obligatory preface that we're 100%-user funded and everything you donate to us specifically goes to the website, or any outside labor we pay to do something for us.

this update is only because after a long round of troubleshooting with volunteer sysadmins and sysops yesterday, we committed to significant new expenses that have helped solve any errors that people were previously getting. our hopefully-final update of where we stand is a break-even of $54 a month or $648 a year. (please once again ignore OC's estimated yearly budget--we don't determine it lol)

our expenses are currently:

$48/mo toward our host, Digital Ocean. (reversible. if we need to commit to further than this it is also likely we will seek another host since DO is on the expensive side)
$2/mo for weekly backups
$4/mo for daily snapshots of the website, which would allow us to restore the website in between the weekly backups if need be.

for a total of at least $54/mo in expenses. this may vary from month to month though, so we're baking in a bit of uncertainty with our estimation.

we currently have, for the month of June:

$85/mo in recurring donations (at least for June)
$620 this month in one-time donations

for a total of $705 this month. our total balance now stands at 726.51.

that balance means we now have about a year of reserves currently, if we received no other donations and have no unexpected expenses. i'm sure we'll have churn in our monthly donations and such though, so please don't hesitate to donate on our OpenCollective page if you'd like to keep the site going.

thanks folks!

top 23 comments

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[–] jenbanim 29 points 2 years ago

I'm a Linux sysadmin by profession, and I use DO extensively for work. Not sure I have anything to contribute, but feel free to reach out if there's ever a need

[–] bathcat 28 points 2 years ago

I have definitely noticed a difference in performance between yesterday and today, so I'm happy the mods are scaling and that they have the funds to do so.

[–] cavemeat 21 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago)

You guys are awesome, the servers has been much better today, with basically no crashes or issues(for me anyway).

[–] anji@lemmy.anji.nl 18 points 2 years ago (1 children)

I suggest taking a look at Hetzner for hosting, I have found them very reliable and affordable. And perhaps reach out to admins of some of the larger Mastodon instances for hosting advice.

[–] lemmyng 11 points 2 years ago

Seconding this. Hachyderm documented their performance scaling and financing journey quite extensively, and I'm sure many of their decisions could be applicable to Beehaw as well.

[–] catacomb 18 points 2 years ago (1 children)

Is it possible to replace the "Support Lemmy" link in the navigation? Of course the new page should tell you how to support the project, but it might help to also tell users how to donate to the server?

Very few problems today, though. Great job!

[–] ericjmorey 9 points 2 years ago (1 children)

I agree, but where is there a "Support Lemmy" link?

[–] catacomb 7 points 2 years ago (1 children)

It's the really small heart in the top navigation bar, on mobile you have to open the "hamburger menu." Easy to miss and might be better as text too?

[–] ericjmorey 7 points 2 years ago

I might have gone years without noticing what that heart logo actually linked to. Thanks for pointing that out. Again, I very much agree with you, but now even more.

[–] RosemarySolomon 12 points 2 years ago (1 children)

Great! If there's any way to help via code or something else please let us know, I'm sure a lot of the people here would love to help out.

I wonder if fargate etc. vs. DO would be cheaper/better. If it isn't broken and traffic is steady no need to change providers, but would be curious to see.

[–] tmpod@lemmy.pt 11 points 2 years ago

Great! If there’s any way to help via code or something else please let us know, I’m sure a lot of the people here would love to help out.

The Lemmy project is always happy to see new contributors :)
There are some nice issues lying around needing more attention hehe
If you're interested in helping out with development, you should also join the Lemmy Development Matrix room!

[–] paulie420 12 points 2 years ago (1 children)

Thanks for the info... new around here, how long has Beehaw existed?

[–] alyaza 17 points 2 years ago

its planning began almost two years ago but as the current site, it's existed for approximately a year and a half or so

[–] possiblylinux127 7 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago) (1 children)

Will you ever create a legal entity for beehaw? Having a legal entity with a proper organization would allow you to have a dedicated bank account with proper ownership that is less susceptible to corruption

I also think you could try to get a corprate sponsor. You could create a rentable image on the front page that companies and individuals could rent out for a month.

[–] Gaywallet 20 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago) (5 children)

I personally have no interest in making this corporate in any capacity and do not want to invite the voice of capital. I suspect the other admins feel similarly but I won't speak on their behalf.

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[–] aponigricon 3 points 2 years ago (1 children)

How do you plan to distribute the available balance? Will all community members get to participate and have a say in non-fundamental budget decisions?

[–] alyaza 12 points 2 years ago (1 children)

How do you plan to distribute the available balance?

as of now we don't pay for anything but the site, so it's all just going to keeping the site up. the balance is our runway to keep the site up, and right now it's sitting at around 16 months before we'd be in trouble.

Will all community members get to participate and have a say in non-fundamental budget decisions?

because of the answer to the above: no. for one thing, the only other stuff we might spend money on is paying labor out to someone for the work they do to keep the site running. this is a very simple operation, and we're not going to overcomplicate it.

for another thing: we are not anywhere near the point where we need, really want, or can actively facilitate community input on how our budget should be spent--and i have no idea what meaningful input our community as a whole can currently give us. (and if we ever do seek community input, it'll be when 80% of our community has been around for longer than 21 days)

[–] aponigricon 4 points 2 years ago

I see. Thank you for the fast reply.

[–] bro 3 points 2 years ago

cool