FocusHaiti.org Project Proposal Phase
I
Jackson Snyder, President and Founder
Affordable Training Consultants
We Know Things and We Know
People (The Motivational Stuff)
In the early 80s, a
A generation later, “Missions
in Motion” yet exists where and when this man’s name is brought up. That is because, for those who were members of the organism, he was their heart.
In this last year, I’ve heard
“Missions in Motion” from the breath of two strangers on different occasions,
even though the ministry hasn’t existed as such for years. At that time, the technologies used for
bringing it about were primarily the telephone and the shrimp boat. But since 1988, NEW technologies have given
us the keys to making this prophetic dream
of a “cooperative organism of organizations” real.
Think of this, friends: Many
of us have been working in Haiti, around Haiti, with links to Haiti, Haiti
people, possessing knowledge of Haiti, knowledge of ministry, in connection
with Haiti, around people who know Haiti, people who know how to get things
done there, people who just know something. Some who have been personally involved in one
way with Hispaniola or mission work for as much as 40 years, some knowing
people who have been working there for sixty
or more years; aggregate the years of all those you know who have served
We each know such people;
some know hundreds. Everyone knows how
to do things or knows someone who knows how
to do things. I know a lot of people and
people who how to do a lot of things. I’m
not afraid to ask for help anymore.
Asking for help in my view is “favor evangelism.”
“Where can I find some cold
water? Oh, then give me to drink!” “You
haven’t a bucket.” This man was a high
tech fellow: “No lady, I don’t. Will a
tin cup do?” That tin cup became highly
valuable.
And I know how to do some
things most do not. GLOW people know so
many people and so many things, and can do so many things; some things and
people you have known for decades and some things you’ve been all your lives.
We know things and we know people who know people and
things. We could get just about anything in the world
accomplished with what we know, who we know, what we can do or people we know
who what to do. What vast knowledge we could pass on if we could use a little
of the current technology to become a living organism created for the highest
and best good of all concerned? There
could be nothing stopping the Almighty’s progress for the poor as worked
through by us; nothing but maybe apathy or fear! {End Motivation; I had to get myself
motivated to do the rest.}
An
The opportunity before us is to
put all the people we know, all the years we spent, all the things we know how
to do, all the resources we have together in one place – a location that anyone
who wants to help a desperate individual can find and use immediately. Read that again – it is an awesome and
anointed statement.
The tangibility of such a tremendous
knowledge and funding base (as well as the catalyst for a strong vision) has
come to us as a gift; GLOW Ministries has been asked to take over the
administration and property of the FocusHaiti.org
ministry owned by DataComp Appraisal Services at no cost. FocusHaiti.org
is a web-based communications portal consisting primarily of an electronic
bulletin board; a blackboard in cyberspace set up to allow Haiti ministries to
post comments, knowledge, facts, questions, pleas for help etc., and for others to
reply. The hope for FocusHaiti.org was
that there would be enough information volunteered
to make the site a useful and free reference for member ministries.
DataComp Appraisal had
researched then acquired a listing of some hundreds of organizations working in
I don’t know what the long
term plan was, or if there was one. I
think some nice people who had been on a mission trip came home to use their
skills in hope of helping others who were going. The directors of DataComp Appraisal are very
fine, helpful people, and the company will most certainly be a valuable member
of the organism we want to build.
Currently, the value of
FocusHaiti.org is in the electronic membership database plus the balance of the researched list (some 300 or so more
organizations) along with real and
intangible property including the URL, on-line database and program source
code. I would place the value roughly at
$4,000 - $6,000. As I get a better look,
that might change.
What Went Wrong?
DataComp Appraisal Services quit
promoting the site after enlisting that initial 80 or so members. I don’t know why, but I can surmise that:
(1) the
site wasn’t being used very much – the last posts I saw date back to September
2005;
(2)
bulletin boards are somewhat passé with the advent of blogging, podcasting,
newsfeeds and ezines;
(3)
content is king on the web – the site had a great deal of potential for content
– we see this potential clearly – but
sites with content draw search spiders, and spiders and engines draw people in;
(3) any
kind of interactive web service requires maintenance,
and maintenance requires
(a)
expertise (in this case, much expertise),
(b)
interest (usually in the form of controversy),
(c)
promotion, promotion, promotion; and of
course,
(b) money.
We acquired the source code,
URL and lists from DataComp February 22.
It seemed that the research DataComp had completed on the Haiti-helping
organizations alone was of enough value to attempt
to keep the site alive. (Phil has
the URL and the cyberspace, and I have the code. We both have copies of the organization
list.)
Content and Success
Supplying useful content and
a lot of it is the single greatest guarantor of success (in terms of visits) to
a web site. Outside of addictive sites
(porn, gambling, games), copious, helpful content = success.
In the last few years, I have
researched web organizations that have become financially successful by providing
free services to its members. The
obvious examples are Google and Yahoo. Less
obvious but highly rated examples are my own sites, including the GLOW
site. They get huge hits and pageviews
because they are loaded with hundreds of megabytes of textual content – essays, stories, captioned pictures, information,
web links. A web site with little or no
textual content – like most ministry sites – get nothing because nobody can
find them. Content drives people to the
front door.
Experiment: Put your name in
a search engine with quotes like this: “Flossie Powell.” See how many site come up about you. Then put my name in “
Here is an example closer to
home. The only content of any value on
the GLOW website since it went up has been a couple newsletters and the photo
array. The pageview number (number of
people looking at your page) has been dismal.
That changed for the time being.
Put the name “Phillip Snyder” in a search engine now. Along with hundreds of references, GLOW will
come up in a good slot because there is content of interest. However, most people who read about Phil’s
ordeal read it on Benny Hinn’s site.
Why? Because Benny’s site is
loaded with other content.
Types of Successful
Service-oriented Free Membership Websites
MODEL 1: As founder of
Affordable Training Consultants, I have been reading Internet trade journals
for years and have been involved in web ministry start up, programming and bulk
promotion, and have done a great deal of consulting on these subjects with both
individuals and corporate clients – some gigantic corporate clients like
Worldcom, Quaker Oats, YMCA, EDS, New Horizons.
However, it doesn’t take much
study to realize most free service sites
turn a profit by soliciting advertising. When I first put up some sermons, it was
through a free service site. Instantly I
received hate mail because the free site advertised casino gambling – a service
that neither I or my readers could espouse.
But addiction pays.
MODEL 2: Some of these free service sites offer greater service and less advertising by creating subscription
plans, charging a periodic membership fee for quick, one-stop access to
information and/or services unique to
the paying members’ special interest.
(Or a newsletter to the member’s inbox.)
This is more like the type of service we might be interested in.
Even the most respected
corporations are using this combo model. I subscribe to the daily New York Times for free. Very
raunchy advertising usually comes with the Times. But for a small membership fee, I can not
only get no ads, but also focused news
about
MODEL 3: A third model I have
worked in the business world with great success has not yet been used (to my
knowledge) in Internet membership groups.
This is the Share Plan.
Share (an
old-fashioned banking term) is much like the subscription plan (with the dues being called the fair share) except one of the members will be chosen periodically to receive a certain
percent of all members’ subscription fees
for a specific period (minus expenses).
The ministry would therefore reinvest
(or return) its members’ shares in turn, and over time, reinvest each and all of its members.
This model became the
foundation for the great boom of thrift and home ownership. Shareholders who received the bonus used it
to buy a house. In those days, a nice
house was $500. To utilize this plan in
a non-profit organization seem to me to have great potential. Consider this fictional example:
ABC
Ministries, VV International, JC Church, RT Charities and TEO Orphanage all
work in
This is the only connection these ministries
have with each other. As members they
(and they alone) have free access to a
vast multitude of essential resources on www.HaitiSharePlanMinistry.org
twenty four hours a day, seven days a week.
Administration costs for HaitiSharePlanMinistry.org equal $200 per
month. The excess $300 monthly revenue from
membership dues is planted in a money market account.
When the account reaches a certain level, say $5,000, ABC Ministries, the first
organization to join, receives 50% (or whatever) in lump sum. Since they were first to start paying their
membership dues, ABC Ministries has not only had free access to the valuable information on-line, but plans ahead
for using the $2500 windfall they know
they will eventually receive.
(In business, the disbursement must be
repaid by the shareholding member at a low interest rate. In a not-for-profit, it need not ever be
repaid. It is a GRANT.) After receiving their grant, ABC keeps paying
its membership dues by contract. For
that ministry will again received a grant after all the others in their group
have received.
All the members of www.SharePlanMinistries.org are encouraged by this disbursement,
and especially VV International, because it is next in line to receive its share.
Think about the ramification of this concept
for Organic Ministry.
Add to the Share Plan the idea that www.HaitiSharePlanMinistry.org
not only administrates the website
and membership fees (accounting shipped out for a small fee), but also raises funds or funding sources for its members outside the ranks of membership. This may
be the greatest significance of the organization and could be the biggest
attraction of this model.
Incidentally, Available Fundings are Identified, Received and Dispersed
Funds raised from outside sources (grants, gifts, ads) may be paid out to member ministries
(minus expenses). Funding sources (research rather than money) may also be made
available as a premium service. Where do we get the information on
grants? From our linkage (people we
know), from governments, and from Internet research.
What We Can Freely Offer NOW If …
These examples above bring us to a vision of what may be built into the engine we call FocusHaiti:
a cooperative “organism of organizations,” that will greatly facilitate the sharing
of information, money, goods and services to those members who are making life
better for the impoverished Haitian people.
Information, money, goods and
services FocusHaiti.org could quite
easily provide out of little more than our vast, exponential connections
and personal knowledge include the following:
o
Member
information, exchanged, gathered, organized and deployed.
o
Database services
of members, people, things, services of all kinds.
o
Selected news
feeds –
o
Podcasts – recent
meetings, interviews, archival information, essays, Haitian Music, all
available for download and Ipod.
o
Manuscript
archive – public domain textbooks of all kinds, photo montages, maps,
directions, history, statistics, training & academics, technical courses,
forms procedures, essays by officials, interviews, book reviews and excerpts. All this is easily accomplished and
maintainable.
o
Language services
– translating, courses of study, translator software. Small translations for free. Big ones for pay. French / Spanish / Creole / English; online
downloadable dictionaries.
o
Free advertising
– help wanted, goods needed, goods available, free stuff, shipping containers
available – any number of other things some have surplus, some have need – an
Ebay without price. What do you want to
dispense with? What do you need?
o
Technical support
for computing; solutions for everything are on the Internet if you simply know
how to find them. Bulletin board of
support items for
o
CONTENT, CONTENT,
CONTENT. PROMOTION, PROMOTION,
PROMOTION. PEOPLE, PEOPLE, PEOPLE. Did you know you can submit your web pages to
300 search engines for $3? If you have
the kind of content we propose here (and keep the info flowing), search engines
will come directly to us.
All this is above is easy to program
and/or find and acquire via the Internet.
BUT here’s the key to making this work.
NONE OF IT is in ONE place. So a
great selling point for membership is that instead of simply a bulletin board,
FocusHaiti.org will have every bit of information a
Premium Services
Premium services might
include grant and gift research, known donors, application and liaison with
sponsors, charities, philanthropic societies, governments; or and extension or
amplification of any of the services above.
Think about these:
o
With the great
success, beauty and professionalism of the GLOW DVD Little Sister, and incentive
to join or a premium service might be
to create a short promotional video
for each premium member who has no access to the professionals we have in our personal linkage.
o
As a premium
service or incentive to join, a prospective member could receive a five-page website hosted by us forever along with web-based training as
to how to maintain it (we now have nearly unlimited space). On their site we might suggest a photo
montage, description of ministry, podcast of founder or spokesperson,
downloadable brochures, and even a short movie of their ministry. We could also provide scads of free content
to help make their sites popular, or scan in their newspaper stories. This service could be FREE with membership or
as a premium paid service.
o
Tech help,
document translation, on-line Creole lessons, training or religious manuscripts
or tracts, whole Creole Bibles – there for print on demand.
o
We could even
take care of some emergency chores in
Further Vision
My personal hope is that once FocusHaiti
becomes the organism I have described, that it may also be utilized to aid
third-world Christian workers to become “certified” or “approved” for fundraising
in English-speaking countries. This
would entail a fairly extensive application process, research and references, a
certifying body. It would be paid for by
a nominal fee based on the currency of the country of the ministry applying. But these dear workers are literally
scratching their ministry to Yahshua Messiah out of the rock with no help at
all. “Send me big print Bibles” the
write to me all the time.
What Personnel is Needed?
Three to five staff members would be needed
to make an eventual success. To get
FocusHaiti up, running and with enough services to make it attractive, I think
we need (and forgive the high titles; I use them because they are descriptive):
A CEO (Chief Executive
Officer) (part time) very knowledgeable about the situation, personnel, needs,
economy and work in
A CTO (Chief Technology
Officer) (full time) computer programmer, proficient in HTML, PHP, SQL, ASP,
sound recording and also savvy to web design aesthetics, internet promotion and
is bilingual.
A CIO (Chief Information
Officer) (full time once the site gets up) the person in the field with the
camera, knowledgeable about Haiti and lives there, expert in video and audio
production, web administration, communications and customer service – a “jack
of all trades and master of everything.”
A CFO (Chief Financial
Officer) (part time) this is the researcher, finds information of grants,
texts, information and news, resources for web, all about members – at the
behest of the others.
Plus we need a “face.” A choleric / sanguine person who is very good
on the phone, gregarious, knowledgeable, cheerful, respected. A volunteer would be great for this job.
There would be no need for an
office – everyone could work at home.
Meetings could take place via the WWW.
Immediate Need
The immediate need is time to
get the initial concept down, the case documents, vision / mission. The FocusHaiti site may need to be scrapped
and begun again. That will take perhaps
a month or two. We already know the
people needed for the “muscles” of the organism. The TIME it will take to bring life to it
will be three months of hard work.
But I am now confident that
we can provide attractive information that will help meld us into the
ECHAAD-style of Unity that both our Heavenly Father and his Son proclaimed and
are still proclaiming. This is “Missions
In Motion” that can get into motion in a very short time with a limited amount
of initial funding.
Respectfully submitted,
March 1, 2006