aaaaa11 Posted March 14, 2015 Posted March 14, 2015 Towards the end of the most recent call in show, "Saying No to Marriage," Stef and Mike mentioned research studies that they wanted to conduct, but were unable to due to insufficient donations. I would love to get the community's feedback on the idea of asking donators to fund specific research studies as opposed to asking them to simply fund the show as a whole... I know the "business model" of FDR has been discussed ad nauseam. The purpose of this thread is not to question the business model of FDR as a whole. I simply wanted to put forward an idea for how to fund the research specifically. What if the FDR team and/or volunteers from the community put together a proposal for a given research project along with a budget needed for it to happen and then ask listeners/donators to fund that specifically? If the project is not funded sufficiently, the research is not conducted. If the research is funded sufficiently, the research is conducted. My hypothesis is that more people would donate if they knew that they would be getting back more than what they can get for free, and that they know they would be enabling something that would not be happening unless there is enough donation. If the hypothesis is wrong, then some time is wasted, but FDR can continue it's standard donation model, and hopefully eventually receive enough to fund the research. If the hypothesis is correct, then the research can be funded, potentially faster than it would otherwise, if it would be funded at all. If the hypothesis is not tested, it might take a really long time for the research to get funded, or it might never get funded at all. I put forward this idea because I would love to see FDR research projects happen and because I think it could help spread the messages of the show. Could this be a viable way to fund the research? I understand there are challenges in doing this, but are there ways to alleviate them? I understand this campaign would take some time. I for one would be willing to donate my time and/or money if it were needed, and I suspect others would too. 3
J-William Posted March 15, 2015 Posted March 15, 2015 What if the FDR team and/or volunteers from the community put together a proposal for a given research project along with a budget needed for it to happen and then ask listeners/donators to fund that specifically? If the project is not funded sufficiently, the research is not conducted. If the research is funded sufficiently, the research is conducted. My hypothesis is that more people would donate if they knew that they would be getting back more than what they can get for free, and that they know they would be enabling something that would not be happening unless there is enough donation. If the hypothesis is wrong, then some time is wasted, but FDR can continue it's standard donation model, and hopefully eventually receive enough to fund the research. If the hypothesis is correct, then the research can be funded, potentially faster than it would otherwise, if it would be funded at all. If the hypothesis is not tested, it might take a really long time for the research to get funded, or it might never get funded at all. Sounds good to me, Kickstarter has shown that giving people a specific objective can be really helpful in seeing whether there is interest. The tough part is getting serious research proposals, or getting serious researchers to take research ideas and doing the leg work to figure out costs and such. So what things do we think need some research?
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