Last week I officially launched the first Micropatronage Drive for Buddhist Geeks. A micropatron is someone who supports Buddhist Geeks financially, in a small way, but with enough micropatrons we can really garner the financial support we need to take Buddhist Geeks to another level. The other level we’re planning has to do with launching two new projects, both of which have been percolating for a while. The first is a full-fledged digital magazine and the other is an in-person conference entitled BuddhaDharma 2.0. And the cool thing is, if we’re able to get the support we need, we’ll then make all of the digital content from both of these events completely free to everyone who wants it.
I decided that a fusion of the digital free model (see Chris Anderson’s new book Free: The Future of a Radical Price or Kevin Kelly’s article, Better Than Free) with the long-standing tradition of generosity in the Buddhist tradition was the best hybrid-model to experiment with. My hope was that instead of creating and selling a premium product (like the recorded content from the BuddhaDharma 2.0 conference) we could offer it for free, with the support of a small percentage of our overall listeners.
So, how are we doing? Well, our first milestone was 100 micropatrons (each contributing the equivalent of $5 / month—though many have contributed more) and that would allow us to continue the Buddhist Geeks podcast in a sustainable way. I’m thrilled to say that we surpassed that milestone within the first week of launching our patronage drive, and as of this writing have nearly 140 micropatrons. Our next big milestone is to reach 300 micropatrons, at which point we’ll have the resources to begin working on the Digital Magazine project. I’m very hopeful that we’ll be able to reach this goal also, and continue to be encouraged and inspired by the support from Buddhist Geeks listeners and community members.
If you haven’t yet, please go check out the details of the micropatronage drive over at www.BuddhistGeeks.com
