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  <title>MediaGoblin crowdfunding campaign: huge success!</title>
  <meta name="date" content="2012-11-12 09:30" />
  <meta name="author" content="Christopher Allan Webber" />
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<p class="centered">
  <a href="/pages/campaign.html">
    <img src="/blog_images/campaign_over.png"
         alt="The MediaGoblin campaign wraps up!" />
  </a>
</p>

<p>Well the campaign is over.... and before anything else, I think we
should take a moment to say: <b>We did it!  The campaign was a
success!  Thank you EVERYONE who supported the campaign!  YOU ROCK!</b></p>

<p>Our goal, technically, was 60k, but we weren't running an
all-or-nothing campaign, so we decided to set our goal higher than our
"bare minimum".  In several meetings with Deb and Will, I remember
saying, "well, if we hit 40k, I think I'm going to feel really good
about things."  And we didn't just hit 40k... we got a bit above it,
beyond 42k even (which, as I said in a
<a href="http://mediagoblin.org/news/decentralizing-opportunity.html">previous
blogpost</a>, has nerd-significance in showing our place in the
grander scheme of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Forty-two#The_Hitchhiker.27s_Guide_to_the_Galaxy">life,
the universe, and everything</a>)!</p>

<p>This is no small accomplishment and we should feel proud of
it... we <i>deserve</i> to feel proud of it!</p>

<p>So you are probably wondering!  What exactly did you all finance?
How can you expect this set of money to be used?  Well, let me tell
you!  Basically: you have bought a year (plus a couple bonus months,
actually) of me working on MediaGoblin fulltime!  I take this very
seriously... more on how I think that will pan out... but first let's
have a breakdown of how we got to that.</p>

<p>We weren't sure originally how much money it was likely that we
were going to be able to raise.  This is one reason why we both shot
higher than the bare minimum, but also why the video said "hire our
talented developers and designers" while the actual campaign page said
"hire Chris Webber, and if we get more, pay for even more people to do
work".  Basically, it was really hard to tell before the campaign
launched how much money would come in.  Would it be 15k?  Would it be
150k?  We didn't really know.  If we raised enough, it would be great
to pay for multiple people to work on things.  We estimated about a
25% overhead... 10% on the FSF handling the fundraising infrastructure
and finance stuff (which is less than this has actually cost them) and
about 15% on fulfilling rewards and a few other costs.  So 60k was the
estimated cost to pay me for a full year... which would mean 45k after
everything else.  That's a smallish salary for a programmer
(especially without benefits in the US, and especially with my spouse
in graduate school), but livable, and we budgeted that as possible.
So when Deb, Will, and I discussed what we would shoot for as a
reasonable goal, we thought 60k would cover things for me to lead the
project fulltime for a year.  But would we hit above that or below
that?  We didn't really know.</p>

<p>Of course, we actually didn't hit 60k, and I'm still saying that
I'm going to work a year fulltime, plus!  So how does that work out?</p>

<p>Basically, there are one and half months left of 2012.  I won't be
taking any payment for that, but I <i>will</i> be working (hence the
plus).  A lot of the next month and a half will be involved with
fulfilling donation rewards and et cetera regarding the campaign, as
well as wrapping up a few small prior obligations.  So that's the
plus.  So what that also means is that I will be working fulltime on
MediaGoblin for a full year... and a very literal full year in
multiple senses!... from start to finish of 2013.  (To make up the
difference since this does not cover my full expenses I will be doing
some contracting for a little bit on weekends.)</p>

<p>I consider this to be a real job with real duties, so to that end,
I'll be providing biweekly updates once the "full year" starts in
2013.  I haven't figured out where yet, whether or not it'll be here
or on the mailing list or to the donors list or on the wiki or on my
personal blog, but I'll be making updates somewhere.  You financed
this... you deserve to be kept in the loop!</p>

<p>And there's quite a lot to do.  We've laid out
a <a href="http://mediagoblin.org/news/mediagoblin-1.0-checklist.html">roadmap
to 1.0</a>, and it's quite a tall order.  By completing this
fundraiser it isn't the case that we now no longer need volunteer and
community development... we actually need that now more than ever!
(One of the reasons I left my job to focus on MediaGoblin fulltime was
because we have a strong community, but it wasn't getting the level of
attention it deserved!)  Whether or not you want to help code, do
graphic design, write docs, do testing, or something else... we could
really use your help!  So please do <a href="/pages/join.html">join
us</a>!</p>

<p>Thank you all!  Thanks to you, 2013 really will be the year of
MediaGoblin development!  I know I am looking forward to it!</p>
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