With the season starting, it is time to invest in ourselves

[Grateful Dad]

Soon, we will be flooding this board searching for information, cheering, jeering, and otherwise getting all wrapped up in our team and each other's insights and opinions.  I know that for me, this is the first place I go for information on the team I love.  So for those of us who head here everyday, it is time to make sure that we are supporting the board in proportion to how much it means to us.  I can't imagine the dedication, know-how, time, and effort that it takes maintaining it, getting sponsors, coordinating all of the board monitors, etc.  I just know that I don't have it.

Please take a moment before the season starts to click on the "Donate" button above in the black area.  Brad is too modest to ask, so I will.  There are twelve listed recurring donors and we need more.  You may make a one time donation or have a donation made monthly through your PayPal account.  It doesn't have to be much, but it really should be something.  Please do it, not only to keep the board going, but to acknowledge what it means to you and also to join together as a team.

Brad, could you please update us on what it costs monthly to maintain this site?  Without information, we can't know the need.

To all donors, past, current, and future, thanks.  This board really helps make the season for me and many others.

[FutureUSFstudent]

I will be donating to this site, but unfortunately going to school and paying bills is hard enough. I do the most I can for the Bulls community and fans, i.e volunteering on campus, streaming Bulls games that is in a grey area of legality, but as soon as I graduate, I will most certainly drop a few hundred bills to this site. As one of its youngest users, I come here everyday for all the latest news and fun we always have on this board. I love each and every one of you and the moderators and Brad for graciously giving us the gift of this website. You are all hilarious and you all rock! GO BULLS!

[Orlando Bull]

Couldn't agree more, there is no better place on the web for all things Bulls.

It's comforting to know that you all live and die with our Bulls just like I do. When you can't make a game, follow the threads on this board. It's like being there, cheering and ******** with many of your fellow Bulls.

If you donate, you too could have one of the cool "2011 Bullspen Donor" tags below your screen name (Brad may even change it up a bit to say "Donor since ___" for those very very special people that have recurring donations ).

This is like priceline boys and girls, you name your own price. What's the Bullspen worth to you?

[ncentonze]

done. not much but at least its something.

[GoUSFBULLS274]

I will be donating to this site, but unfortunately going to school and paying bills is hard enough. I do the most I can for the Bulls community and fans, i.e volunteering on campus, streaming Bulls games that is in a grey area of legality, but as soon as I graduate, I will most certainly drop a few hundred bills to this site. As one of its youngest users, I come here everyday for all the latest news and fun we always have on this board. I love each and every one of you and the moderators and Brad for graciously giving us the gift of this website. You are all hilarious and you all rock! GO BULLS!

Can you email/message me the link for that? I'd really appreciate that.

[FutureUSFstudent]

I will be donating to this site, but unfortunately going to school and paying bills is hard enough. I do the most I can for the Bulls community and fans, i.e volunteering on campus, streaming Bulls games that is in a grey area of legality, but as soon as I graduate, I will most certainly drop a few hundred bills to this site. As one of its youngest users, I come here everyday for all the latest news and fun we always have on this board. I love each and every one of you and the moderators and Brad for graciously giving us the gift of this website. You are all hilarious and you all rock! GO BULLS!

Can you email/message me the link for that? I'd really appreciate that.

Done

[Raetus]

Seems fair to me -- I'm down for $10 a month.

[Brad]

I'd like to thank the three that donated.  It means a lot to me and others that volunteer time to the site that it has value to individual members.  We really do work hard on stuff and all donations to the site help to either pay for the site expenses or advertising costs.  I'll post more on that later. Mostly wanted to say thanks to the thread starter and to those supporting the concept and the site.  My battery is dying. More later - update on new board, etc.

[Rizman]

I'd like to thank the three that donated.  It means a lot to me and others that volunteer time to the site that it has value to individual members.  We really do work hard on stuff and all donations to the site help to either pay for the site expenses or advertising costs.  I'll post more on that later. Mostly wanted to say thanks to the thread starter and to those supporting the concept and the site.  My battery is dying. More later - update on new board, etc.

Bulliever, sorry did not see the Donate button.  Just completed my paypal transfer.  Thanks again for this board.

[Brad]

Hey I just wanted to follow up and let you know how your donation helps.

In preparation for football, we went out and bought new software and are within weeks of opening up parts of it for the board conversion.  The new community oriented software cost just under $400 with annual renewal fees of $210.  So board members' funds and mine have invested into this community.  Also, NAM37 bought the template we will be using, $20, and while he and JimUSFSig have been working on the software, BleedGreenandGold has been updating our colors and logos.  Many of the admins and mods are also helping to test out the new board and identify areas we need to address.

We also have had to secure a new server, that brings our server cost up to $298/month until we can close down the old one, then we drop to $99/month.  The one-time donations help through this time of double billing.

On top of the design and art work that BleedGreenandGold did for the new site, he also created some slick ads for TBP that have run thousands of impressions and clicks to the Pen.  We spent $217 in online advertising in last 45 days to help engage more fans and their support for the USF Bulls.  In seasons past I've spent more than a thousand dollars to find and attract new Bulls fans.  With the new era of Bulls football I feel obligated to invest in the Bulls even more.  It's to build support - we don't even have a product to sell - just a community to host other Bulls fans online.

So, for those of you that kicked in some assistance, thank you.  This is a non-profit, but not in the tax/legal sense of the word.  For nearly 12 years everything taken in has been spent (and much more).  We are, thanks to the ads, beginning to generate money that will be put back in to covering expenses, advertising the site, and other prizes, etc.

If you can't help out, no problem.  It's never been about that. 

So I thank all of you for being a member of this community and helping to bring others in for support of the Bulls. 

Brad, aka Bulliever