Donation Progress
April 3, 2024
A couple of events are affecting the donation goal for 2024 and the future of this report. After a recent health scare and diminishing donations, I have to weigh whether this report should continue. As you can see, even after two months of asking for donations, pointing out that this could put the report in jeopardy, the goal is still not met for this point in the year, reflecting lower reader interest.
As you may remember, when Surfing and Surfer magazines closed at the end of 2019, I asked my readers if they'd like me to continue. Thousands did, so I offered to keep this report going under the condition that I could get enough donations to make it worth my time. It was a meter to gauge if there was enough interest to continue, or to sunset this report. At first, donations came in without asking. But over the past year I've had to almost beg for donations, time and time again. Each time I did I lost a piece of my pride, turning my 30-year effort from one I took pride in, to feeling pity by those who read it. That's not how I want to be remembered.
For now, I will continue this report. But with donations in decline and with the health issues I'm dealing with now, there will be changes:
First, for the sake of my health, I will have to abridge the extent and details in the report, since that seems to be a high-effort, low-return endeavor anyway (there seems little to no interest in all of the science details I put in the forecasts along with graphics).
Next, if donations continue to decline over the next few weeks, I'll drop the email report to cut costs (that's about $1000 per year).
After that, if I continue to see waning interest, then I'll consider a two- or one-day per week report, instead of the three I do now.
If things continue to decline after that, then I'll sunset this report by giving everyone at least a month's notice where I won't take donations so that those who have donated get their money's worth.
I'm saddened that after 30 years of doing this report that we have come to this point, but I think it only prudent and pragmatic that I take steps that will help my health and quality of life, while not disappointing those who have appreciated what I've done. And moreover, I want to keep you in the loop, and not shock everyone with an immediate closure if things don't improve in the near term.
BEFORE SENDING ME AN EMAIL ABOUT THIS, please note a few things. First, I get asked to make this a subscription service, but I won't. I went down that road before and I have no desire to do that again. Second, some have suggested putting more ads on the site, but I refuse to litter my decades of hard work with trash. And thirdly, remember that all I ever asked for was less than 0.3% of what some forecast sites pull in every year from required subscriptions. While some bigger forecasting sites rake-in tens of millions of dollars, my ask was a mere drop in the bucket, barely enough to make it worthwhile, just $2500 per month, which barely compensated me for my time and effort. To have to beg for that miniscule amount from the approximate 12,000 readers of my report has been demeaning and disheartening.
I would like to thank everyone who has donated to support this report. You are the reason this report continued, and I can't thank you enough. For those who didn't donate, you are the reason this report could end.
I'll post my next progress update after the first of May. Until then, I truly wish the best for all of you, and I hope that you too will decide to make the best use of your most valuable asset: Time.
