The Mega Thread that Feeds People in Need (1M72Sfpbz1BPpXFHz9m3CdqATR44Jvaydd)

[SeansOutpost]

I'm pretty sure Phin is cool with this kind of action in the thread, just be sure to include the blockchain transaction for any donation so he can update the meal count appropriately.

Oh and...


THANKS FOR THE DONATION!!

[hivewallet]

@Phin:

http://blockchain.info/tx/3fdaca059b8f76fb84de7567be65d54a6225bef38c1d5fcbefb74071c6aac075 ;-)

[SeansOutpost]

@Phin:

http://blockchain.info/tx/3fdaca059b8f76fb84de7567be65d54a6225bef38c1d5fcbefb74071c6aac075 ;-)

Hell yeah. Thank you!

[Phinnaeus Gage]

Introducing the Sean's Outpost app for Hive.

The latest releases will be made available here:
https://github.com/grabhive/hiveapp-seansoutpost/releases

Issues can be tracked here (please add feature/change requests this way):
https://github.com/grabhive/hiveapp-seansoutpost/issues

Note to Jason: This is just a first stab at the app, and we are happy to add whatever else you want (it could probably use at least a blurb and some web links, a more relevant photo); we really just wanted to show that we are sincere about building it for you. It will be bundled with the Hive wallet from Monday forward.

EDIT: I'd just like to warn everyone here who may not have read our thread: Hive is _HIGHLY_ experimental software, and should be used with enormous care. It's riddled with bugs, but we're working on it.

EDIT II: Sent a donation enough for ~25 meals. More is coming...

EDIT III: Phinnaeus, we just realized that you are not Jason, and that this is a thread about people donating via the thread. If you would prefer, we will remove this post to keep it straight. Sorry about that, and let us know.

en re. EDIT III: I apologize if anybody else thinks that I'm formally associated with Jason King's Sean's Outpost. That was never my intention even remotely hijack his endeavor in any shape or form. I simply started this thread/endeavor because I truly believe in Jason's work and felt he's was a cool guy even before meeting him last week in Atlanta, and wanted to further his cause.

I'm pretty sure Phin is cool with this kind of action in the thread, just be sure to include the blockchain transaction for any donation so he can update the meal count appropriately.

Oh and...


THANKS FOR THE DONATION!!

Damn right I'm cool with this action.

@Phin:

http://blockchain.info/tx/3fdaca059b8f76fb84de7567be65d54a6225bef38c1d5fcbefb74071c6aac075 ;-)

Thanks, bud, from myself and Jason (again), and will be adding [25] to the tally.

Sean's Outpost app: <SUGGESTION> I noticed the dollar amount is 1,00 with comma. Could you make it 1.25 without the comma? The comma seems to be a European (and elsewhere) thing, whereas in the US the period is always used, assuming the comma was not an error on your part. The reason for the 1.25 amount oppose to a 1.00 minimum donation is that that's the approximate cost to produce one meal via Sean's Outpost, and I feel that it would help embed the mindshare from a marketing (for lack of a better word) standpoint.

[hivewallet]

Sean's Outpost app: <SUGGESTION> I noticed the dollar amount is 1,00 with comma. Could you make it 1.25 without the comma? The comma seems to be a European (and elsewhere) thing, whereas in the US the period is always used, assuming the comma was not an error on your part. The reason for the 1.25 amount oppose to a 1.00 minimum donation is that that's the approximate cost to produce one meal via Sean's Outpost, and I feel that it would help embed the mindshare from a marketing (for lack of a better word) standpoint.

Yeah I was just thinking about that too; we'll fix it. The donation amount is defaulting to 1 whole Bitcoin, which is a lot of meals! I understand changing it to 1.25 from the perspective of embedding that number in mind though... I just want to be clear that that's what you mean (even though it isn't $1.25).

EDIT: Just thought of something else. We could potentially redesign this app a bit so that when you type in an amount it immediately shows how many meals that will buy, based on the exchange rates. Wouldn't that be great? Created an issue for it: https://github.com/grabhive/hiveapp-seansoutpost/issues/3

[Phinnaeus Gage]

Sean's Outpost app: <SUGGESTION> I noticed the dollar amount is 1,00 with comma. Could you make it 1.25 without the comma? The comma seems to be a European (and elsewhere) thing, whereas in the US the period is always used, assuming the comma was not an error on your part. The reason for the 1.25 amount oppose to a 1.00 minimum donation is that that's the approximate cost to produce one meal via Sean's Outpost, and I feel that it would help embed the mindshare from a marketing (for lack of a better word) standpoint.

Yeah I was just thinking about that too; we'll fix it. The donation amount is defaulting to 1 whole Bitcoin, which is a lot of meals! I understand changing it to 1.25 from the perspective of embedding that number in mind though... I just want to be clear that that's what you mean (even though it isn't $1.25).

EDIT: Just thought of something else. We could potentially redesign this app a bit so that when you type in an amount it immediately shows how many meals that will buy, based on the exchange rates. Wouldn't that be great? Created an issue for it: https://github.com/grabhive/hiveapp-seansoutpost/issues/3

My bad. I didn't realize that the 1,00 represented a full Bitcoin, hence suggesting $1.25 as the minimum donation.

Love your edit idea.

[Phinnaeus Gage]

Running Tally: [1,711] Meals! (based on the exchange rate at time of donations)

Sean's Outpost Bitcoin Address: 1M72Sfpbz1BPpXFHz9m3CdqATR44Jvaydd

https://blockchain.info/tx/40f4ec830a89e69b127823c34c1798d55ac9d04f2fa5f9a582cae3ff1834f889

Today's daily [1] Meal bump via transaction above.

[David Rabahy]

Tell us again how we know donations are actually being used for meals for needy?  Is there some sort of independent verification?

[Phinnaeus Gage]

Tell us again how we know donations are actually being used for meals for needy?  Is there some sort of independent verification?

I'm going to let Jason King address your very important concern. I'll simply state that there's been more than enough proof on this here forum and national media to put any doubts to rest.

That said, your request is not outta line, and will always be welcome.

[Phinnaeus Gage]

https://blockchain.info/tx/408e24db8b75ba8342749ff89b580242248c64b178ff35a4e062af47abff326d

Today's daily bump along with yesterday's donation.

Running Tally: [1,713] Meals! (based on the exchange rate at time of donations)

Sean's Outpost Bitcoin Address: 1M72Sfpbz1BPpXFHz9m3CdqATR44Jvaydd

[SeansOutpost]

Tell us again how we know donations are actually being used for meals for needy?  Is there some sort of independent verification?

David,

This is actually the most important question that can be asked. The amount of waste, fraud, and abuse in the non-profit world is astronomical. And I think we all know how prevalent it is in the Bitcoin world. Do a venn diagram of the two worlds with the honest people in the middle and it's going to be a very small list, unfortunately.

Sean's Outpost, and myself try to be extremely open about what we do, how we do it, and what we utilize funds for. This has been covered a lot, so let me try to link you to some of the stuff...

This is some bitcoin magazine pieces on us...
http://bitcoinmagazine.com/6499/an-interview-with-jason-king-from-seans-outpost/

http://bitcoinmagazine.com/sandbox/seansoutpost.pdf


We were also followed around by wire magazine for this piece...


http://www.wired.com/wiredenterprise/2013/09/bitcoin-homeless/


Personally I have spoken on the use of Bitcoin for Non-Profits in charities a lot. I was at Bitcoin2013 in San Jose in May where I gave the Presentation Bitcoin:The Future of Panhandling

I also participated in the round table discussion from the Crypto Currency Convention in Atlanta (where I met Bruno/Phin Gage ::photo above in the thread: this past week and am the Featured Speaker at the Austin Bitcoin mini-conference next weekend.

This is me speaking on NPR about bitcoin...

http://www.marketplace.org/topics/tech/fluid-bitcoin-community-not-silent-one

This is me on Porc Therapy being interviewed by Stephanie Murphy of Let's Talk Bitcoin...

http://www.porctherapy.com/tag/jason-king/


This is me on Free Talk Live from Bitcoin2013

http://www.porctherapy.com/2013/05/22/free-talk-live-2013-05-19-from-bitcoin-2013/


But that's me. Maybe that's enough to prove that I am a homeless advocate, but what do we actually DO?

By the numbers, Sean's Outpost has fed over 17,000 meals to the homeless in Pensacola, FL since March 17, 2013. We do sack lunches 4 days a week and participate in 5 hot meals throughout the area each week. We also operate Satoshi Forest, a 9 acre homeless sanctuary here in Pensacola, FL that was purchased with Bitcoin and we have a mortgage that is paid directly in Bitcoin on the property.

http://bitcoinmagazine.com/6939/seans-outpost-announces-satoshi-forest/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S-F2IH_4ChA


But I think the best testament to what we do is not the stuff we say, it's the things people say about us...

http://www.reddit.com/r/Bitcoin/comments/1krgxa/hardleft121_visits_seans_outpost_or_greg_meets/

 
And most of all. Please come visit. We would love to have you. Anyone, anytime is always welcome to come down and check out what we do. We love company.


I hope that showed a little bit about us. But I am always available to answer any questions and would love to hear from you, my email is BeingHomelessIsNotACrime@gmail.com

Thanks for taking an interest.

Jason King

SeansOutpost.com

[CurbsideProphet]

Thank you for helping those in need, I hope this question doesn't rub you the wrong way, it's a standard disclosure for non-profits.  What percentage of your donations go towards administrative costs?

[SeansOutpost]

Thank you for helping those in need, I hope this question doesn't rub you the wrong way, it's a standard disclosure for non-profits.  What percentage of your donations go towards administrative costs?

It doesn't rub me the wrong way at all. I am always happy to talk about what it costs to do what we do.

The answer isn't simple, for a lot of reasons. The biggest is we have been in operation for a relatively short period of time, since March 17, 2013. So we don't have solid income datat. And the second is that we have DRAMATICALLY increased the scope of what we do over that time so we have much larger costs now than we did in March.

But if you average it out we run at a deficit of about $600 per month over direct operational costs. We maintain no office, or administrative staff, and have not billed any fundraising activities against donations. The simple fact is that right now my wife and I pay out of pocket every month to make ends meet. And we are very happy to do that.

There are reasons for that. One is we have never yet engaged in any formal fundraising. Not that we are against it, we have just been very fortunate at the level of contributions we have received from the crypto currency community. To reach a stasis and be truly sustainable we will have to move past that at some point. But we are in the fortunate position of being able to take our time and build fundraising mechanisms/campaigns that make sense for us and are not knee jerk reactions.

I would also like to point something else out, your initial question...

What percentage of your donations go towards administrative costs?

Is a very standard question. And I think it's the wrong question. Currently by that criteria we are a home run, 100%+ direct operational costs. But that isn't as important to me as the end results of what we are able to accomplish. I think charities and non-profits should be judged like startups, only on their results.

For instance which would you prefer...

Non-Profit A

7% Adinistrative costs, 93% Operational that effects an 11% decline in the rate of homelessness in its operational area.

or

Non-Profit B

43% Administrative costs, 57% Operational that effects a 90% decline in the rate of homelessness in the operational area




I would hope you would want Non-Profit B. I would want Non-Profit B.

I firmly believe that the metric to optimize for is end results.


This is the talk that really changed my thinking...

http://www.ted.com/talks/dan_pallotta_the_way_we_think_about_charity_is_dead_wrong.html


I hope you can take the time to watch it. It is an amazing talk. Dan Pallotta is one of my heros.


I hope I answered your question well enough. I would be happy to talk more about this. And you can always email me at BeingHomelessisNotACrime@gmail.com

Thanks for the interest.

Jason King
Sean's Outpost










 

[Phinnaeus Gage]

...we have never yet engaged in any formal fundraising.

Albeit not formal fundraising efforts, this thread, of which I maintain, and Jason's noble efforts on Reddit are probably the two main funding sources, with the latter being the most successfully, but only because it had a head start.

[SeansOutpost]

...we have never yet engaged in any formal fundraising.

Albeit not formal fundraising efforts, this thread, of which I maintain, and Jason's noble efforts on Reddit are probably the two main funding sources, with the latter being the most successfully, but only because it had a head start.

That's an accurate assessment. An I am eternally grateful for your generosity. 

[Phinnaeus Gage]

...we have never yet engaged in any formal fundraising.

Albeit not formal fundraising efforts, this thread, of which I maintain, and Jason's noble efforts on Reddit are probably the two main funding sources, with the latter being the most successfully, but only because it had a head start.

That's an accurate assessment. An I am eternally grateful for your generosity. 

I didn't do for the pat on the back, but since you're there... 

[franky1]

...we have never yet engaged in any formal fundraising.

Albeit not formal fundraising efforts, this thread, of which I maintain, and Jason's noble efforts on Reddit are probably the two main funding sources, with the latter being the most successfully, but only because it had a head start.

That's an accurate assessment. An I am eternally grateful for your generosity.  

I didn't do for the pat on the back, but since you're there...  

this is a lie...

phin does do it for a pat on the back....... not for the money. the money doesnt go to him it goes to charity
so if you do see phin or seans outpost anywhere.. just walk upto them and give them a hug.

(imagines random strangers now assaulting phin with loving hugs even during inappropriate times)

[David Rabahy]

That was an outstanding response!

[Phinnaeus Gage]

...we have never yet engaged in any formal fundraising.

Albeit not formal fundraising efforts, this thread, of which I maintain, and Jason's noble efforts on Reddit are probably the two main funding sources, with the latter being the most successfully, but only because it had a head start.

That's an accurate assessment. An I am eternally grateful for your generosity.  

I didn't do for the pat on the back, but since you're there...  

this is a lie...

phin does do it for a pat on the back....... not for the money. the money doesnt go to him it goes to charity
so if you do see phin anywhere.. just walk upto him and give him a hug.

the same goes for seans outpost.. give them a hug at every oppertunity

(imagines random strangers now assaulting phin with loving hugs even during inappropriate times)

Full disclosure: I received hugs from Rassah and Jason in Atlanta. Does this mean I will soon father a homeless coffee table?  

[Phinnaeus Gage]

That was an outstanding response!

Wait till you read my response.