent out emails to every gift recepient and asked them for their special wish. Many of the developers and admins keep an Amazon.com wishlist. I could order books, DVDs and so on from their wishlist. Sometimes I transferred the money to someone living in the recepient’s country via PAYPAL and then that person ordered the gifts.
Q. How did you learn about SHARE and what made you decide to donate excess funds to “Double Joy Farm”?
A. I can not remember when I first came across SHARE´s website but I remember I liked the whole project. It is small and has some recognizable projects like the Double Joy Farm. If I donate, I like to know who is getting the money and what it is spent for. I am a strong believer in: Sharing is Caring. We are all responsible for each other especially for the weak ones. As AIDS is a tremendous problem in Africa leaving thousands of childrens homeless and parentless and infected I believe the Double Joy Farm Project is especially worth being supported. Also I presumed that many TXP users would support SHARE and their projects too.
Q. While SHARE is always trying to find ways for people to donate to our cause, we would like to mention that this was the first time a fundraiser was done completely online in our history. Thank you for the inspiration!
A. You are welcome.
Q. You run the popular TXP Magazine. Tell us a bit about what it is and how it started.
A. First of all TXP Magazine is just a small project of mine featuring well designed websites run by Textpattern. I am into design and often work as a designer. So I consider it a passion of mine which I enjoy daily. Ahead of that I enjoy networking a lot. So no question I had to set up a design-networking project which turned out to be a magazine :). I started last year and by now we have 200 unique visitors a day. That is quite nice.
Q. Did you guys really send cheese to Dean? What was his reaction?
A. We wanted to but due to some export regulations between France and the cheesefactory in the UK it was not possible within that short time. So we sent books over to Dean. Well considering the cheese he likes, it was probably quite a good decision to send books :).
Let me add: All the best for SHARE and thanks for your work.