I created a fund-raising non-profit a decade ago and it has been quite successful. What helped us a lot was to quantify total volunteer hours. It took a little effort, but when the hours were added together it made an impressive . . . and contribution-inspiring total. We've raised nearly $5 million.

Perhaps you could create a total of time given to this site. The hours would be mammoth, if you were to ask authors, bloggers, etc. to total their monthly hours, as well as the volunteers.

When I see a note from you asking for contributions, I have two reactions. The first is to ask myself how on earth can you have trouble getting donations for such a worthy cause. The second is to feel anger at those who fail to acknowledge that there is no such thing as a free lunch. I run a website and have an idea what your time commitment and expense can be. You have to be incredibly efficient to make this happen, for the amounts you suggest.

In the past, Hatbox has worked to generate contributions. Unfortunately, many genres aren't represented in Hatbox. I can't imagine why so few stories are donated, by so few authors. Maybe they fear few readers. Maybe they worry about not getting comments and kudos. I have far more stories in Hatbox than any other author. My agreement with you is that a year after I post a story to Hatbox I publish it for free for a period of time. That way you have your cake and I get to eat it as well.

Some of the really amazing BC authors need to show their support for you by slipping a story into Hatbox. If more genres and more authors were in Hatbox the $$ would follow.

Good luck.