Conundrum

With the exception of the final forms, the website is done and is just a few hours of work away from being able to launch with advertising and the press release and hopefully it would grow.

But, we've unexpectedly learned we're moving away from California in four short weeks. At the same time, I need to start figuring out ways to do things like this from home to help the family income, even though volunteer work is a worthy cause, time I spend on it is time I'm not helping support the family.

The only way I can see it working is if can get one large or a few smaller corporate sponsors. Then I can turn it over to someone here in California (I've got someone in mind) and they can manage and promote it as a part time job.

But I do need to finish the forms and then put together the sponsorship proposal, but I don't know if I can get to that right away with the move coming up. I'll see what I can do. I really like this project and don't want to let it go.

The site is done

Here is the site: suburbanharvest.org.

Enjoy!

Suburban Harvest Soft-Launch

I put up the site with low-tech forms before my vacation and told a few people about it. I have a harvest date on 2/2, which we're going to do ourselves and see how logistics work (thanks, Brandy!) I've promised my husband won't take on any more projects (besides mamamelodrama and this) until I know if it will take much time to do.

When I return from vacation, I'll put out some press releases, send out to a few more people and see if we get any media bites. I also put in the fancy forms.

That's where we're at.

ARG. Forms don't work

Don't test if you are on a mac, it doesn't work. It may work if you are on a PC, let me know. I'm going to try to get the forms database-driven today, but I can't tell if that is a stay-up-until-1am project or a stay-up-until-1am-for-a-week-project.

That's what I get for hiring an amateur.

It's up!

It still needs tweaking (like the forms are still html that is emailed to me, which is lame, but I haven't finished the ASP.NET tutorials yet).

Feedback is very welcome. I'm hoping to get the database-driven forms before we go to Utah next Wednesday, but that may be ridiculous.

Interested parties, feel free to test all the links and submit test forms to me so I can see if it is working. Email me or comment here if you do.

When we get back from Utah, if the forms are working properly, I'll send out the press release and you can all feel free to print flyers and give them to your neighbors with heavy trees!

Valerie

Nearly there!

Here's another picture I made.


We'r almost done!

OK. IT'S MY TURN TO BLOG

I WAS SORTTA THE FOUNDER OF "SUBURBAN HARVEST''.I AM GOING TO START WORKING WITH IT AND BLOGGING BECAUSE:

• I LIKE TO,
• THE WEB SITE IS ALMOST DONE,
• IT'S FUN

I KNOW IT WILL BE FUN-BEN D.C.

The Web Site is Almost Ready!

The domains (.org and .com) have been purchased with the first two months of hosting ($30), most of the pages are complete, and I expect the site to be up and running next week. There are two last steps--getting a toll-free number ($30/90 + $4 min a mo) and printing cards and lawn signs ($100).

I'm so happy that web design, programming, marketing materials, press releases and media outreach is free! Hooray for years of challenging, stressful and traumatic professional experiences!

Two issues. Should I get a vanity number (the only one available is 877-FULL-TREE that is easy to remember for $90 or just a plain one for $30? Really, as a marketing person I so want the vanity number, but as I write this I realize I really don't have a choice, I can't be dumping piles of money into this. We really want to keep it simple.

Which brings me to the second issue. To run this as a non-profit project of our for-profit family business, or to make it it's own registered non-profit? I am going with the former for now. It will have overhead, but if the project just has small, local interest, it can just be a fun hobby. Grants, sponsors and donations are still available but to a lesser extent without 501(c)(3) status if it grows much and requires funding to run. Even then, if the project does grow and we keep it as a non-profit project of a for-profit company, if the website is getting good traffic, business sponsors can allocate it to advertising even though it cannot be written off as a charitable deduction.

Oh, I long for the days when Duke (our accountant) was at my beck and call for these things. But the times demand self-sufficiency. So, for the time, we'll just get it out there, see how the interest is, keep meticulous track of our financial ins and outs, and worry about the organization later.

Comments and input are very welcome!

Time's a Wastin'

I'm starting to feel a sense of urgency about this project, since we've done just a bit of talking about it but now are constantly hearing, "My friend has a tree she wants to donate," and "We can't wait to start picking for the project!"

I'm excited because it looks like the program is much needed and useful. However, if the response is so great it turns into a full time job to simply match donors and volunteers, I'll need to really start worrying about funding the program seriously and not just going about it casually. If the need is there, which it greatly appears to be, we'll do whatever is necessary to make it work.