Call for Patrons 2009

[Epilogue]

We hope you are all having a great New Year so far. We are looking forward to another year full of the fantasy and imagination our members bring to this community!

As you all know, the economy has slowed over the last few months (a bit of an understatement!). This is true for the online economy, as well. Advertisers are cutting back on their ad spends and some are dropping out altogether. The beginning of the year is usually slow, but much more so this year. Being an advertising-supported community this 'economic downturn' has started to affect Epilogue directly.

In addition to the economy, we recently lost one of our major advertising companies (which covered a significant portion of our expenses). We've added several smaller ad companies to replace them, but they just aren't performing.

What's the problem?
These simultaneous issues have created a perfect storm. It's serious because Epilogue relies on advertising to cover hosting, administrative, and technical expenses. We aren’t yet on the verge of collapse, but a few more months of this downward trend will put us in a bad situation. We decided now is the time to act.

If you've ever considered supporting Epilogue with a financial donation, or if you've donated before and would like to renew your support, now would be the best time for you to take action (keep reading to see the new benefits we're rolling out for our patrons!).

So how much do we need to raise?
Thanks to the tireless efforts of our volunteers (Art Editors and Moderators), Epilogue is able to operate on a relatively small budget. We're setting a goal of raising $250-300 per month for the next several months to help make up the deficit we're experiencing. This will help us stay afloat and give us a bit of a buffer for any emergencies.

How can you help?
If you've found Epilogue to be a valuable resource to the fantasy art community, please consider supporting us with a small donation at this time. We've set up PayPal donation buttons to make sending a donation easy.

Your donations make a huge difference in how Epilogue is able to operate. Our past Save Epilogue donation drive raised enough money to fix many outstanding bugs and performance issues that were plaguing the site. The site has been performing very well ever since. This current donation drive will help us weather the current economic storm.


We very much appreciate our supporters, so we are working on some new Patron benefits for 2009:

1. Updated Patron listings on the home page
   We'll be updating the patron list to reflect the most recent patrons that donate $15 or more. We'll also be changing the layout to give better exposure to our patrons at various levels.
   *Our normal procedure is to list patrons for a period of one year from the time they donated, then archive them. Because the Save Epilogue campaign was a special event, we've kept all the patrons on the list (some since 2006). We will be going back to our yearly archiving procedure.
   
2. Epilogue Supporters - Forum
   Patrons will be given access to a "Supporters Only" forum, where they can hang out with fellow Epilogue patrons and work on the secret handshake.
   
3. Patron badges
   Donors will be given a special "I support Epilogue" badge for their websites and social profiles. Patrons will also be given a special title* in the forums - "Epilogue Supporter" (*if technically feasible).
   
4. Patron messages
   Supporters that give at or above a certain level will be able to post an optional small blurb on their patron listing about their art, portfolio, availability, etc.
   
5. Updated Patron Gifts
   In addition to New Masters of Fantasy CDs, we'll be sending posters to supporters that give at or above a certain level.
   

See our donation options and Patron benefits

Click here to send a donation or to read more about our patron benefits.

We are confident that Epilogue (and the rest of the economy!) will make it through this tough time and come out brighter and better than ever on the other side!

- Epilogue

[Epilogue]

Here's a quick update on our donation drive so far.

Thanks to our new patrons (and some repeat patrons!) we've met our goal for both January and February.

I've added a little goal tracker on the home page to show when we've hit our goal for each month. Let's get the rest of those months checked off early!

As always, I am VERY thankful for the support our patrons and visitors show for Epilogue.
_________________
Chad Lockwood

Epilogue - Fantasy and Sci-fi at their best!
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