[Koha] Collecting Money as a Group

[Galen Charlton]

Hi,

On Tue, Jan 26, 2010 at 10:37 AM, Cab Vinton <bibliwho at gmail.com> wrote:

> http://www.fundable.com

This service is closed, by the way - the website is just an archive now.

> I don't know how much of a stumbling block this would be, but these
> types of collaborative services naturally require full disclosure of
> the fundraising target. I'm wondering if vendors would view the cost
> associated with a specific development project as proprietary
> information ...

Some would, some wouldn't.  For a small project, i.e., something that
wouldn't take more than a day or two of programming time, it would
suffice to get a couple ballpark estimates, set your fundraising
target, then make your final selection of a programmer once you have
the funding.  In fact, choosing to try out collective funding on
something small would make a lot of sense, as it reduces the risk both
for the libraries and the vendors.

A larger, multi-week or multi-month development project would be a
different kettle of fish, though.  Estimating development projects is
*hard*, and gets harder the bigger the project is.  A hypothetical
project whose ballpark estimates come in at an average of USD 50K, for
example, would require a *lot* more administrative and contractual
work and possibly a formal competitive bidding process, to say nothing
of possible contractual guarantees *between* the libraries who want to
fund it.

To sum up: smaller, incremental projects would be a good way to dip
your toes into this sort of funding model.

Regards,

Galen
-- 
Galen Charlton
gmcharlt at gmail.com