The Universal Patronage Project

Last week I learned that you can only send an email to 20 people on fb at one time. This morning while looking at people’s responses, I learned that fb also limits the number of words that you can write in those email messages. So instead of starting with a thank you to the people that had sent us their numbers so far, our 2nd appeal started with a Suze Orman quote!

Can’t decide if that’s funny, karmic, annoying, or just plain sad.

Hi everyone – we have set up an external site to process donations through paypal.

You can view and donate here.

So things changed a little in our way of thinking after we sent out that first appeal. The most significant change: we are sending out 1 appeal/wk. This is for a number of reasons, not the least of which being that 5 solicitation emails in a row – regardless of how support-worthy the cause – would annoy pretty much anyone.

We also noticed that the original email only had a shelf-life of about 3 days. After Wednesday, we didn’t receive any additional phone numbers. It also became apparent that we needed to wait and see what people wrote (those that replied with more than just a phone number) – what kind of questions they had, what things needed expansion or clarification.

It appeared (from our very limited sample) that people wanted to know more about the $$$ aspect. No surprises there.

So here it is – the second version of the appeal:

As Suzy Orman says: People first. Then money. Then things.

2. As for the $$$ part:

We mentioned it in the name of transparency. The idea behind the Universal Patronage Project is a large number of somehow-connected people each giving a small donation toward the achievement of a goal, for instance allowing us to keep the lights on at Fishbowl (our gallery/project space).

So at some point during our conversation, we will ask each of you for a small donation as an investment toward the direct support of artists and art-making. For the purposes of this email, let’s say that amount is $10. Maybe you can think of it like this: A reasonable amount for a friend to ask for, and one you wouldn’t think twice about giving them.

Plus, there’s no worries:

If you participate by sending us a donation, but then find yourself needing that money back – even the next day – all you have to do is ask, and we will return it to you. No questions asked. No hard feelings. Liquidity is key.

So please send us your numbers. You can reach us anytime at: 773 383 0396.

Yours truly,

Ruby & Cash (as of 10/09)
Beau & Lily (05/08-05/09)
Paul & Kate (12/05-05/08)

and all of those that went before…

So it’s only been 24 hours since we sent out Appeal #1. While reading the responses, some of the things that occur to me:

• You never know what’s going to offend people.
• How private is a phone number?
• What makes someone write a response vs. a comment vs. only a phone number vs. a response with no phone number?

As of 5:14 pm CST, 23 fbfs have responded out of the 320 emails that were sent to individual people. That is a 7% return in approximately 24 hours. We did not have current phone numbers for most of the people who responded.

It’s a little strange, but I feel like I can’t list their names here. I also find it interesting to note WHO it is that responded and WHAT their response actually contained. Some examples, with some identifying data, are listed below:

• “Okay. I’ll bite. XXX-XXX-XXXX after 5pm.” Good friend we rarely see and with whom we have communicated only on fb for over a year.
• …”This project made me think of all those religious paintings commissioned by “patrons” who would then be included in some corner of the painting as advertisement of their generosity and wealth…XXX-XXX-XXXX.” Old friend we haven’t seen in more than 3 years. All communication has been via email and fb.
• “i love phone calls! XXX-XXX-XXXX.” New friend we see occasionally at professional/art events.
• “I … can’t say in words how much I dislike the phone. But you all go ahead!” Pure fbf. We have never met in person. She friended us through fb as part of a “general outreach/collection of fbfs,” – specifically art-related people living/working in Chicago.

Some interesting and totally unscientific data:

• 2 family members responded. One gave us a phone number. The other did not.
• The majority of the current respondents are not what we would consider “close” friends.
• 9/23 current respondents we have either never met in person, or have not seen in over 1 year.

Sent out the first round of email appeals on fb between 5:40 and 6:00 pm CST.

First response received from Shane Mecklenberger @ 5:55 pm CST.

Today we are officially starting the Universal Patronage Project on Facebook (fb).

Last week, we decided that we would limit our appeal to our Facebook friends (fbfs) network only to more closely examine the idea of “friendship” in the digital age.

The logical first step is to send out an appeal to our entire network, announcing the project and asking for their phone number. There are two primary (efficient) ways to do this using fb.

1. Send out an “Event” notice. Though this is certainly the fastest way to reach all of the people in our network, this is a rather impersonal way of contacting our fbfs. Assuming we can all agree that fb has the potential to be not-impersonal. It’s main drawback is how quickly it will be lost among the throng.
2. Send “Friend A-Z” a personal message. This is a little more personal, as the message will go directly to the email inbox that user has listed as their contact email under their “Account Settings.” The main drawback of this method is that fb only allows you to message 20 people at one time.

Obviously there are many more ways to achieve this same end. Most of which would even more quickly fade into the cyber-archive. (The “cyberchive?” or “net.chive?”) The black hole that I’m assuming is populated with spam and not-spam alike. Which will this be?

Today, we decided that we would send out 5 different versions of this appeal: one for each day of the week. It occurs to me that as an experiment, it would be best to change only one variable at a time (i.e., 1 msg/Monday-Friday or 5 msgs/5 Mondays), however, there isn’t time for that. In addition, flooding people’s inboxes with the same message is *probably* at least a little annoying.

The first version of the appeal is as follows:

Dear Facebook Friends (fbfs),

We are starting a project and we need your help.

The first step is easy:

1. Send us your phone number so that we can call you up. On the telephone.

Some of you are good friends in the real world, and we communicate often.
Some of you we know quite well, but we haven’t communicated in years.
Others are only fbfs, and we’ve never communicated beyond the confirmation of friendship.

Yet, in times like these, one must rely on one’s friends. Therefore, we’d like to call and have a real conversation with all of you. And ask you for money. We’re calling it The Universal Patronage Project.

What does it mean to have friends in the digital age? Let’s talk and try to find out.

Yours truly,

Ruby & Cash (as of 10/09)
Beau & Lily (05/08-05/09)
Paul & Kate (12/05-05/08)

and all of those that went before…

http://organicartfactory.com

http://upproject.wordpress.com/about

So, as soon as we get finished breaking all of our friends into 20 member groups, we will send out this first version of the appeal: this one specifically aimed at getting telephone numbers.