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CARLA needs YOUR support!
Last updated on March 10, 2011 by The C.A.R.L.A. Team | This article is Archived | Permalink
It's that time of the year when we reach out to those benevolent individuals for any financial assistance and/or donations to help keep CARLA up and running.
Our expenses and investment in equipment and supplies keeps getting larger as each year passes. It is way too much for us to maintain at the current level. Each year we see maybe 5% of our total expenses donated from users in the form of financial support & new or surplus equipment donations. As great as that is and as much as we appreciate it, that still means we are footing 95% of the total expenses required to run, maintain & continue to build out this network. It may come as a surprise to some but, that equates to $10-20k out of pocket e-v-e-r-y year and we simply can not sustain this level of financial obligation without more help. This means the network may not grow as much, some systems may sit in a degraded state longer and there will be larger gaps between needed visits and improvements. It may even mean giving up some sites that are costing us more than we can afford to maintain for what they serve.
There are a few individuals who donate in other ways like use of a site, personal resources/equipment, skills, assistance on projects, etc... All of that helps greatly. You know who you are and we can't Thank You enough! Without the generous help and support from those people we'd be even "further in the hole" and unable to provide what we do now.
We strive to keep this network as one of the most reliable and viable ones out there for those times that it is really needed. We don't require a membership fee or dues to use CARLA and it has always been an OPEN system and we will continue to keep it that way but, it is not easy to do and that's where any financial help we can solicit will help to maintain that level of service that people have come to expect (within reason of course).
If you appreciate what we have in place and enjoy using it or just want to know it will be available to use when needed, please consider helping us out in any way you see fit. If you are unable to do anything at this time we understand. If you are able to later that's great but keep in mind we are not requiring it of anyone, but rather this is a chance for us to solicit the assistance of those that can and want to help out but could use that little nudge or reminder that we need your help.
There is a link to the support page at: http://www.carlaradio.net/support/ . There are "suggested" donation amounts which are completely arbitrary as some people offer more and some less. It's entirely up to you. Some people have found it easier to purchase a commonly used piece of equipment for us and donate it. That's worked out very well in the past.
This year we have plans for several new endeavors on the horizon. We hope you can be a part of it in one way or another and enjoy all that it will offer. Feel free to contact us if you have any questions, suggestions or ideas. There is a contact form on the website that can be used to get a hold of us at: http://www.carlaradio.net/aboutus/contact.php .
If you know of any friends or people that use the system or would like to support it please forward this on to them as there are plenty of individuals that utilize CARLA in some form or fashion but aren't part of the Yahoo Group reflector and don't realize they can help out.
Remember, "When all else fails...Amateur Radio"
We look forward to another successful year in 2011.
Thanks again.
The CARLA Team