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Support QueerNet/OPG
Jun. 22nd, 2006 06:35 amPlease post anywhere you think might be appropriate:
This is Roger Klorese, Director of Hosting Services for Online Policy Group and founder of QueerNet, which operates as a major portion of OPG's hosting services.
When I set up QueerNet in 1991, its purpose was to provide a home for communities on the then-young Internet that would allow them to communicate and publish information, to meet, to socialize, to educate and to perform activism, free from censorship and squeamishness. Over the past decade-and-a-half, our charter has expanded to include other communities of interest, as well as other services. In 2000, Online Policy Group was established to perform activism and advocacy for the cause of equal access and anti-discrimination as well, and the California Community Colocation Project was subsequently added to OPG's portfolio.
The past year has been a very difficult one for us: the catastrophic data loss we suffered last September lost a lot of momentum for us. It depleted our volunteer pool, and cut our user and client population to about 45-50% of what it had been before the crash. It also served as a tremendous distraction from our normal ongoing fundraising process, making it extremely difficult for us to meet our monthly costs, as well as draining us of thousands of dollars for data recovery that was ultimately unsuccessful. And we also delayed the purchase of new equipment, which we need now very badly. On top of all this, we had to delay our normal April (tax refund time in the US) appeal.
For this and other reasons, there will be changes in the near future to some of OPG's services and personnel. However, the hosting services (list, web and email) have been able to be self-supporting in the past, and I am committed to seeing that, with your help, they continue and improve, fully supported by donations, with no advertising or other commercial control.
(One of the changes makes me sad as a person but very happy as a friend:
Will Doherty, founder of OPG -- with which QueerNet and California Community Colocation Project joined in 2000-2001 -- is stepping down from his long-term volunteer role at OPG to write historical fiction about Africa. Will feels it's time to make some changes in his life, and I'm pleased to see my friend working on things that excite him -- though I'll miss working with him on a day-to-day basis.)
Now more than ever, OPG/QueerNet hosting services need your financial and volunteer assistance. OPG is a tax-exempt 501(c)(3) organization in the United States which may accept contributions tax-deductible to the full extent of applicable law. OPG provides an acknowledgment and tax receipt for all donations over US$250 as required by the IRS, or for smaller donations if you provide us with an email address at the time you contribute or if you request a receipt delivered by snail mail.
If you possibly can do so, the best financial assistance for OPG is an ongoing automatic monthly donation. If you can sign up for as little as
$5 per month, you will help restore OPG's coffers and provide the predictable baseline of funding that will allow us to operate securely.
Of course, if you cannot, we appreciate individual donations as well.
And if your company offers donation matching, you can make your contribution go even further.
To make a recurring or individual payment using PayPal -- enabling us to accept credit card and bank account payments -- please use the form at http://onlinepolicy.org/joindonate.shtml
To donate by check or money order in US funds, please mail your contribution to:
Online Policy Group
304 Winfield Street
San Francisco, CA 94110-5512
Your donation will help keep us on the air, bring our hardware up-to-date, and improve our service and infrastructure.
I can tell you that, in the fifteen years I have been doing this, your help has never been as important. Please donate.
Roger B.A. Klorese
Director of Hosting Services, OPG
Founder, QueerNet
This is Roger Klorese, Director of Hosting Services for Online Policy Group and founder of QueerNet, which operates as a major portion of OPG's hosting services.
When I set up QueerNet in 1991, its purpose was to provide a home for communities on the then-young Internet that would allow them to communicate and publish information, to meet, to socialize, to educate and to perform activism, free from censorship and squeamishness. Over the past decade-and-a-half, our charter has expanded to include other communities of interest, as well as other services. In 2000, Online Policy Group was established to perform activism and advocacy for the cause of equal access and anti-discrimination as well, and the California Community Colocation Project was subsequently added to OPG's portfolio.
The past year has been a very difficult one for us: the catastrophic data loss we suffered last September lost a lot of momentum for us. It depleted our volunteer pool, and cut our user and client population to about 45-50% of what it had been before the crash. It also served as a tremendous distraction from our normal ongoing fundraising process, making it extremely difficult for us to meet our monthly costs, as well as draining us of thousands of dollars for data recovery that was ultimately unsuccessful. And we also delayed the purchase of new equipment, which we need now very badly. On top of all this, we had to delay our normal April (tax refund time in the US) appeal.
For this and other reasons, there will be changes in the near future to some of OPG's services and personnel. However, the hosting services (list, web and email) have been able to be self-supporting in the past, and I am committed to seeing that, with your help, they continue and improve, fully supported by donations, with no advertising or other commercial control.
(One of the changes makes me sad as a person but very happy as a friend:
Will Doherty, founder of OPG -- with which QueerNet and California Community Colocation Project joined in 2000-2001 -- is stepping down from his long-term volunteer role at OPG to write historical fiction about Africa. Will feels it's time to make some changes in his life, and I'm pleased to see my friend working on things that excite him -- though I'll miss working with him on a day-to-day basis.)
Now more than ever, OPG/QueerNet hosting services need your financial and volunteer assistance. OPG is a tax-exempt 501(c)(3) organization in the United States which may accept contributions tax-deductible to the full extent of applicable law. OPG provides an acknowledgment and tax receipt for all donations over US$250 as required by the IRS, or for smaller donations if you provide us with an email address at the time you contribute or if you request a receipt delivered by snail mail.
If you possibly can do so, the best financial assistance for OPG is an ongoing automatic monthly donation. If you can sign up for as little as
$5 per month, you will help restore OPG's coffers and provide the predictable baseline of funding that will allow us to operate securely.
Of course, if you cannot, we appreciate individual donations as well.
And if your company offers donation matching, you can make your contribution go even further.
To make a recurring or individual payment using PayPal -- enabling us to accept credit card and bank account payments -- please use the form at http://onlinepolicy.org/joindonate.shtml
To donate by check or money order in US funds, please mail your contribution to:
Online Policy Group
304 Winfield Street
San Francisco, CA 94110-5512
Your donation will help keep us on the air, bring our hardware up-to-date, and improve our service and infrastructure.
I can tell you that, in the fifteen years I have been doing this, your help has never been as important. Please donate.
Roger B.A. Klorese
Director of Hosting Services, OPG
Founder, QueerNet
