In two months time (September 1), the Daily Grail will be ten years old. For some time, I’ve been seeing this date as a moment to ask myself whether it’s worth continuing on with TDG. That’s not to say that I don’t enjoy it, or that I don’t have big plans – simply that the requirements of living a happy family life (I’ve been married and had three children since starting TDG) have meant that I need to start justifying the time and expense I sink into the site.
The upshot of all this is that TDG needs to stop being a hobby, and more the thing that I do professionally. I have a number of ideas on how to achieve this (website improvements, advertising and marketing, diversification projects), but to do so the Daily Grail first needs some working capital, to help fund these future developments.
I have always been averse to people paying a subscription for TDG – I sincerely believe in information being a free resource. As such, with TDG’s tenth birthday approaching, what I am doing is simply asking for a retroactive, completely voluntary subscription, for the ten years of information TDG has provided thus far. This donation/voluntary subscription drive will run for the next two months, till September 1st. To begin with, below is a Donation button for both Paypal and credit card/bank account transactions (edit 11th May 2011: the button has now been removed due to a change in PayPal account). I’ll post details for snail-mail cheques in the coming days, and will occasionally post reminders until TDG’s birthday. The donation amount is completely your choice – what has TDG been worth to you?
Access remains exactly the same here on TDG, whether you donate or not. If you can’t spare anything, there are other ways to help – such as by spreading word about the site to others. When one reader becomes two, our advertising revenue (theoretically) doubles. So that’s how easy it is to give back a little to the Daily Grail.
My appreciation and thanks for all assistance provided!
