A Substack Charity Fund Raising Machine: How Do We Get There?

Let's brainstorm some ideas about the path from our dream to the reality.

Hey Everybody,

First, here’s a warm welcome and expression of appreciation to the 50 or so new folks who have subscribed to Writers As Heroes since the last article I shared. There are now 70 of us assembled here, which isn’t yet the big time, but given that this project is just three weeks old we seem off to an excellent start. Thanks for that everyone!

In this article I hope to share some thoughts regarding how we can move forward together towards our goal of raising large sums of money for good causes. Please share your thoughts on this too so we can learn from each other.

Focusing On Our Job

You’ve likely noticed that I have some pretty specific ideas regarding how a charity fund raising machine on Substack should operate. Ok, that’s cool, discussion and brainstorming is good in general, but….

The thing is, designing a Substack fund raising machine is not really my job. Like you, I’m just one of thousands of Substack users, and I’m not in charge of anything beyond what I write on this blog. I didn’t create the Substack network, I don’t own it, and I’m not in charge of managing how it operates.

Point being, if a Substack charity fund raising machine is established, all the decisions about how such a system operates will be made by Substack management. After all, it’s their network, their legal property, and they know a lot more about all the factors involved in running such an operation than we do. So designing a charity fund raising machine will be their job, but…

What’s My Job?

My job, and I hope yours too, is just to let Substack management know that we’d like to see some system of charity fund raising be part of our Substack experience. And, when we’re feeling more ambitious, our job can also be to raise this issue with our fellow Substackers so that more people can be aware of the opportunity and come together to discuss it.

What Substack management needs from we Substack users is a clear indication that a significant number of us want this feature. My job, and I hope yours too, is just to help build momentum towards such a group consensus in this community.

I’m convinced that if enough people show interest in a charity fund raising machine on this network, Substack staff will roll up their sleeves and make it happen. And I believe that for a good reason.

Ever since the dawn of this network, every few weeks the Substack team has rolled out some new FREE feature that members have requested. The Substack team is clearly very determined to give we writers what we want, but in order to do that, they need to know what it is that we want. And so our job is….

OUR JOB: And so my job, and I hope yours too, is simply to say out loud in public that we want some system of raising money for good causes here on Substack.

Trust The Leadership

While many of us assembled here, including me, have specific ideas about how such a charity fund raising machine should operate none of us, including me, will be the ones making those decisions. And so if we want this to happen, all of us will have to place our trust in Substack management to make decisions that will be in the interests of the network as a whole. Here’s why I have that trust….

I’ve been working in the web/email publishing space for 30 years. I’ve been a web host, and an email host, and I’ve had more hosting accounts than I could ever possibly remember. And so based on that considerable experience I feel qualified to have an opinion regarding how Substack management goes about their work. After 18 months of being on Substack pretty much all day every day, and having three blogs here, I’ve seen nothing that would cause me to question the intelligence and good intentions of Substack leadership. As example…

KEY POINT: The whole reason that building a charity fund raising machine on Substack is possible in the first place is that Substack management has given us what is arguably the best blogging system on the planet ENTIRELY FOR FREE. Who does that?? Good people.

And because Substack management has been so generous, it’s now possible to add a $1 per month charity tax to all accounts and still have Substack be pretty much the best deal in the hosting industry.

Substack leadership has led us to this opportunity. Let’s trust them to manage it too.

Keeping Our Eye On The Bottom Line

The bottom line of the Writers As Heroes project is very simple:

BOTTOM LINE: Raising some money for good causes is way better than raising none.

One way we can move forward together towards our goal is to keep our focus on this bottom line.

Let’s try to avoid distracting controversies and getting too wound up about things we have no control over. Let’s try to make it as easy as possible for Substack leadership to do that which we hope they will do. Let’s be supportive, appreciative, cooperative and constructive.

However Substack leadership might design a charity funding raising machine, none of us are going to get EXACTLY what we want. Let’s try to let that go, and keep our focus on the bottom line.

Raising some money for good causes is way better than raising none.

How Do We Get There?

Finally, reaching our goal is going to be a team effort, or we’re not going to get there.

If my articles are the only articles on this topic we really shouldn’t expect Substack leadership to drop what they’re doing, edit their business model, and do a bunch of work building a charity fund raising machine, just because Phil had another one of his big ideas.

If this is to actually happen, a lot of us are going to have to want it to happen. And we’re going to have to want it to happen bad enough that we’re willing to use the publishing resources Substack has so generously given us to stand up in public and say we want it to happen.

In just three weeks there are now 70 of us here. If each of us does a little bit to spread the word, soon there can be 700. And then 7,000. You know how this works. Ideas can go viral if enough people want them too.

We’re writers. We have the tools to get this done. We just need to use them.

End Of Sermon

Ok, alright already, that’s enough from me for now. :-)

Let’s hear what you have to say.

Both here…

And hopefully on your own blog.

Thanks!

(PS: I wish to personally apologize to my friend Alan Mairson for these inexcusably attractive GQ characters!)