We don't have any set in stone answers to your questions. You can rest assured that we are approaching this first and foremost as users of Hubski ourselves. We need your help on this one, hence the post. Therefore, let me pose these questions to you : 1. Where on the site do you think it should be? 2. How simple should it be? Should it be a monthly donation? A one time lump donation? An option for either or? 3. What if there was a small identifier in someone's profile showing they had donated? Is that something people would like? Not like? Should we have an option to have that on or off? 4. Should there be an incentive to donate? Stickers? At a certain level a T-shirt? Should there be advanced functions that currently don't exist? I'd love to hear from you guys regarding your own questions and more. Also, I think the Hubski post from today ties in nicely. Hubski will NEVER treat you or your data like a product. The other night on our call mk referred to Hubski as an "art project" -we all agreed, this is how we as a team think of Hubski.
1. I would put it somewhere on the bottom of the page along with all the other parts of the site, as BrainBurner has already suggested. That's not very invasive, without hiding it entirely. 2. If it was done where there's an option to a lump sum and/or a monthly donation then that would be great, I don't know exactly how that works though. Basing it off of NPRs donation system would be good, as steve already said. My thoughts are very similar to BB's and steve's thoughts on this whole donation thing. 3. I think the only recognition somebody should get should be a thank you email to whatever email is connected to their account. I don't like the idea of donating money to be associated with getting "extras" or anything like that. 4. I'm fine with most things that aren't additional site functions. If somebody donates enough that a t-shirt or other item is warranted then good for them, but I'm really not a fan of having site features that aren't available to everybody.
How about a PayPal button with the other links (faq, tmi, etc) at the bottom of the page? I think tying in a page or window with a suggested (and justified) donation amount would be helpful. I know I would personally be more likely to donate if it was a simple button and there was a suggested amount with some reasoning behind it. If this amount is on the larger side it may help to split it into more modest monthly donations for those who would prefer that option. As for incentives, I personally wouldn't care for any, but it may help sweeten the deal for some folks.
Not paypal. They'll fuck you over as soon as you start generating revenue. Generate enough money and they'll claim you're "not a non-profit," disable your account, and take the money without a way to appeal the decision. They've done it before.