Loading...2017 has now come and, as of tonight, gone. For some of us it has been a very good year, for others a very bad one. Probably for most of us it has been mixed. For the blog, it has been very good indeed.
So here are some of the important results!
First, some background. As many of you know (some of you were actually here back then), we started this blog endeavor in April 2012. So we’ve been going at this for five years and nine months. The original purpose of the blog was to raise money for charity. Rather than using my somewhat limited culinary skills and even more limited time by volunteering for a local soup kitchen, I decided that I could use my scholarly skills more productively by starting a membership-only blog. Everyone thought I was crazy. This is the INTERNET!!! You can’t make people *pay* for it!
I ignored all the advice and scorned all the warnings and tried it anyway. My original thought — fool that I was – was that we could raise something like $20,000 a year. All the money would go to charities dealing with human suffering – principally hunger and homelessness.
I had no idea of the real potential – and now that we are at this advanced point I realize we are still nowhere near the real potential. But here are some of the numbers.
The most gratifying is this: as of this past month we have surpassed $500,000 raised and distributed to charities. That’s half a million. We’re talkin’ some serious money here.
To my surprise (I just added up the numbers) this past year was over 10% better than last year. We raised $134,000 in 2017. That’s $367 per day, each and every day of the year. Many thanks to all of you who pay your hard-earned money to be on the blog, and many, many thanks to those of you who, on top of your membership fees, have made generous and gratifying donations to the blog. I sometimes wonder how I can keep going with this endeavor because of the time (and emotional) commitment. But how can I stop???
In terms of other numbers: I have made just over 270 posts on the blog in 2017; that’s just over 5.2 per week, so still on my 5-6/week ideal, but more toward the 5 than the 6. Altogether since starting the blog I have made 1666 posts. I’m not sure what to do with that 666. Make of it what you will.
Comments have increased, somewhat significantly. This past year there were a total of 15,500 comments made on the various posts (and in response to other comments). That comes to over 42 comments each and every day of the year. The problem (for me) is that I have to look over the comments to make sure they are acceptable (my main criteria: are they related to the blog, polite, and non-political?) and then post them; and (bigger problem) I have to, and am committed to, answering each and every question, so long as I can (i.e. if I know an answer or can look it up). Apologies for those of you who want long interchanges with me. I’m afraid terse but direct answers/replies are all I can do. I wish it were otherwise!
All in all, then, things are going very well indeed, and have the potential of getting better. Here I’ll give just one reflection on the blog from my personal point of view as the kurios blogou (roughly translated: “Lord of the Blog”) and give one possible improvement we are thinking about implementing.
My personal reflection is the same one I have made every time anyone for over five years has asked me about the blog. I enjoy very much making scholarship on the various topics we cover on the blog – the New Testament, the historical Jesus, the life and writings of Paul, the apocryphal books (that did not make it into the New Testament), the history of the early church, the formation of the canon, the manuscripts of the early Christian writings, and on and on – available to a wider public, so that this information doesn’t just stay with the scholars who do the hard work in researching it all. At the same time, it’s a lot of work and the more the blog grows (which is the *point*, after all, to make it grow) the more work there is: more comments to approve, more questions to answer, and so on). It takes a good bit of time out of my already hectic schedule. My guess is that I spend probably 8-9 hours a week on blog-related issues, all told.
On one hand, that’s not *that* much time. It’s not like it’s my full time job. On the other hand, I do have other things to do with my life. And 8 hours a week, say, translates into well over 400 hours a year, which translates into ten, count them, ten, 40-hour weeks of work that I could be spending on research for my next book or reading in fields I’m interested in (from the history of English literature to the mind-body problem to astronomy to…. I’m interested in lots of things.) or doing other things, like watching soaps and eating bon-bons.
OK, I would never, ever watch soaps and eat bon-bons. But I *would* watch a lot more football and drink beer…..
I have heard numerous solutions to this problem: hire an assistant to review comments; get a grad student to do it; have guests write some of the posts; etc.. These are all very good ideas, but for various reasons are not practicable. So for now we plow ahead, happily doing the work and raking in the cash.
Which brings me to the idea we’re exploring. The only reason I keep doing this is because of the charities. I don’t keep a dime myself and, in fact, pay almost all the expenses of the blog out of my own pocket. But I’m always interested (keenly interested) in figuring out how to raise more money with the blog.
I often am told we should raise prices. That’s obviously an option. A year’s membership for $24.95 is a bargain – and is the same price as in 2012! But for some people $2/month is a lot, and I don’t want to turn off people who can’t afford more than that.
SO, a blog member recently made a suggestion that struck me as unusually brilliant. We already have an option of a one-month trial membership for $3.95 and a three-month for $7.95. How about, for people who want to be year-long members, have the option of being a “sustaining member” at various levels, where a certain amount is paid each *month*, which, looked at from one point of view, is actually not much money, but over the course of the year actually *is*?
I’m thinking about it. For example, we could have a bronze-level sustaining membership at $5/month; a silver-level at $10; and a gold-level at $20. That would translate into some serious revenue for the blog, and for some members of the blog who really, really like what they’re getting here, it would (a) not be a burden and (b) be something they would be willing, possibly even eager, to participate in.
What do you think?
The ultimate objectives of the blog remain intact, here at the end of our sixth calendar year: to disseminate scholarly knowledge of the New Testament and the writings and history of early Christianity to a broad reading public, and in doing so to raise money for charities. We are willing go do anything we can do in order to promote both objectives even better. If you do have any suggestions, let me know.
Let me close by making two public expressions of thanks. First, to my assistant from the beginning, Steven Ray, who deals with every single technical aspect of the blog, which are so mind-numbingly complicated at times that I cannot begin to explain. He is an extremely hard-working computer genius and all of us owe him our deep-felt thanks. And second, to all of you, who participate in the blog, paying your fees, reading the posts, sometimes making comments, and generally interacting, either as a silent observer or an active participant: Many, many thanks for making this happen.
Finally, please accept all best wishes for a happy and fulfilling 2018!!
This is fantastic!!
Happy New Year, everyone!!!
Thank you, Bart and thank you, Steven for such a hard work!
Super happy and proud to be a part of this very important endeavour.
Thanks to both Steven Ray and you. It has been a lot of work for you two and we appreciate that work a lot. Happy New Year. In all honesty, any idea you come up with is fine with me.
You were ahead of the curve, Bart. More and more, they are making people pay for the internet. But it only works if you’re providing something people really want, and can’t get elsewhere.
And of course, there’s only so many memberships/subscriptions one can afford. There are certain built-in limitations, but ad-supported sites are increasingly becoming impractical (the ads don’t make enough money and are increasingly intrusive), so the subscriber system is becoming a commonplace, and it comes with a great side-benefit–a lot fewer trolls lurking in the undergrowth.
I’ve been fortunate with my blog, which I’ve never paid a cent for–I have a solid group of people who come by to discuss books with me, no trolling (because it’s too specialized), and it’s been very rewarding. I’ve had less than 100k views in over four years. I surely never raised anything for charity–half a million! I can barely wrap my head around that sum.
Right now, I couldn’t pay more than I do, but I’d consider it in future. This and the New York Times are the only sites I pay to use. You’ll understand, if it came to a budget choice, I’d have to go with the Times. But I’d be tormented by the choice. Let that cup pass my lips, Lord! 😉
Dear Bart,
I want to wish you and all your loved ones a happy and healthy 2018 and beyond. Your books and the blog have been very helpful and meaningful to me. The charity you provide to those in need both from your own funds and the funds from the blog is inspiring and speaks so very well of you.
Sincerely,
David
P.S. The time spent on the blog is much better for you than drinking more beer would be. 🙂
Thank you for this wonderful opportunity of conversing with a scholar.
First of all, I’m glad you ignored naysayers who thought your blog didn’t have a chance. This blog is very special, and no other blog in this genre can even come close to its excellence.
Normally, if someone is at gold status, s/he would get something more in return as opposed to bronze status. Is there something in return for becoming a gold member? When a fee is taken out once a year, it’s not so bad. When it pings the checking account every month, it’s a different story. My worry is that it may cause some reluctance in making more generous donations throughout the year. If someone does choose to become a gold member, maybe give the option for it to be taken out all at one time.
A few weeks ago, a call out was made for donations. One person posted what he gave and then another. It seemed to create an energy for inspiring several to donate. I think people connect more with visuals and a goal. I’m not sure it’s possible, but if there could be something on the side of the blog or something in our line of sight that shows a goal and the daily progression of it, I think it could drive our natural inclination to reach the finish line.
I’m all for the blog generating more donations. However, I am not for placing people into a class-type system. Right now, everyone is the same. Some have free memberships because they can’t afford it. We don’t know who they are, and I like it that way. We’re functioning as a team.
As far as your time and energy goes, I think you’re dealing with an opportunity cost, a term that stuck with when I took an economics class. In order to get something, you have to be willing to give up something else. You’re the centerpiece and driving force of the blog and there’s really no way around it. I know there’s been several who’ve suggested hiring an assistant, but honestly, I don’t believe they’re thinking clearly. Once you pull back, so will the members; that’s the opportunity cost. The only thing that I can come up with that may not impact the blog and help you out is by scaling back on the number of posts each week.
If I ever become wealthy, I swear to make an obscene donation to the blog!
Again, thanks for your work on this project. At $25/year I am happy to purchase a membership and donate a free membership, because $50 is my upper limit. I’m not sure what one would receive at each of the levels, but it would affect my decision.
Personally, I hope you won’t change anything.
No, no,no ! Thank YOU! Do you know how rare it is for an everyday Joe or Jill to have access to a reknowned scholar that shares his/her knowledge and answers our questions? I am beyond impressed by your gift of time and energy put into this blog. If you ever harbor a doubt if it is at all worth it, let me assure you it is. Beside my fascination with religion (considering I have none), I am also “into” European history, medical history and cooking. Excepting the cooking, I don’t know of any high level scholars that offer a blog for the lay public in other fields. Some of them may have blogs but they are so scholastic that I would never ask a question on them. I am not intimidated to ask on yours and Thank You for that. Best wishes for 2018! Now on to the next 1/2 million.
I contribute to a number of other charities. Dropping this blog over a price increase would not be a difficult decision for me to make. As a member since nearly the beginning, however, it is a choice I’d rather not make.
There are a number of other scholars who blog and don’t charge anything.
Without any tangible benefit to the higher price it’s an expense I would not be able to justify. Note, “tangible benefit” doesn’t mean post more. I would be happy if you posted 2-3 times a week as long as all posts were original. No blasts from the past and no re-posting from your books. I’ve read them all already.
I’m not suggesting raising the prices for anyone!
Sounds like an excellent idea. I would probably do the silver level. It might be nice to give some special recognition to the gold level members as an incentive to join at the highest level–maybe give them first dibs on submitting topic ideas or something like that.
I work with two non-profits and both use sustaining memberships as a means of increasing donations. $8 a month is easier than cutting a check for $100. Or at least so it seems. Keep up the good work.
I like the idea of some premium membership levels, but perhaps there should be some nominal distinctions/gifts/recognitions. That seems to be the usual approach.
Happy New Year Bart!
Many, many thanks for all of your hard work in making this very educational blog available.
I am a new member here and came here after watching some of your Youtube videos. I want to say something to you that I bet would be what at least a few others think as well. First, a disclaimer.
I grew up Quaker. Over 35 years ago, I studied all faiths and decided that only two could be true or made sense…Catholicism/Orthodoxy or Orthodox Judaism. After about a year in prayer over this, I became Roman Catholic. Still believe it and pretty sure that I always will.
However, over the last decade my desire to understand the origins of Christianity and how the Jews at the time of Christ lived/believed has greatly increased. While I already have a Master’s in Nonprofit Management, I enrolled at UNCC just to be able to pursue independent studies and take a few classes with Dr. James Tabor regarding early Christian Origins, especially related to the archaeology of the time. I hope at some point to take classes with you at UNC Chapel Hill (I live in Greensboro and run a Catholic ministry there). We will see how life unfolds. I also take classes online at Holy Apostles College and Seminary with my ultimate goal of getting a Ph. D. in Catholic Theology and to write when I retire on Josephology…the theological study of St. Joseph in the Catholic tradition.
I tell you this because I want to thank you for the difference you have made in my academic/faith journey. While I hope to take classes some day with you, I know that may never happen. I follow a number of scholars regarding the Hebraic Roots Movement as well. What I enjoy about everything of yours I have read or heard on Youtube, is that you seem to be an honest scholar…seeking truth…and teaching truth. You recognize and acknowledge your own beliefs and will change your opinions over the years as you learn and study more. This is absolutely a rare trait in many of the popular scholars today who seem at some point to go from objectively teaching to promoting sensational theories that seem designed to sell books rather than just offer POSSIBILITIES as to what MAY have been the historical truth. I trust your opinions, what you teach and what you think. With some of the others, even some of the ones that I respect their scholarship, I have to filter out their opinions. From the bottom of my heart, thank you for being a trustworthy guide and teacher.
Now my suggestions. First, keep your lower pricing for your basic offerings since they seem to be helping you achieve your stated goals of increased income for charities as well as to make your scholarship available to more people. Consider adding a most pricey service for those of us who would LOVE to ask you questions or seek opinions from you regarding our own theses or theories. I do not know whether you have time or not for this, but I know I would pay a lot for that from time to time.
Secondly, I have run a successful ministry and nonprofit for almost 25 years in NC. I am more than willing to offer any technical or administrative help I can to you for free, if you need such help. I am just learning biblical studies, but I have LOTS of experience and have a certain expertise in nonprofit management that is yours for the asking.
God bless you, sir. Thank you again for the service you provide to Truth and learning. I pray your New Year is a happy, healthy and successful one!
O. Albert Hodges, M.A.
Happy New Year, Bart. One of the main reasons I stay subscribed is because of the good causes the blog donates to. I try to keep my questions short, hopefully the blog will never become too taxing for you!
Is writing the blogs, on the one hand, or, on the other hand, authorizing the comments and responding to questions more time-consuming? I hate to bring up what might be opening a can of worms but if it ever comes down to a choice between continuing the blog and responding to questions, I vote for the blog itself. And maybe periodically the blog itself could address questions, e.g., somewhat like the readers’s mailbag does now but also including a series of short responses to selected (and well-formulated) questions.
As I say I hate to suggest it because being able to ask you questions is in some respects the most valuable (and unique?) aspect of the blog. But if the blog grows as you want it to grow it’s just going to become more and more time-consuming to answer all questions.
It’s about 50/50. I’ll keep up the current approach till it becomes unmanageable. So far so good!
Yes. Sustaining membership levels sounds like an easy one, Bart. Wish I’d thought of it. Sign me up, lol! 🙂
And to piggyback an earlier suggestion on to this excellent sustaining membership idea, cut your workload by limiting commenting privileges to bronze or higher sustaining members. Everybody gets to read. But to kibitz, ya gotta kick in a little extra.
Thank you so *very* much, Bart, for all of your hard work!
Limiting commenting privileges to bronze or higher sustaining members is a really good idea.
I love reading and learning from the blog and the fact that the money goes to help those in need. But $5 a month ($60 a year) might be a little steep for some folks. I think the levels of payment is a good idea (some folks can afford more than others), but maybe the levels could start at $2.50 a month.
How did it happen that, for early Christians, faith rather than works came to be seen as what made people right with God and brought salvation? It seems clear that Jesus himself taught that the good works of the Jewish Law, thoroughly inspired by love, is what qualified people for the inclusion in the imminent kingdom of God that Jesus proclaimed. Jesus’s death and resurrection must have had something to do with it. However, early Christians, despite Jesus’s death, still expected the kingdom upon his return–which was expected shortly. I can understand how, after the resurrection and as he gradually came to be seen as divine in important ways, there would be more emphasis on Jesus himself and less perhaps on what he had taught. Still, there seems to be a missing link as to how good works came to be replaced by faith. Perhaps it was the interpretation of Jesus’s death as atonement for sin that made works less important? Perhaps atonement made works beside the point?
Yes, I think that’s it. Once Jesus’ death is what mattered for one’s relationship to God, then it didn’t make sense to say that one could behave in some way to earn that relationship — becuase if you could, then why would Jesus have to die?
Thanks for the response. I can’t think of a better reason.
But I want to sharpen my point a little. Not only did the early Christians expect Jesus to return but to return IN JUDGEMENT, similar perhaps to the sheep and goats story. Judgement would seem to put a very heavy emphasis on good works.
I suppose the early Christians must have thought they would be judged based on whether or not they had faith–or maybe they thought that good works were done in response to atonement, e.g., out of gratitude or even out of joy?
Yes, I think that’s right.
“… for early Christians, faith rather than works came to be seen as what made people right with God and brought salvation …”
This way of interpreting Paul became especially popular with the Protestant reformation so I would be wary of attributing it too widely or easily to “early Christians.” There are better ways of reading Paul within his own Jewish context and clearly the synoptic gospels, decades after Paul, still attributed a great deal of importance to following Jesus’ teachings and following at least the most important moral laws. There are indeed seeds of atonement/ransom/liberation theology in the New Testament but it really isn’t the sola fide caricature of Luther’s theology. Fundamentalist evangelical Christians tend to exaggerate these motifs with some later medieval atonement theology and ignore the other rather obvious parts of Paul and the other New Testament authors which do not fit their view of easy faith and cheap grace.
2017 has been a fantastic year for the blog. Many thanks for your tireless efforts in regularly posting items and encouraging support of charities. A winner!
I do have some concern about the proposed bronze, silver and gold level sustaining membership and suspect many readers would discontinue their membership for various reasons such as too busy, work, holidays and so on especially when they see that they are regularly paying for something that they are not using or accessing. I think you might find a greater turnover with many more very short term memberships and then cancellations. This proposal could also chew up into your ability to seek additional donations. After all, if I am already paying $x per month, one might see that as my donation. I also prefer to pay a fixed annual membership and then make donations to the blog when I can. I also like to be able to give a gift of a subscription to the blog, as is presently the case. I think the blog is good value, and think a small increase to say a maximum of $29.95 (plus a similar small increase to your other membership options) would be reasonable and should not affect your subscriptions.
The blog website has obviously grown significantly in size since its inception and has much value. Perhaps different levels of membership could be offered to access blogs from prior to joining the blog and the discussion forums.
Best wishes for 2018.
I’m not suggesting this model as a *replacement* for what is already available. It would be an additional option.
Bart,
Your idea of different levels of membership is good, but usually, for this type of thing, people would need an incentive to buy up to the higher level. You would have to promise more access within the blog; something like:
Bronze level – access to the blog and archive, but no ability to ask questions or make comments (this would cut down on your time commitment as well)
Silver level – same as Bronze, but you are able to ask questions and make comments
Gold level – Same as Silver, but even more access. I’m not sure what would make sense – maybe things like first access to your new books or articles, you will sign copies of your books, invitation to yearly blog appreciation event/party, etc.
You could even more openly solicit large contributions like the recent back and forth on the synoptic problem. In other words, in exchange for a contribution of $1000 or more, you will tackle a single relevant topic chosen by the donator (and approved by you) for a week and let them write a closing summary.
A very Happy New Year to you, and Mr Ray as well…”thank you” for this blog.
Here is an idea to help keep handling comments manageable for yourself, especially as the number of members hence average daily comments grow over time: each year, everyone has an allowance of say 6 posts (average of 1 post every 2 months) on which they can enter comments. All the comments and follow-up comments on a post use up only one allowance. After the allowance is used up, members can purchase extra allowance for the year (say US$2 for 6 posts). Members can also purchase a premium membership whereby number of comments is unrestricted, as is currently the case for everyone. The objective is two-fold: reduce number of comments you have to read and to reply hence reducing demand on your time; raise more money from those who demand more of your time; automatically enforce discipline on your readers so they refrain from commenting unless they have something they are particularly eager to inquire about. Do get feedback from the membership e.g. whether they would be a) less inclined b) a lot less inclined c) no less inclined, to renew membership if they are limited on posting comments. I think many members are not fully conscious that their comments create extra demand on your time. When there is a pricing system, it creates discipline for members to post comments only if they are really keen, and when they want to comment more, they can pay a little extra every time. If the demand keeps growing, eventually, this blog becomes infeasible and you have to close, everybody loses (or you have to disable all comments). Members during their first year get unrestricted allowance. There is of course the technological feasibility to consider as well. If it is, the first step is to set up a monitor system to figure out the distribution of number of posts made by members per year, how frequency vary over time, so you can get the allowance pricing at a level which would reduce significantly the total number of posts, and figure out how many heavy commenters there are (hence allow you to set optimally the extra amount of money premium membership and purchase for extra allowances would raise). The monitor system may be able to retrospectively analyse data from the past years of traffic. For some occasional posts (e.g. ones which do not require membership to access; posts not about biblical scholarship but about management of the blog, year in review etc.), comments do not take up allowance and are flagged as such. You can try the new system for a short period to see if there is adverse impact e.g. number of people failing to renew membership fee increases (set up system so those who do not renew can click on box for the reason for not renewing). Setup a Monkey Survey (www.surveymonkey.co.uk) to get feedback for the different options, number of people who think it is a good idea, number of people interested in premium membership & amount they are prepared to pay etc.
As years go by, you will increase collection of past posts you can reuse hence reduce demand on your time (many people may not have read old ones or forgotten the content). Conversely, the number of comments will increase with time if the blog becomes more successful. Hence the latter needs to be brought under control. By significantly reducing the total number of comments, it provides benefits to members because you are more able to provide longer replies by freeing up total time.
Also do a Monkey Survey to get feedback on number of posts members like to see on average per week. I think very few people would mind if you reduce the number of posts per week by one. This is a precious hour saved per week.
Bart:
I really enjoy this blog and over the years have read most of your books. While my early beliefs in Christianity have changed very much over a long life, I remain very interested in the development of Judaism and Christianity. I am not sure that I can call myself a Christian at this point on my journey but find the tenants of helping others, especially the poor, the sick and the displaced to be of great importance. I am looking forward to your new book. I enjoy watching your debates on UTube and learn something while being entertained. Thank you for doing this great work and allowing us to participate in your generosity to worthy charities.
Have a great new year!
Ed Meyer
Suggestion for raising funds. Help people learn Latin and or Greek. Post short sections of gospel or letters. Help translation, give a few vocabulary works and one basic syntax. You could charge a nominal fee per month.
Just a thought.
Ten dollars a month is painless for me, based on my modest retirement income. It’s my standard way of supporting causes I endorse. Since I’m already making a monthly donation above the annual fee, I’d have to go to the next level to make a bigger difference, which I’d be happy to do. If it’s a burden, Netflix or Hulu can go. I say do it!
Maybe I should say what I mean, right out. A while back, you asked that anyone who could afford it donate $25 a month to the Blog. I’ve been doing that, and I assume a good many others have been doing it too. I’m certainly not going to do that AND pay for some higher status of membership! (Which I think is a very bad idea, in any case.)
That’s great! No need to do both!!
Personally I think the sustaining membership option is an excellent idea. I would definitely participate.
Hi Bart,
Thanks for your charitable work and for making yourself available to us. I just renewed my commitment to the “Gold Membership” level for the coming year, and yes, like the Pharisee who prayed loudly for all to hear, I wouldn’t mind having a “Gold Member” badge next to my name! (Seriously, I do think public recognition of donation level would be a huge driving force for the blog’s monetary success. Good luck!)
A rough analysis shows that some would welcome the opportunity to donate beyond their membership fee to sustain the foundation’s charitable giving. Others, perhaps not realizing that this would be optional, didn’t want any change at all. Some were not adverse to levels of giving but either thought ranking them from bronze upward was not egalitarian or that there should be an incentive attached to each. In the end it’s Bart’s call. My thougts are that the system needs to be simple and inviting. Perhaps the annual goal can be broken into quarters and tracked. The last week of the quarter, progress could be reported and members asked to consider making a one-time donation or, if they are able making a recurring donation of whatever amount they are able. The announcement would say something like “The foundation’s goal this year is to provide $…. in charitable giving. In order to stay on track, we need # of members to step up with a donation whether one-time or recurring in what ever amount feels right. If you enjoy the blog, you can also ell a friend about it. New members aee always welcome.” I think this could run once a quarter during pledge week, and a good place to run this reminder is in the middle of a post where in red font it says something like “You need to log in to continue reading…. “
Thanks!
Suggestion: You currently allow comments on any one of your thousands of posts, regardless of the age of the post. Consider closing comments on posts after one week. Many other blog authors do this. This should cut down on the number of comments to moderate.
I see that someone above has proposed tying access to level of payment. I don’t agree; I appreciate the philosophy of this blog that lets anyone post comments (if they are at all germane) and that you try to answer every question (even mine!). That sort of access should not be based on ability or desire to pay.
But since this is a charity, perhaps a charity drive might help. Kind of like what NPR does. Two or four times a year, write a post specifically inviting contributions. Maybe the top 10 contributors get a personal thank-you email. (I wouldn’t mind a free copy of your next book, but that would be pushing it!).
A couple of years ago, I started sending $7 per month to the blog, it was easy and I intend to increase it to $10 in 2018. Try it, it is fairly painless and it could have a huge impact if we all did it. Of course, maybe many already do.
Many thanks for your donations! Several others do the same thing, and I very much appreciate it. I’ve urged others, but have had limited success, even though they often say they think the blog is worth more than they pay for it. I’m thinking the sustaining member idea may be an elegant solution!
Happy New Year Bart!
I will pay more for your blog and want to continue to pay on an annual basis. Also, I hope you will maintain the frequency of your comments at 5 to 6 times per week. You are doing an admirable and very worthwhile task in educating your followers and raising money for charity.
Your scholarly research approach to Christianity and religion is of great value to me and I look forward every day to reading your blog. I want to know the truth about religion, and you are helping me find it.
I would love to have a few beers with you, my treat.
Keep up the good work!
I am one of the benefactors of this blog for many reasons. I have a very limited income. When I first joined several years ago, I was able to pay the blog fee. I had a part time job. When I turned 80, I had to give up the job. As expenses rose and my income did not, it became harder to find the extra money but I couldn’t abide the thought of giving up the blog. So, I bit the bullet and asked for the help available to those of us in my position and have been granted a free membership this past year and again for the coming year. I thank you very much and also thank those who made that possible.
Thanks for another great year, Bart!
With regard to your time, it seems like an awful lot to me, and although I’m appreciative, I personally would be fine with, say, four posts per week rather than 5+.
On memberships, it seems many people misunderstood your suggestion. You want to offer sustaining memberships as an *additional option* beyond what’s available today. And you’re not giving Silver, Gold, etc. members any special benefits. Right?
No one should complain about having an additional option that takes nothing away from what they have today. It’s just another way of making an extra contribution beyond membership. I personally prefer donating in one shot, and I do contribute beyond membership, but others may want to pay monthly.
*You* have to consider whether the sustaining option will result in more people choosing that rather than one time additional gifts, and those sustaining members dropping out before they’ve paid what they otherwise would have paid in one donation, but the *members* should not have a problem.
Best of luck! And please come to NYC for dinner!
Thank you for so much. My obsession for God and Truth has been so comforted by you… I’m not going crazy after all!. This year, I’ve made a commitment to help start a non-profit (One Earth One Family) to help fund and raise money for all positive charities, especially yours. Hopefully I can help give back to YOU (someone who has given so much to so many). Much love.
The idea of sustaining memberships is a great one. I would definitely go for it.
I agree with your decision not to raise prices; your modest base subscription is affordable for most, and increasing it might cause you to lose some who can only marginally afford a subscription. I also like the idea of offering levels of additional support and monthly contributions, an easy way for many to provide additional funds.
Blog Subscriptions are also great Gifts. You might increasingly promote them. It could be an easy way to garner new subscribers long term.
You have mentioned in your lectures that the non-religious community has not responded to human needs in the way religions have, and until they do, religions will have a major role in the human experience. THAT HAS CHANGED, or at least it is changing.
The Oasis Secular Community movement (not to be confused with the Oasis Community Church) began in Houston, Texas, in 2012, with conversations among friends of former pastor, Mike Aus. From their initiation of weekly, Sunday meetings based on a few, simple principles, emerged a movement that consists of about a dozen communities in the US and Canada, with several others in the planning stage. Oasis is a Secular Community Based on Compassion and Reason. Core values: People are more important then beliefs; Reality is known through reason; Meaning comes from making a difference; Human hands solve human problems; Be accepting and be accepted. Membership represents a wide range of philosophies and includes diversity in most any measure of humans, including atheists, agnostics, former ministers, theists and former theists. Meetings are positive, and speakers represent a wide range of topics and expertise. Religious bashing is rare, “evangelistic atheists notwithstanding.” We meet Sundays, 10:30 am – Noon, with several going to lunch at a designated place to continue the conversation. Meetings include music; a short, topical presentation by a member; break for coffee, snacks and conversation; main speaker. Child care is provided.
Oasians participate in numerous outreach and community service projects, often in collaboration with other social service organizations.
Houston Oasis: http://www.houstonoasis.org/
National Network: http://www.peoplearemoreimportant.org/
I support Oasis, and I will increase my support to The Bart Ehrman Blog, for each, in their own way, have made major contributions to my years of retirement.
Thanks for the information.