1.8 KiB
+++ title="Donations" mediatype="rev" conference="seattle-2022" date="2022-11-16T12:00:00-08:00" description="Independent donors AKA conference members" thumbnail=""
videos title="Memory Strategies" embed="https://player.vimeo.com/video/774890907" service="vimeo" download_link="https://player.vimeo.com/progressive_redirect/playback/774890907/rendition/720p/file.mp4?loc=external&oauth2_token_id=1777364455&signature=3c443137144bf46966f5607ab00f818dfa5f98e1ac7643e62160f55e0bb27792"
speakers name="Abner Coimbre" bio="" image="" +++
How Donations Work
Ticket sales and trade show booths cover the operating expenses for Handmade Cities: renting large venues, paying staff and security, securing A/V equipment, catering, event insurance and more. They run into tens of thousands of dollars per event.
Independent donors, known as conference members, keep the founder himself afloat. It's a kind of Patreon that allows Abner to remain a full-time social butterfly. Donations cover his Seattle rent, groceries, healthcare, and the occasional night out. Conference members donate with no strings attached because they believe in the founder's vision with the advisory board's guidance.
Your donations to Abner are designed to outlast him. The bus factor is mitigated by his advisory board, meetup hosts and paid staff, some of whom are learning the ropes of running this business. To ensure continuity, Abner has also implemented a dead man’s switch and written his will.
Of course Abner intends to live a long and fruitful life. He dreams of becoming the Geoff Keighley of systems programmers—or perhaps growing old as a lovable Alex Trebek for computer nerds. (The parallels aren’t perfect, but you get the idea!)