What's this all about?

This page serves to describe why I think you should support crowd-funding in general, my work in particular and how you can do so. I do share my long-term goals in order to provide some context, but this is not a goal-based fundraising campaign.

Years ago I came up with an idea I call distributed micro-income. With the launch of this page I am embarking on that Grand Experiment. My long-term goal is to establish a diverse collection of income streams that, in aggregate, provide enough cash flow to live on. This page represents one aspect of that overall plan: Leveraging crowd-funding to work for the benefit of all.

Why support Shawn?

It may not have reached the public consciousness yet, but those in the tech industry see that we've entered a new age; the Creative Revolution is in full swing. The corporate structure and capabilities born of the previous Industrial Revolution are no longer restricted to those with the money and social influence to grasp them. The availability of the Internet, Do-It-Yourself (DIY) culture and the advent of crowd-funding have all converged to provide unprecedented opportunities for the average person.

As mentioned above, my goal is to produce goods and services that benefit everyone - not just companies and those who can afford to pay. In the same way that people give to fund education, safe streets, and all the other things that benefit society as a whole, I'm asking you to help support my efforts to:

and so that all of these things can be made available to everyone - free of charge. This is not an exhaustive list. Coming up with new ideas is also part of the work I will be doing, but this represents a good starting point.

To see examples of the work I've done to date, visit my profile on Github, my Ohloh profile (for projects I've lead and/or contributed to), my professional blog (for examples of my writing) and Bellevue College's software knowledge base (which I established and wrote most of).

Let's change the world.

Help me create an open-source, cross-platform resource for nutrition information.

How you can help

I now accept credit cards for a donation amount of your choice through PayPal:

Offer a bounty

If there is an existing issue you'd like addressed in an open source project there are services that allow you to set a bounty on it: Offer a cash incentive for a developer to provide a solution. Different bounty services work in different ways. I have accounts at the two listed below. If you know of others, please let me know.

is a site that allows bounties to be placed and claimed on Github issues. Google Wallet & PayPal only for now. Bounties remain until the issue is closed. If the issue is closed as "won't fix" the bounty amount is refunded. Bountysource also supports fundraising.

is not limited to setting bounties only on Github issues, or even to existing features/bugs. Payment is non-refundable and goes to charity if a solution is not provided within one week, or accepted within an additional 48 hours. Tipping, unrelated to the bounty itself, is also supported.

Even if I'm not the one to claim your bounty, it stands a better chance of getting attention and supports open source development.

Become a patron

Patrons provide regular, recurring funding so that I can focus on working on software & writing instead of spending that time hunting through job boards, polishing my resume and sitting in interviews. At the moment, I have accounts with two crowd-sourcing services that support the patron model:

pays out pledges weekly. You can pledge as little as 1¢, or as much as $100, per week.

The plan I've chosen on Patreon pays out pledges monthly. Patreon's system also lets creators specify pledge levels that unlock bonus material, access, etc.

From time to time I may also utilize sites like Kickstarter, Indiegogo, GoFundMe, etc. to raise funds for larger projects. Watch my blog for announcements.

Purchase supplies, etc.

If you'd like more control over exactly how your money is spent, I maintain a wish list of things I need or that will help me be more productive. You can order directly from the list and they will be shipped to me.

At the moment, Amazon is the only one to offer this kind of service that I'm aware of. If you know of other sites and/or services that allow me to create wish- or gift-lists, please let me know. I'd especially like to find something that supports listing subscription-based services. (For training, vendor support, etc.)

No-cost options

If you'd rather not spend money, but still want to support me there are plenty of other ways to help. Here are a few suggestions:

Rate my advice

I'm a contributor on StackOverflow (and other StackExchange sites). If you feel the answers I post there are worthy, please vote them up.

Share this page

The permanent link for this page is http://tiny.cc/support-cms - please share it far and wide. Also feel free to recommend and/or review my work.

What you can expect

Transparency. Honesty. Integrity.

I included references to work I've done in the Why support Shawn? section above, which provides a good overview of the type and quality of work that I do. I also maintain a list of projects I'm currently working on as well as additional project ideas on the home page of this site. With your support I can dedicate more time and resources contributing to these.

Ultimately, my long-term goal is to be able to be able completely fund such work through a combination of donations, tips, bounties, commissions, part-time employment, etc. This page is but a small part of that overall effort. Eventually, I hope to work directly for you - all of you - rather than through the middleman of the employment industry.

I estimate that I will need at least $120k/year overall (from all income sources) to equal what I would normally get from traditional employment - including expenses like healthcare insurance, tax payments, etc. This roughly breaks down to around $10k/month or $2k/week. My plan is for a portion of this income to come from crowd-funding sources like the ones listed above.

In the meantime, I will be setting up more ways to communicate what I'm working on and where the money is/will be going. Some of the other ideas I'm considering include:

  • Regular, public stand-ups - in the style of Agile Scrum. A friend suggested IRC, but I'm also considering an audio recording; kind of a mini-podcast.
  • A donation level that allows voting on what I will work on.
  • A donation level that can request projects/bugs/features for me to work on.

When I need to pay for the services of others I also plan to utilize fellow crowd-funded workers. My goal isn't just to free myself from the employment industry, but to support and build these new opportunities that we all have.

Watch my blog for announcements and updates.