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Originally Posted by marie065
hi chris
i've seen this on other sites where members (those who want to) donate to the admin of the site to help with the cost of setting up and running the site. it could only be 1-5 euros a year . and there status (member) changes to donator. i've seen this on a few sites and it was just a thought as you do a great job of this site and i'm sure i'm not the only that thinks this.
what does any one else think about this ???
all the best marie065
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Hi marie065,
When JumbleTown was set up in April 2006, it was deliberately designed to be a free service in order to encourage greater public use. (The developers of the site had been sitting on the idea since 2003 but decided to go "live" in 2006 when an OECD report stated that Ireland produced more waste per capita than any other developed nation, including America.)
JumbleTown's web-hosting costs are just about covered by the Google ads that are fed onto the site.
Fifteen of the 34 or so local authorities around the country recognise the environmental/community service that the site provides and have kindly given us some money for advertising/marketing (not for labour). This money comes from the Local Agenda 21 Scheme. For the record, the local authorities that are supporting JumbleTown in 2007/2008 are:
a. Kildare County Council
b. Kilkenny County Council
c. Clare County Council
d. Limerick City Council
e. Limerick County Council
f. Cork County Council
g. Offaly County Council
h. Louth County Council
i. South Tipperary County Council
j. Longford County Council
k. Galway City Council
l. Galway County Council
m. Meath County Council
l. Wexford County Council
m. Sligo Borough Council
We've been in touch with central government (the Dept of the Environment) enquiring about a public-private partnership to help develop the site (after all, we do offer a public service, and one that is not offered by all local authorities), but we've been told that public-private partnerships are only for "big" projects such as water-treatment plants and...eh..ahem!...incinerators. We're currently investigating sources of funding outside Ireland but EU bureaucracy is mind-blowing...
I think charging people for the service is a non-runner; it hasn't happened up to now and I'm pretty certain that it will remain so. However, allowing donations may be another matter. I'll put your suggestion to the managers of JumbleTown.
Thanks for the feedback.
Regards
Chris P
Admin