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GeneralHelp us raise money for mindat!

21st Mar 2015 16:49 UTCJolyon Ralph Founder

As you have now seen from our announcements mindat.org is now protected in a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit educational foundation, the Hudson Institute of Mineralogy.

What this means is that essentially mindat.org will continue to be run and operated by the same people as before. But just like before we need money to survive.

As the founder of mindat.org it has been primarily up to me to raise the funds to keep us going. But this causes big problems because the more time I spend raising funds, the less time I have available to actually work on maintaining and improving mindat.org

As you see I'm devoted to improving mindat and making it the best possible resource for mineral information - so can you help me to reduce the time I need to spend raising funds for mindat.org by helping to raise funds for us?

Here's how you can help.

Talk to your mineral club and or society about making a donation to mindat.org, or alternatively sponsoring a mineral or locality page.

Would you be prepared to collect donations from members, or make an announcement at your club meeting to remind members that page sponsorships are only $50 per year, or $1000 for lifetime sponsorship.

Donate mineral specimesns for mindat.org to auction

Heritage Auctions have very kindly offered to run a charity auction of high-end mineral specimens for mindat.org later this year. If you would prefer to donate one high quality mineral specimen rather than cash then please contact me with a photograph of the proposed donation. If you have seen Heritage's auctions before you'll know they sell the higher-end mineral specimens only, but if you have specimens to donate that won't reach their quality threshold we will have other outlets to sell these to raise money for mindat too through one of our partners.

Get mining companies to sponsor their mine pages

There are a large number of active mines listed on mindat.org - if even 50% of the companies that owned these mines would sponsor the pages for just $100 a year we'd never have any financial worries again. If you work with or know a mining or exploration company then why not suggest they sponsor one or more pages. And don't forget to remind them they're directly supporting a 501(c)(3) educational foundation.

Think up other ideas!

Do you have another great idea that will help us raise funds? Tell us here! Or contact me privately if you prefer.

Remember - the more that I don't have to raise money myself - the more time I get to improve mindat!

Thank you all in advance!

Jolyon

21st Mar 2015 19:57 UTCJosé Zendrera 🌟 Manager

Please, understand this as a latest solution, if once Mindat arrives to be unsustainable. In this case I would prefer a subscription fee than see it full of general advertising.

I wonder how many regular users have Mindat and which fee should be enough to maintain overhead expenses. A few bucks per year seems a very reasonable price for all useful services provided by Mindat and it still could stay free for people who just want to take a look.

I hope we will be able to maintain current financing scheme and a good way to help is to sponsor your favorite locality. Lets go!

22nd Mar 2015 14:30 UTCRob Woodside 🌟 Manager

If a thousand people would each give $200 by sponsoring 4 localities or species every year, we would have a sustainable $200K annual budget. Are there 1000 such people?

22nd Mar 2015 16:29 UTCSteve Hardinger 🌟 Expert

Rob, I've covered two of those people myself. So I've covered me and... who wants to be the other person covered?

23rd Mar 2015 01:53 UTCAdam Kelly

Me, pick me!

23rd Mar 2015 13:28 UTCDouglas Merson 🌟 Expert

Although I am retired, my goal is to sponsor a minimum of two pages per month. As I recall, someone took a look at sponsor ships last year and found that there are not that many of us that sponsor pages.

23rd Mar 2015 14:06 UTCAbdulB Sh

Respectable Mr Jolyon,

here on mindat i have studied and learnt about minerals and gemstones, and you gave me space on your website and helped me to learn, i cannot forget that, i am not a wealthy man but i will be glad to help this mindat foundaton to raise money, i can offer you anything that i have and that is of your interest, no matter how many pieces, or anything else you want me to send you from Pakistan,

i will be at your service whenever you need me...thank you

Sh AbdulB

12th May 2015 08:10 UTCmana naja

Hello, I am new here. Thanks for sharing the information. I just know about your Mindat.

12th May 2015 12:12 UTCSusan Robinson

What about the idea of charging a fee for the people who post photos of their unidentified minerals? They are getting free identifications, advice, etc. A small fee per specimen would not be unreasonable to me.

12th May 2015 13:18 UTCPeter Nancarrow 🌟 Expert

Susan,

Your idea seems good in principle, but whilst it is true that people are getting free advice and opinions, frequently from knowlegdeable people, and sometimes the suggested identifications are spot on and agreed by all, that is not always the case. Some of the instant answers given are no better than wild guesses!

e.g. Someone posts a picture of a far-from euhedral brownish crystal without precise locality, and is told quite definitely by one person that it is grossular, by another that it is titanite, by another that it is idocrase etc, which are they to believe? Or a white patch of probable zeolite in a vug, and is told that it is an amphibole (very unlikely in that particular case), then given a list of about half a dozen likely zeolites, but is told (quite correctly) that these can only be distinguished by analysis.

Given suitable photos, some diagnostic specimen properties, locality info etc, most of the id. forum discussions eventually arrive at a probably correct answer after some discussion, but that is still not the same as a traceable unequivocal identification.

I think that a fee for identification could only really be justified if there was some sort of quality control on the final answer given, which could only be offered if some sort of analytical service was available as a back-up for the more difficult identifications.The cost of that, which would need to be borne by those asking for identification, would take the whole thing away from being a help forum to becoming a commercial enterprise.

Pete N.

12th May 2015 13:28 UTCRui Nunes 🌟 Expert

Pete, I fully agree with you!

12th May 2015 14:36 UTCJolyon Ralph Founder

As a general rule services that we do that charge a small amount of money end up not being worthwhile because of the overheads of actually setting up the system, maintaining it, accounting, etc.. The only exception to this is pure donations where we have a system set up for that already, so if you wanted to donate $1 to mindat we'd still very grateful for it.

Now, suggesting a voluntary donation of, say $5, for each identification request may not be unreasonable. But not an enforced system.

14th May 2015 06:29 UTCTony Charlton

Hey-lo Jolyon,

I am very impressed with Your web site and am grateful for the information that is available on it!

Perhaps You could set up an "Auction to benefit the Forum" where a person could post a specimen or whatever and people can post their bids. The winning bidder pays a donation directly to MINDAT. Then the donated item is sent to the winning bidder by the person who donated it.. This would allow persons with quality specimens, that are not quite good enough for the "high end auctions", to help finance MINDAT.

14th May 2015 17:19 UTCJolyon Ralph Founder

It's not a bad idea. the only problem is in managing it - in particular who will be able to say "stop! the auction is now over" once the time has run out

14th May 2015 18:31 UTCMark Heintzelman 🌟 Expert

Well, there is a thought.

If members do have specimens they could "contribute to the cause", and with it, the idea of bearing the modest cost to ship them too, why not set up a searchable gallery where members could post and sell them on a "buy it now" basis? That scheme might eliminate a lot of overhead, requiring only a PM to the contributor that an offer to purchase was made, including the buyers shipping address, and a paypal payment direct from the buyer to mindat. The idea of course is that we WANT to sell them, so setting a reasonable price, at least fair if not a pretty good deal, is a must.

I know that the mindat auctions everyone wanted here, for sake of trust and reliability, was not all that successful an effort. But perhaps a more "user friendly" and searchable sales site would see more use. Items could be offered for a specific time frame, perhaps a year, and removed from the gallery if there were no buyers (It wouldn't be reasonable to ask contributors to hold on to this material forever, as might take three or four years before it actually sells). The easier it is to fill a form and post them, the better.

I'm guessing the only real complication would be that some countries, from my experience, have very costly and downright unreliable postal services. We may need to review that, and contributors may need to have the choice not to offer buyers from these locations the ability to make a purchase from them (this will not be a popular decision, I'm sure).

MRH

PS: I'm not forgetting the overhead of setting all this up, but not being a coder myself, I don't know how time consuming this would be. Just thinking if it were made easy enough, searchable by species or locality, it could become fairly popular and an ongoing source of some modest income.

14th May 2015 19:36 UTCTony Charlton

Jolyon & Katya Ralph Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

> It's not a bad idea. the only problem is in

> managing it - in particular who will be able to

> say "stop! the auction is now over" once the time

> has run out

Hey Jolyon,

When a person post an auction they would place a closing date and time in the preamble-- Any date, 8:00 PM Greenwich mean time. When the time is reached the auction is over and any further bidding is useless.. The payment can be made through the "paypal" system that is already set up for donations, and the seller sends the package after they get notification from the MINDAT managers of payment made. The seller can also limit the postal area of the auction, such as " postage outside of USA/Canada is extra", leaving the buyer to cover any extra postage.

Hope this helps.

14th May 2015 22:18 UTCRock Currier Expert

I think the real problem is that there must be someone who would be willing to take possession of the specimens, take good pictures of them and upload the images to the sales site, write a description of them, then answer questions about them and then when the auction is over to receive payment and then to ship out the specimen(s). Then there is the cost of insurance and dealing with nor performing customers and with customers who might not be satisfied etc etc. and then to take down the old auctions and replace them with new listings. This is a lot of work. There are at least two internet dealers that I know of that will take specimens donated to mindat and sell them to for mindat on their auction sites and remit the proceeds to mindat, and I think that is probably the best way to do it. Being a dealer myself and knowing exactly what is involved I would want for the specimens I donate to see that the dealers doing this would get paid at least 20% for their efforts. They should probably get paid more for specimens that sell for less than say $250 and less for say specimens that sell for more than $1000. When I finish cataloging my stuff in a year or two, I will start donating stuff from my private collection for internet auction with the proceeds going to mindat. Even being a dealer, I don't do internet sales and knowing what is involved have determined that life is too short to get involved in this kind of thing. Also how do you tell a willing contributor that the low grade specimens they want to donate are not worth anyone's time to deal with them.

Its a rather brutal fact that mindat is still run on a shoestring compared to many charities and we have a paid staff of just one and he doesn't live high on the hog. In reality Mindat needs at least two million dollars in some sort of longevity fund to throw off enough money to make sure that there are at least one or two programmers to do the coding on mindat to keep it up and running on the long term. Then throw in the fact that at least one of them needs to knows something about minerals, and you have a rare creature indeed.

14th May 2015 22:50 UTCTony Charlton

Rock Currier Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

> I think the real problem is that there must be

> someone who would be willing to take possession of

> the specimens, take good pictures of them and

> upload the images to the sales site, write a

> description of them, then answer questions about

> them and then when the auction is over to receive

> payment and then to ship out the specimen(s). Then

> there is the cost of insurance and dealing with

> nor performing customers and with customers who

> might not be satisfied etc etc. and then to take

> down the old auctions and replace them with new

> listings. This is a lot of work. There are at

> least two internet dealers that I know of that

> will take specimens donated to mindat and sell

> them to for mindat on their auction sites and

> remit the proceeds to mindat, and I think that is

> probably the best way to do it. Being a dealer

> myself and knowing exactly what is involved I

> would want for the specimens I donate to see that

> the dealers doing this would get paid at least 20%

> for their efforts. They should probably get paid

> more for specimens that sell for less than say

> $250 and less for say specimens that sell for more

> than $1000. When I finish cataloging my stuff in a

> year or two, I will start donating stuff from my

> private collection for internet auction with the

> proceeds going to mindat. Even being a dealer, I

> don't do internet sales and knowing what is

> involved have determined that life is too short to

> get involved in this kind of thing. Also how do

> you tell a willing contributor that the low grade

> specimens they want to donate are not worth

> anyone's time to deal with them.

>

> Its a rather brutal fact that mindat is still run

> on a shoestring compared to many charities and we

> have a paid staff of just one and he doesn't live

> high on the hog. In reality Mindat needs at least

> two million dollars in some sort of longevity fund

> to throw off enough money to make sure that there

> are at least one or two programmers to do the

> coding on mindat to keep it up and running on the

> long term. Then throw in the fact that at least

> one of them needs to knows something about

> minerals, and you have a rare creature indeed.

All of the things that You are sighting would be the responsibility of the seller, except the payment made to MINDAT via. the paypal system that is already set up. The auctions could be run in a page under "general" that is pinned and anyone wanting to contribute would start a new string. If the quality of the piece or the photos is inadequate then nobody has to make a bid on them. Then there would be no need to share the proceeds with a second party, and the only thing the managers have to do is make a notification of payment received, if that is not to hard for You.

14th May 2015 23:42 UTCDebbie Woolf Manager

It all sounds over complicated to me and I personally want to see all the money go into the fund. Perhaps we should move away from the term 'auction' and replace with 'donation' ?

On Mark's theme but slightly different how about we have a separate gallery of donated specimens? members upload in the usual way, photo's are vetted in the usual manner, the uploader then could have a button to press 'donate', the photo goes back to an approval process, then goes site wide with a banner across saying 'donation'. If someone is interested they click a button and email details are revealed. All the details are ironed out between donor and buyer mindat itself has no involvement in the transaction. The gallery could have a timed system so after a certain period it gets removed. As for the price of the specimen my thoughts are 'what's it worth'.

15th May 2015 00:16 UTCTony Charlton

Debbie Woolf Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

> It all sounds over complicated to me and I

> personally want to see all the money go into the

> fund. Perhaps we should move away from the term

> 'auction' and replace with 'donation' ?

>

> On Mark's theme but slightly different how about

> we have a separate gallery of donated specimens?

> members upload in the usual way, photo's are

> vetted in the usual manner, the uploader then

> could have a button to press 'donate', the photo

> goes back to an approval process, then goes site

> wide with a banner across saying 'donation'. If

> someone is interested they click a button and

> email details are revealed. All the details are

> ironed out between donor and buyer mindat itself

> has no involvement in the transaction. The gallery

> could have a timed system so after a certain

> period it gets removed. As for the price of the

> specimen my thoughts are 'what's it worth'.

That sounds way more complicated than My suggestion.

With an auction to benefit the forum a donor would post a picture and description of an item and a closing time for the auction. then anyone that wants to can make a bid. Then when the closing time is met the seller would send the item to the winner of the auction. Once the "page " is set up all that the managers would have to do is make a notification of payment received to the seller. MINDAT would have no involvement in the mater, except for the notification of funds received.

15th May 2015 00:32 UTCDebbie Woolf Manager

YOUR suggestion Tony sounds very much like the set up of the auctions we used to run on this site and that was not controlled and look how that ended up! Also other factors you have no knowledge about come into play that are not for the general public to know about.

15th May 2015 04:17 UTCMark Heintzelman 🌟 Expert

Debbie,

I don’t know how you saw it, but I felt the auctions were not very popular for a host of reasons. They were too complicated, too much wait and watch time spent and too much poking around required as they were not searchable. On top of that there seemed to be unresponsive buyers, misunderstandings on how to pay for it and send it? It was just not very "user friendly”, and far too confused and unstructured for a web-auction newbie like myself. I'm not aware of the "other issues" that you suggest existed as well, but apparently they'll need be addressed too (much appreciated).

I very much agree that this separate sales gallery should be based on the same format as contributing images in to the regular gallery. Already familiar to everyone, already coded which may reduce some build time (spare parts), although It will require some time in tweaking to remove the unneeded functions and add the most complicated part, the buy/pay function. Excellent suggestion, keep it simple and approachable!

So yes, it's not just keeping mindat's staff involvement at a very minor effort level, it's also keeping the process as simple and approachable for both contributors and buyers in order to encourage an acceptable level of participation to make it worth all the effort:

• A form for contributors to use, same format as the regular mindat gallery employs . . . done.

• A searchable gallery just like the current gallery works, with a "buy it now" purchase/pay button on the item page - You see it, you like it, you buy it . . done.

• Mindat gets point of purchase payment via paypal, a simple click sends the owner the buyers registration form, complete with shipping address . . done.

• The owner ships it . . . done.

I was not envisioning a time consuming vetting process, thinking that the few odd complaint driven issues might best be dealt with by the regulars in the message board rather than the staff. I don’t know if this is the “issue” you spoke of Debbie, but I’m assuming that questionable listings will be fewer and farther between where there’s no "personal profit" motivations which lead to exaggeration or even deception. Non-profit “Buy it Now”, rather that auction format, also means they'll be no one posting "whatever" hoping to turn a profit anyway, no more wait, watch and wonder, and no more of the dodgy and unresponsive bargain hunters. Only reasonable offers and a buyers “payed commitment”, or the item remains on sale for someone else to acquire.

I just feel what is being missed in Rocks reply is the much larger portion of the population, and their potential to do something to add to the pot as well. (Many drops do make up an ocean). For every $1000 specimen contribution, there must be far more than twenty $50.00 contributions and buyers willing to buy them, and those revenues are simply being overlooked. Only Joylon could look at the issues involved, the time spent to build/develop it, how automated it can actually be made inorder to reduce management involvement, and decide whether or not the effort might actually serve as another potential source of revenue. Maybe it isn't, but I'd like to think it might well be.

MRH

15th May 2015 12:56 UTCDebbie Woolf Manager

Hi Mark

Thanks for a nice conversation and I quite agree with you on lots of points. I did participate in the auctions for a short while but I found it a bit of a flop and I felt there was too much junk being offered for ridiculous prices! It was too easy to abuse a system with no control.

My thoughts are mindat is mindat, not ebay or any other dedicated mineral auction site which can suffer with bad apples. Often we hear people take this site as gospel "if its not listed on mindat then it's not true' when the truth is the information has not been added, checked or verified, so the last thing we want to create is "I saw a similar baryte sell on mindat for hundreds of dollars so my specimen must be worth that because mindat has set that price"!

As we are a not for profit site I feel the terms 'auction and sales' sounds commercial giving it a negative aspect whereas 'donate' (or similar) has been widely used in this campaign and is exactly that, we need to be as clear as daylight so there is no negative impact to this site in what we are trying to achieve.

I think we will need a donate button (or similar) to cover specimen photo's already on site that might be offered which removes duplication. Vetting doesn't need to be time consuming but it does elimate the junk that we may get. A lot of photos are vetted so if they become a donation it means that a vettor doesn't need to be an expert or have knowledge of that area because that's already been done therefore shifting the work-load around and we have the tools in place that help make a decision. Also, it would cover photo's that are not vetted from level 2 and 3 members, I don't think a level 3 person should be able to approve their own donation.

Whilst it is very helpful to managers that members answer a lot of questions posted in the forums we still read majority of topics, keep our eye on things but still time consuming to do so, for that reason I propose we try to keep it out of the forums. Another aspect to this is perhaps the donated amount should be kept private between buyer/donator/mindat pre-empting speculation/gossip. I see the need for a set price and a make a offer button.

Regaring your last comments, I assure you this has been raised in a conversation and not overlooked at all, we just need to find a way to make it work :-D

16th May 2015 07:07 UTCRock Currier Expert

If the desire is to maximize the contribution to Mindat from the auction of mineral specimens I think the main consideration would need to be which auction site would provide the maximum return for Mindat with the minimum involvement of time needed by the managers of Mindat. Take a look at some of the auction sites, and I would draw your attention for example to the Irock site and look at some of the auction prices achieved there. Even with giving 30% for having donations auctioned there, I think it would provide income far and above what could be achieved by trying to do it ourselves. The manager of the particular auction site could say yes or no to specimens that they considered worthy of their auction site.

16th May 2015 11:12 UTCJolyon Ralph Founder

Here are some thoughts that I have had about auctions and how they can help mindat.

There will be four types of auction that will be run for mindat's benefit.

1. At shows. We had a successful auction at the TGMS show and if you want to give specimens for us to auction to benefit mindat then we can take them at Tucson (and maybe other shows if we can organize similar deals) and run the auction there.

2. Online. We will be running occasional online auctions in conjunction with partners such as Trinity Minerals or The Arkenstone using the better material donated as above. The auction that ran recently raised over $3000 for mindat.

3. Auction house. Higher value specimens (those appraised at $1000 or more) may be kept over for a special auction offered by Heritage Auctions (one of the world's largest auction houses) to benefit mindat.org. If you have something you think would fit in this category you would be willing to donate please contact me directly as we have the opportunity of putting on such an auction this year.

4. A percentage from your own auctions. In some cases you have material you want to sell for yourself but are willing to give a % to mindat. If you run your own auctions on your own website, on ebay, e-rocks.com etc, then you could offer a percentage of final sale value to go to mindat.org and in exchange for this we will promote your auctions in a new section here on mindat.org. This way we make money and you make more money by increasing the visibility for your auctions. The higher the % you offer (minimum 10%) the more prominent your auction will be listed.

21st Aug 2015 18:26 UTCmaria Christina lohayza

i dont know you, however I would love to be included. I needto raise how much?

29th Aug 2015 04:44 UTCbendecamp

Jolyon I would like to sponsor a page. Please contact me! Thanks. -Ben

7th Sep 2015 03:25 UTCduy tran

If a thousand people would each give $200 by sponsoring 4 localities or species every year, we would have a sustainable $200K annual budget. Are there 1000 such people?

19th Oct 2015 22:41 UTCCheryl White Hawk

Pick me Steve !

19th Oct 2015 22:58 UTCCheryl White Hawk

I'd like to know how much of the funds raised is used for trips to high end shows? How much is paid out for salaries?

20th Oct 2015 02:42 UTCJolyon Ralph Founder

Most of the funds go on salaries, secondary is expenses such as Tucson (but these almost always bring in more money than we spend due to fundraising we do there - in fact it would be better if I could spend MORE time travelling at shows, but I simply don't have the time to do that). The other major expense is the cost of running the site, equipment used. etc.

We are quite frugal with the money!

16th Nov 2015 13:38 UTCDebbie Woolf Manager

Jolyon needs a secretary but there is no funds for that unless a new specific donation is given.

16th Nov 2015 18:03 UTCJolyon Ralph Founder

Before that mindat needs an office!

17th Nov 2015 15:04 UTCSteve Hardinger 🌟 Expert

Concerning these auctions, I would be happy to donate but rarely (if ever) have I been solicited for a donation. A number of dealers who run these auctions know that I am a dealer as well, and therefore have some material to donate.

17th Nov 2015 15:33 UTCJolyon Ralph Founder

There will be an email going around before Tucson, probably in the next 2-3 weeks.

Essentially it will be "please bring a flat or two of intersting things to Tucson you don't want for mindat to auction"

17th Nov 2015 21:21 UTCSteve Hardinger 🌟 Expert

And if I cannot make Tucson because I have a real job to pay the bills... ?

17th Nov 2015 22:22 UTCJolyon Ralph Founder

Then it depends whether you just want to ship specimens to us, whether we can find someone to collect, or whether you'd prefer to do the photography, handling and shipping of specimens to final buyers. all are possible

12th Apr 2016 00:14 UTCAnonymous User

I am very new to this site, so bear with me. What if you had a classified section and charged people to place ads?

Mark

12th Apr 2016 01:14 UTCJolyon Ralph Founder

Selling a service such as this would be problematic because of our 501(c)(3) status. It's not necessarily a bad idea, but we would need to think hard about how it can be done before trying it.

Jolyon

14th Jan 2017 11:26 UTCDaina Hope

Hello Guys,

I am new here, Just Joined!

Hope will spend beautiful times here!

3rd Jan 2018 14:52 UTCKevin Conroy Manager

The Mindat 2018 Winter Auction is underway. All auction proceeds go to the Hudson Institute of Mineralogy and directly support mindat.org

To see what's available see: THE AUCTION

13th Jan 2018 20:52 UTCPatrick Dugan 🌟

When is the next Mindat auction? Thanks!

Miner's Gems

18th Aug 2018 20:54 UTCMichael Lambert II

I will happily donate to Mindat even on my limited budget when:

1. Admins don't go around deleting my hard work in the notes and gps coordinates from pages or new minerals and basically expect analysis work for every new mineral when I am obviously well qualified in mineralogy.

2. When favorites are not being played and my work is ignored for months to be approved if at all when it is accurate.

3. When these criteria are met, I am more than happy to donate to help out but till I feel like I'm part of the community, I won't donate. I have a faint idea this is maybe why more people don't donate?

13th Sep 2018 13:11 UTCElizabeth Murray

Hello I'm new here in Mindat, I came across this site and it is filled with what turns humans life to good.

13th Sep 2018 13:17 UTCDebbie Woolf Manager

Welcome to mindat Elizabeth.

27th Nov 2018 20:14 UTCTony Nikischer 🌟 Manager

New matching donations!

Donald Peck has graciously offered to match up to $1000 for any new page sponsorship or outright donation. Double your giving impact for Mindat.org by taking advantage of Don's offer!

Facebook also has a matching program for Hudson Institute of Mineralogy dba Mindat.org donations received via Facebook between now and December 16.

Finally, if you are an avid Amazon customer, use Amazon Smile instead. They offer the same prices but donate a portion of the sale to Hudson/Mindat. All you need to do is designate Hudson Institute of Mineralogy as your preferred charity.

Let's make a big push for the end of the year!

12th Dec 2018 19:35 UTCChristian Klein

Good evening

I was offered a "charity gift card" from a US company. They would mail it to me or probably also to someone else, if I advise them to do so. I have no clue what that charity gift card is and how it works, who is defined as "charity", etc..

Be that as it may, would the Hudson Institute be able to make use of it, if I have it sent to them?

Best wishes

Christian

12th Dec 2018 19:51 UTCScott Rider

Tony, I should have read this post more carefully, as I am an avid Amazon user. I just set it up to accept Hudson Institute as my charity of choice on Amazon Smile, thanks for letting us know about that!

I also subscribed today, albeit a little late in the year. Its not a lot, due to me moving and updating my new home.. But it'll be better next year once I sell some of the stuff I found (literally have an entire storage room that is in need of cleaning and trimming)... Also, I'd like to eventually arrange to donate some of those specimens...

12th Dec 2018 21:12 UTCTony Nikischer 🌟 Manager

Christian - we are happy to take a look at the "charity gift card" you mentioned. Feel free to send it to:

The Hudson Institute of Mineralogy dba Mindat.org

1113 Cambridge Hill Lane

Keswick, VA 22947-2749

Thanks!

13th Dec 2018 17:29 UTCCedric Van Hove

Hi,

I have an idea for developpers, I searched for Azurite from Mil Pillas images, in the same time, as many of us, I would like to have one, could it be possible to add a block on a deposit page where we could buy a mineral from the visited deposit ?

Linking the deposit page to a database like e-rocks, or any other website like this, of course not to sell other minerals from another deposit but really dedicated to this one. Mindat could receive a small part of the sales revenue,

I thin this could be good for mindat, of course the sales-part should be bigger than information part, not to lose the mindat's concept,

kind regards,

Cédric

8th Mar 2019 15:10 UTCTom Mortimer Expert

I find the Google ads very distracting from my mindat experience. When viewing “New Photos Yesterday” on my iPad, the display ads plus other mindat overhead take up one-third or more of the screen.

If technically feasible, I would like to suggest a subscription fee for mindat users that allowed subscribed, logged-in, users add-free access. A one year subscription to Rocks and Minerals magazine is presently $64. A $20 to perhaps $50 annual subscription fee for mindat add-free access is most reasonable.

Tom Mortimer

8th Mar 2019 20:56 UTCAlfredo Petrov Manager

Tom, logged-in users already get the ad-free experience! You shouldn't be seeing ads if you are logged in.

9th Mar 2019 15:10 UTCTom Mortimer Expert

Alfredo, Yes, I just figured that out last night.

Next thought... A printable donation form on the site might help. Contributors would fill out with name, address, email address. My mailed check donations to public TV and radio are always followed-up with reminders for continued support. Such a mailing list is a valuable asset. Magazine & newspaper subscription reminders come like clockwork. Managing such a contribution revenue stream might be handed off to some third party company, so not burdening the current mindat team.

Tom

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