Raising funds for TotJO

Darren wrote:

Akkarin wrote: We have the cafepress one linked at the bottom and also a Zazzle one here: http://www.zazzle.com/totjostore

I'll ask Proteus to put them both down there for the time being.

I don't intend to derail the conversation, but [strike]this store is so much cooler than[/strike] I had no idea we had the Zazzle store. Thanks for bringing that up, Akkarin.

I've just made a new merchandise article to explain some of the merchandise stuff: http://www.templeofthejediorder.org/component/content/article/40-information/2092-temple-of-the-jedi-order-merchandise

steamboat28 wrote: As a call-back to things I said in another thread whose url escapes me at the moment, there's also a very limited pool of people who would buy TOTJO merchandise--it's almost certainly limited to TOTJO members. Which is fine at first, because goods will get people to part with money quicker than a donate button, but at the same time, eventually you'll mine that out. And then what do we do?

TotJO is very passive, we always have been. We don't go on recruitment drives, we don't send PMs to people asking for donations, we don't try and sell people merchandise.

We let ourselves be open to the public and people join us.
We have a donate button and people give us money.
We have a merchandise store and people buy things.

We don't 'push', we just sit here and things take care of themselves.

If the store never sells anything then that doesn't matter, it isn't there to make money, it is there to provide TotJO branded merchandise to people that want it. Having the store costs us nothing, if it did we probably wouldn't have it, it just sits there and people buy now and then. It is not a question of 'mining out' because we aren't mining...

Kamizu wrote: Patches seem to be something a lot of people like. Plaques would be nice if people want a display for making rank or whatever. But a lot of this will be made to order so not much in the way of overhead I don't think

We had certificates, but Mark was in charge of them and he's gone, someone else did one the other week, I forget who but that was good. The certificates were pretty much free except for postage.

Jestor wrote: Thats why I am waiting for a 'fundraising team', that can handle this, :lol:...[/color]

:whistle:

Brenna wrote:

Jestor wrote: Thats why I am waiting for a 'fundraising team', that can handle this, :lol:...[/color]

:whistle:

Life being what it is, I wouldnt even ask...

If you have the time, and if you want to, your help would be appreciated...

But, it will happen one day, so, dont worry...

Me, trying to run such an ordeal, would be like you teaching martial arts...

You have a understanding of it in that you know what the words mean, but, you wouldnt try breaking boards on your first day...

I would have a lot of research to do, and I dont have the time... Or need..... Quite yet...

Akkarin wrote:

Kamizu wrote: Patches seem to be something a lot of people like. Plaques would be nice if people want a display for making rank or whatever. But a lot of this will be made to order so not much in the way of overhead I don't think

We had certificates, but Mark was in charge of them and he's gone, someone else did one the other week, I forget who but that was good. The certificates were pretty much free except for postage.

Yeah but plaques are COOLER than certs but they do cost a bit. This is an example of what I mean. I made this for a member who was leaving the Air Force but replace the squadron emblem with TotJO's, replace the name and rank and ta-da! Fancy hand-made plaque! And they come in all sorts of shapes and sizes too if you're not into the rustic look. I've got small (like six inch) round-shaped ones I want to burn and stain the TotJO star into just because I think it'd look pretty awesome. But it's just some ideas! Sorry I've been sick the last two days and a little giddy/silly right now due to lack of being able to eat much and a 10 week old 'parasite' I'm working on LOL.

But here's the plaque I made:


I love making things for people and I'd love to help out TotJO however I can. If it would be acceptable and wanted, I could put together a thread for hand-made items from where people could see things and contact me for information. I could charge for material and time (which would be almost half of what I would charge for similar items on Etsy), then add a little more for the Temple. I by no means want to try and make money off of the Temple and I hope I don't come across as such. I want to serve and this is one capacity that I feel I can contribute too. I just have these really cool ideas for some items I'd love to make but have no where to put them all if I did! HAhahaha And I love making things for people

Jestor wrote:

Brenna wrote:

Jestor wrote: Thats why I am waiting for a 'fundraising team', that can handle this, :lol:...[/color]

:whistle:

Life being what it is, I wouldnt even ask...

If you have the time, and if you want to, your help would be appreciated...

But, it will happen one day, so, dont worry...

Me, trying to run such an ordeal, would be like you teaching martial arts...

You have a understanding of it in that you know what the words mean, but, you wouldnt try breaking boards on your first day...

I would have a lot of research to do, and I dont have the time... Or need..... Quite yet...

Im pretty sure Ive stuck my hand up a couple of times to volunteer
Let me know if and how I can help.

Brenna wrote:

Jestor wrote:

Brenna wrote:

Jestor wrote: Thats why I am waiting for a 'fundraising team', that can handle this, :lol:...[/color]

:whistle:

Life being what it is, I wouldnt even ask...

If you have the time, and if you want to, your help would be appreciated...

But, it will happen one day, so, dont worry...

Me, trying to run such an ordeal, would be like you teaching martial arts...

You have a understanding of it in that you know what the words mean, but, you wouldnt try breaking boards on your first day...

I would have a lot of research to do, and I dont have the time... Or need..... Quite yet...

Im pretty sure Ive stuck my hand up a couple of times to volunteer
Let me know if and how I can help.

PM coming later....

Kamizu wrote: I love making things for people and I'd love to help out TotJO however I can. If it would be acceptable and wanted, I could put together a thread for hand-made items from where people could see things and contact me for information. I could charge for material and time (which would be almost half of what I would charge for similar items on Etsy), then add a little more for the Temple. I by no means want to try and make money off of the Temple and I hope I don't come across as such. I want to serve and this is one capacity that I feel I can contribute too. I just have these really cool ideas for some items I'd love to make but have no where to put them all if I did! HAhahaha And I love making things for people

Go for it and see how it works.

Brenna wrote: Im pretty sure Ive stuck my hand up a couple of times to volunteer

You gotta be careful doing that. One day they might call on you in class, and then you're in trouble.

Akkarin wrote: TotJO is very passive, we always have been. We don't go on recruitment drives, we don't send PMs to people asking for donations, we don't try and sell people merchandise.

We let ourselves be open to the public and people join us.
We have a donate button and people give us money.
We have a merchandise store and people buy things.

We don't 'push', we just sit here and things take care of themselves.

On this note, all I'm going to say is that, from what I've seen, Dudeism is more active than TOTJO.

Dudeism.

Let that sink in for a minute. A religion, based on a single cult film about a white-russian-drinking bathrobe-wearing nobody, whose sole tenet is "take it easy, man", is more active than a religion based on arguably the most successful sci-fi franchise of all recorded history, wherein the greatest sage seen in the films is quoted as saying "do or do not. there is no try."

steamboat28 wrote: On this note, all I'm going to say is that, from what I've seen, Dudeism is more active than TOTJO.

Dudeism.

Let that sink in for a minute. A religion, based on a single cult film about a white-russian-drinking bathrobe-wearing nobody, whose sole tenet is "take it easy, man", is more active than a religion based on arguably the most successful sci-fi franchise of all recorded history, wherein the greatest sage seen in the films is quoted as saying "do or do not. there is no try."

I don't understand the significance of this point. The only thing I can think of is... so what? :huh:

I'm happy being me, I'm not in competition with anyone and neither is TotJO.

Akkarin wrote:

steamboat28 wrote: On this note, all I'm going to say is that, from what I've seen, Dudeism is more active than TOTJO.

Dudeism.

Let that sink in for a minute. A religion, based on a single cult film about a white-russian-drinking bathrobe-wearing nobody, whose sole tenet is "take it easy, man", is more active than a religion based on arguably the most successful sci-fi franchise of all recorded history, wherein the greatest sage seen in the films is quoted as saying "do or do not. there is no try."

I don't understand the significance of this point. The only thing I can think of is... so what? :huh:

I'm happy being me, I'm not in competition with anyone and neither is TotJO.

I think that it may have been a joke based on the fact that Dudism has a creed of "chill out and relax maaaan". The attempted humor being that we are even more passive and non active on this front than a movement dedicated to being passive.

I could be wrong.

Akkarin wrote:
TotJO is very passive, we always have been. We don't go on recruitment drives, we don't send PMs to people asking for donations, we don't try and sell people merchandise.

We let ourselves be open to the public and people join us.
We have a donate button and people give us money.
We have a merchandise store and people buy things.

We don't 'push', we just sit here and things take care of themselves.

If the store never sells anything then that doesn't matter, it isn't there to make money, it is there to provide TotJO branded merchandise to people that want it. Having the store costs us nothing, if it did we probably wouldn't have it, it just sits there and people buy now and then. It is not a question of 'mining out' because we aren't mining...

So why do we have a marketing and PR department then? I'm assuming we have one as we have a head of marketing and PR.

Brenna wrote: So why do we have a marketing and PR department then? I'm assuming we have one as we have a head of marketing and PR.

Member: "I would like to buy some TotJO branded merchandise"
Councillor: "Ok cool, I'll get someone to organise that."

Journalist: "I would like to talk to someone about Jediism and TotJO."
Councillor: "Ok cool, I'll get someone to organise that."

Offices and departments arise out of need. There have been seven journalistic inquiries about TotjO since the beginning of January.

Akkarin wrote:

Brenna wrote: So why do we have a marketing and PR department then? I'm assuming we have one as we have a head of marketing and PR.

Member: "I would like to buy some TotJO branded merchandise"
Councillor: "Ok cool, I'll get someone to organise that."

Journalist: "I would like to talk to someone about Jediism and TotJO."
Councillor: "Ok cool, I'll get someone to organise that."

Offices and departments arise out of need. There have been seven journalistic inquiries about TotjO since the beginning of January.

Fair enough. An official contact person for media inquiries is important. But a media liaison and a marketing person are two totally different things

Our merchandise is not marketed either. Though I can appreciate people needing to be pointed towards the sales site.

As you have said yourself, we do not market TOTJO in any way.

Brenna wrote: Fair enough. An official contact person for media inquiries is important. But a media liaison and a marketing person are two totally different things

Our merchandise is not marketed either. Though I can appreciate people being needed to be pointed towards the sales site.

As you have said yourself, we do not market TOTJO in any way.

Maybe we are meant to do marketing... but I'm just too lazy? :woohoo:

Brenna wrote:

Akkarin wrote:

steamboat28 wrote: On this note, all I'm going to say is that, from what I've seen, Dudeism is more active than TOTJO.

Dudeism.

Let that sink in for a minute. A religion, based on a single cult film about a white-russian-drinking bathrobe-wearing nobody, whose sole tenet is "take it easy, man", is more active than a religion based on arguably the most successful sci-fi franchise of all recorded history, wherein the greatest sage seen in the films is quoted as saying "do or do not. there is no try."

I don't understand the significance of this point. The only thing I can think of is... so what? :huh:

I'm happy being me, I'm not in competition with anyone and neither is TotJO.

I think that it may have been a joke based on the fact that Dudism has a creed of "chill out and relax maaaan". The attempted humor being that we are even more passive and non active on this front than a movement dedicated to being passive.

I could be wrong.

I'll be honest, I must have read it like Akkarin, :lol:...

To be clear, you are saying Dudism, which, to be honest, would probably be my second choice for a religion lol...

Dudism is more aggressive in its tactics than we are?

Remember, as you are getting ready to type half of a sentence, then trail off, that things don't translate that well face to face sometimes...

Let alone over the internet...

Akkarin wrote:

Brenna wrote: Fair enough. An official contact person for media inquiries is important. But a media liaison and a marketing person are two totally different things

Our merchandise is not marketed either. Though I can appreciate people being needed to be pointed towards the sales site.

As you have said yourself, we do not market TOTJO in any way.

Maybe we are meant to do marketing... but I'm just too lazy? :woohoo:

"meant to" is irrelevant. But having a marketing department indicates that we do marketing, but you've said that we don't because its always been the policy not to

Akkarin wrote: Offices and departments arise out of need.

So if we do not do marketing, because its our policy not to, what need is there for a department or office of marketing?

Brenna wrote:

Akkarin wrote: Offices and departments arise out of need.

So if we do not do marketing, because its our policy not to, what need is there for a department or office of marketing?

Because we didnt know what to call our departments...

We picked names for them, and ran with it...

They can be changed...

We wondered about growth, what it would encompass, and all sots of things..

The only "marketing" we should do is in respects to what we can help with other people, meditation , life perspectives, etc.

Speaking of marketing....

I have some rat whiskers I'd like to sell! :whistle:

hahahhahahhahha :woohoo: