People ask, how can they support OpenCouchSurfing? Likewise, I often meet people who support the ideals, but also want to support CouchSurfing. They might have paid for verification. They don’t totally agree with the way CouchSurfing is run, but they want to support the organisation anyway.
My idea is to offer people a way to support CouchSurfing financially, while also supporting the ideals of OpenCouchSurfing. That’s the basic premise.
I think it could work as follows. We create one or more funds or trusts. These funds are clearly constituted. They exist to support the work of CouchSurfing, within certain conditions. Rather like the government supports universities in the UK, but the money comes with requirements. The universities must behave in a certain way to be eligible for the cash.
A simple example might be server costs. We could create a fund to pay for CouchSurfing’s server costs. So long as CouchSurfing International Inc submits invoices for these costs, the fund would reimburse the expenses. This is just a simple example.
The underlying concept is to give members a way to financially support CouchSurfing, while still upholding the principles of OpenCouchSurfing.
We could also provide a mechanism for members to display and verify their donations. For example, images which could be inserted into the user’s profile, showing how much that user has donated. This might help to spread the message amongst members. In effect, we would be creating an alternative to the CouchSurfing verification system.
This is very much an idea right now. It needs considerable research and discussion before being implemented. Please share your thoughts at this early stage. Can you see merit in the concept? Would you be willing to donate money through such a framework? All feedback will be appreciated.
Although I admire how you manage to keep thinking of possible positive action for OCS supporters to take wrt couchsurfing, I must say I am highly skeptic about this one.
The reason for this is that the relation between Couchsurfing International inc. and its ‘stakeholders’ is fundamentally different from that of British universities and the UK government. The most obvious difference is that the government is not just stakeholder, but also the principal regulatory/legislative institution that unis have to appease. This is different between CS inc. and the more critical users of its service; since we’re too small a part of the total user population, CS inc. eventually doesn’t have to appease us. There is no mutual dependency, hence the stakeholder principle is bound to fail.
Second, CS inc. can collect substantial revenue from advertisers if it ever gets pain in the wallet. They don’t need what little we could contribute through a trust.
Finally, I personally believe that the current management of CS inc. is just far too unprofessional ever to trust with other people’s money. We can set rules all we like, but with the deceitful crowd that’s currently calling the shots, I am very much afraid that funds will be continued to be abused.
So, I wouldn’t contribute. But again, in theory (with a different ‘leadership’ in place in CS inc.), it is a great idea.
Niels
An interesting idea. I think it would start to make a lot of sense if any hospitality exchange related organization that upholds certain standards (transparency, no extreme forms of censorship) could apply for the money in the fund.
Stop dreaming of doing good and trying to pay server costs when massive amounts of money is being used to transport ALL the csc thailand participants from Thailand to Alaska .why is their plane costs being paid? because they are being “rewarded”.
please read the community communications group and also the collective_alaska_faq
QUOTE
CouchSurfing will provide all participants with housing and meals. Local travel and some recreation opportunities will also be provided. Long-distance travel compensation will be provided to returning participants from the Thailand Collective to reward them for their continued dedication. The House Manger will also receive long-distance travel compensation due to the larger burden of that role.
looking at the participant list .I also now understand why walter kept defending the collective in the ambassador’s group . Hey its normal when you get a free ticked to spend months !! A bit of defending is ok!!
. The truth comes out sooner or later 
Could you please tell me when and where you read that I am getting any money? With a near totally empty bank account and no promise whatsoever of seeing any money coming my way, I am spending my last euro’s paying over 1000EUR to go to a collective to make soemthign i believe in better as much as possible.
On top of that, when I was defending CSC’s, I had not decided to apply for Alaska yet. I just think CSC’s are a good way of gettign things done. But I guess that would not be cool enough. It would be far cooler if there was bribery and favouritism, or whatever else you guys can come up with
Callum: One of the more obvious problems I see with your suggestion is that CS really doesn’t need the money as far as I can tell. with a surplus of 40K USD last year and a 50K USD emergency fund, they seem to be doing just fine. That is almost too bad, cos I like your idea very much.
Maybe you can follow Kasper’s suggestion? I think BeWelcome would be very happy (actually more happy than CS) with some funds..
Walter
@Walter: You have to take some of the posts here with a pinch of salt. They can be overly attacking and personal. Personally, for that, I apologise. I appreciate you taking the time to respond here, I really do.
You raise an excellent point. CS probably doesn’t need the money. If the fund was successful, and say it raised $10’000, that would be a hugely powerful statement. If people were given a space to vote with their wallets, and did so in some number, the message would be loud and clear; this stuff matters.
I also like Kasper’s idea of creating a HospEx fund. I wonder if the average CouchSurfing member would see value in that. I think in fairness it would need to be open to Hospitality Club, BeWelcome, Crash at Mine, Nomadics.it, and any of the other networks.
Perhaps the solution is to create one organisation and a range of funds. Potentially a fund for each individual network, and a general fund to support the principles of hospitality exchange. Might be something in that…
Niels Smit: You make some excellent points.
1) The relationship between CS and members is different to the government / university relationship. Agreed. That was meant as an example of how money can be given “with strings attached”.
2) They don’t need our money. True.
3) The CS management can’t be trusted even if we donate “with strings attached”. There might be something in this. I suppose it depends on where we set the bar. Extremely stringent requirements, the money will be more hassle than it’s worth, and fewer people are likely to donate. Too lenient requirements and the exercise may achieve nothing.
I think the key point is to make a statement. It’s not so much about actually funding CouchSurfing, it’s currently making money. The idea is to give people a way in which to donate, while also making a statement. It offers the average member a method to say “I support CouchSurfing, I’ve put my money where my mouth is, but I also support the ideals of a democratic, transparent, accountable, properly run CouchSurfing.”
If we can get the credibility, the requirements, the public acknowledgement, and a whole lot of other stuff, right. If we can get it right, we could send a very, very powerful message that people do actually care about this stuff. It’s not just a few ex-volunteers / wannabe pirates that care.
Walter quote “I am spending my last euro’s paying over 1000EUR to go to a collective to make something”
Then walter you are one of the few people who had to pay their own fare!!. Did you even read the collective_alaska_faq ? Before going to a collective it is a good idea to read the FAQ?
@Callum “I support CouchSurfing, I’ve put my money where my mouth is”
The question is not what the member thinks because the LT does not really care about its members with so many joining everyday.
A member donates towards server costs.
Where is the LT really spending the money?
On NON- Staff air fare costs. Reason “reward them for their continued dedication.” — source alaska faq and post by Mandie M in the communication group.
I do not think the LT would ever want to deal with the pirates.
hi walter,
i hate to break it to you but your stance is a good example on why cs is in such a shape.
you dont seem to have your own life in order, yet you invest time overmotivated into a project you believe in.
you end up giving up on improving the most pivotal and critical project of yourself, your own life and well being, to support something you have no control over yet it pretends to be able to change individuals lives greatly. if you dont have a high expectation and level of quality in regard to your own life, it does not suprise me that you are not critical to the current approach of cs. if you had personall managed your own life better, you would demand more structure and competence in the project management of the time you donate to volunteering.
maybe this is the crux and problem of networks like cs and hc: people who work successfully and professionally are driven away by the bad management, whilst people who should worry about their very own life end up wasting hours and hours on the bad cs project which they fail to recognize as failed due to their own lack of professional experience. this is a perverted scheme of exploitation by the miserable kindergarten management of cs “sweat shop”.
Walter!!
Ask them for the plane fare, dammit! I think we are all vastly underestimating the $$$ CS is making or about to make, so let them pay plane fare for a programmer at least
The reason i say this is that two nights ago ago i saw a commercial for T-mobile – one of our largest cellphone providers. And the entire commercial was, yes, you guessed it:
“I am a couchsurfer… i need the best cellphone coverage i can get” – with lots of cuts showing the guy (not sure who it was and didn’t catch the beginning) – moving from house to apt to city to couch etc..
This is a commercial by a huge corporation- i would expect CS to get a pretty penny ($50K – $500K, depending) plus possibly residuals.. this should fill the coffers for awhile!
Also T-mobile is owned by Deutsch Telekom – so we might start seeing Euro ads as well…good marketing there
. I look forward to seeing in the reports how much they get for those commercials. Branding is the name of the game!
Did the T-Mobile ad feature the CouchSurfing logo? The terms “couchsurfing” or “couchsurfer” were in common use before the organisation CouchSurfing International Inc was incorporated. Casey / CS has no restriction on the use of the word / phrase.
So, unless it specifically features the CS logo, which I’m guessing is unlikely, I think it’s highly unlikely that CouchSurfing International Inc will earn any money from the T-Mobile ads.
http://youtube.com/watch?v=UiJRM3Szd8c
There was no mention in the ad of the CS organization or the website, but see the comments below the video. If, as the comments indicate, CS was involved, then it says something about the image CS is promoting.
“I’m a couchsurfer. I’ve got a lot of friends, but no itinerary”.
No mention of the hospitality spirit or inter-cultural understanding. But who would expect the T-Mobile corporation to be interested in that message?
If I was looking for free accommodation and a carefree, adventurous social life, I might respond to the T-mobile/CS pitch. But I feel more inspired by the tremendous spirit of generosity and hospitality being demonstrated right now in China:
http://www.newsflavor.com/Alternative/10-Acts-of-Heroism-in-the-Sichuan-Earthquake.131723
I guess that you haven’t met Walter in public, even not have worked with him, you can’t be more wrong than with your statements above.
When you read his blog (which he should update more, winkwink), you would have seen that he has *NOT* been busy with Couchsurfing lately. The last month he has become active again, before that, he was active for our both former employer.
Overmotivated? Maybe, I have the idea (please mind: IDEA, I haven’t spoken with Walter in quite some time) that he became fed up with CS after the Rotterdam Collective.
For now, please make sure that Walter is one of the most self-convident people I have met in my life, and when he decides to volunteer in Alaska, that this is *HIS* choice.
@matrixpoint: Thanks for the link. They use the generic term “couchsurfer”, so I’m almost certain that CouchSurfing International Inc, unless they tried to sue, would not have been paid a penny for the ad.
Let’s see…
a) they knew about the ad being made (see video comments, casting was initiated in CS San Francisco group)
b) Casey et al are extremely conscious & protective over their public image
c) there have been plans for less donation-based ways of making the ends meet
=I wouldn’t be surprised to find out CS was involved and compensated for the ad.
@Anu: If they invited people to audition through CouchSurfing.com, that doesn’t mean they paid for that privilege.
The word “couchsurfer” or “couchsurfing” is not a brand that CouchSurfing International Inc can own. It’s a generic term which was in use long before the organisation was incorporated. So, T-Mobile had no reason to pay CS Inc in order to make the ad. I think it’s unlikely they would make a donation “voluntarily”.
I suppose we might find out when the financial reports are published.
@zak0r: i’m not even going to dignify your reply with a response. I think that post says more about what kind of person you are than it does about me
@The rest: I think that what i do with my finances is my own business, but rest assured I am taking good care of them
@Larry: thanks for the lovely comments. I did read the FAQ. So what if other people get their fare paid for? Does that mean I shouldn’t attend even though I would like to? I think your assumption that I didn’t read the FAQ is a tad far-fetched. Then again, this kind of speculation/accusation is what I have come to expect from the people on this website. Really doesn’t motivate me to find out about the T-mobile add and report back to you guys. With this kind of attitude you make me keep the answers to myself.
Go ahead, attack me some more. I’m expecting no less..
@Walter: You said:
In many ways you’re right. Some of the site’s most active users are typically negative, sometimes rude, and generally talk rubbish. Unfortunately, that’s the nature of the openness here. The longer standing members tend to be fairly quiet. Unless there’s something that really needs said, nobody says it.
I think it’s definitely a problem, and personally, I can’t see a solution.
@Walter “So what if other people get their fare paid for? Does that mean I shouldn’t attend even though I would like to?”
Why would anyone pay to reach a collective?
where everyone else(NON STAFF) are getting FREE tickets to reach there?
It is not like the CSC-NZ where most people paid their own way.
Anyways that is non of my business.
but man! one odd guy paying for his tickets which all caseys buddies gets a free ticket to alaska .
Callum: thanks for acknowledging that I’m not going crazy
From what I understand, CS received no money from the t-mobile ad and were not contacted beforehand…even if they were aware of the ad being shot.
9000 people joined CouchSurfing last week!
Our largest single week ever!
– source couchsurfing blogs.
Margaret quote and were not contacted beforehand…
@Margaret i think you need to inquire a bit more in the private ambassador group and also contact us? to really know the whole story.
I’m sure you’re right Larry! Just passing along what I’d heard…
Posted in the brainstorm group by Crystal Murphy June 2nd, 2008
Hey guys!
Although T-mobile contacted CouchSurfers before the commercial aired, they refused to work with us before the commercial aired.
From my knowledge, the surfer in the video is a true CouchSurfer. Also the term CouchSurfing is being trademarked by CS.
The first thing that pops up when you google the term CouchSurfer is CS, so in the end we are still getting new members from the commercial.
—————————————————-
Well I haven’t paid rent for a month or more
I’m couch surfing
And I don’t have a key cause I don’t have a door
I’m couch surfing
I’m not answering questions
I’m between houses
— Darren Hanlon Lyrics
@ Diederick
“I guess that you haven’t met Walter in public, even not have worked with him, you can’t be more wrong than with your statements above.”
its a common scheme in cs, people invest alot of time into things to escape from their “ordinary” life. i am sorry mate, but if you indeed work professionally in it, i dont see you working for cs. apparently walter has been fed up with cs after the rotterdam exploit, but the current apologetic attitude and “goin’ back to homer” indicates that he just doesnt have the professional attitude required to appraise this scheme of wasting workforce employed by the ineptitude king casey.
either this, or he is a social moron, understanding that its a waste of time but still doing it for reasons beyond my scope of understanding, trading a well settled life for all this cs mess.
“@zak0r: i’m not even going to dignify your reply with a response. I think that post says more about what kind of person you are than it does about me
”
shoo, i would guess most people know what kind of person i am, besides, why state it so implicitly negative, be happy that i give you my attention. call me arrogant asshole, its true.