The Emerald Tablet » Economy & Finance http://hermeticmagick.com/blog Tony Mierzwicki's thoughts and short articles Sun, 05 Sep 2010 07:47:28 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.0.1 A reminder about CHS’s SCRIP programme during the “Season of Giving” http://hermeticmagick.com/blog/2009/12/14/a-reminder-about-chs%e2%80%99s-scrip-programme-during-the-%e2%80%9cseason-of-giving%e2%80%9d/ http://hermeticmagick.com/blog/2009/12/14/a-reminder-about-chs%e2%80%99s-scrip-programme-during-the-%e2%80%9cseason-of-giving%e2%80%9d/#comments Mon, 14 Dec 2009 08:24:05 +0000 Tony Mierzwicki http://hermeticmagick.com/blog/?p=240 The time of the Winter Solstice is a time of giving, with exchanges of presents being indicative of good will. When purchasing gifts or giftcards, be mindful of Cherry Hill Seminary’s SCRIP programme.

The SCRIP fundraising programme has been used extensively by schools, churches and non-profit organizations of all kinds. CHS has two separate SCRIP programmes:

  • Simplified SCRIP to purchase store gift cards from hundreds of merchants all over the country and online
  • CHS eMall for online shopping

Every time you shop using these programmes, CHS will receive a percentage of your purchase at no extra cost to you as it will be coming from the merchants you are shopping from.

The money that CHS actually gets from each transaction is quite small, but if enough people use the programmes, it will all add up. Both programmes are accessible through the above links.

It is also possible to donate straight to CHS.

Tony Mierzwicki

]]> http://hermeticmagick.com/blog/2009/12/14/a-reminder-about-chs%e2%80%99s-scrip-programme-during-the-%e2%80%9cseason-of-giving%e2%80%9d/feed/ 0 Cherry Hill Seminary Annual Appeal http://hermeticmagick.com/blog/2009/04/27/cherry-hill-seminary-annual-appeal/ http://hermeticmagick.com/blog/2009/04/27/cherry-hill-seminary-annual-appeal/#comments Mon, 27 Apr 2009 21:35:35 +0000 Tony Mierzwicki http://hermeticmagick.com/blog/?p=45 As indicated in my bio, I am on the board of Cherry Hill Seminary, as a non-paid volunteer.

Cherry Hill Seminary is the first and only graduate-level education for pagan ministry in the modern world. It offers online distance-learning classes, regional workshops and intensive retreats. Cherry Hill Seminary aims to produce a professional, competent, educated and recognizable group of scholars, leaders, teachers, chaplains and clergy who have been educated at the graduate level – in a pagan learning environment, by pagans, and for pagans. Cherry Hill Seminary will be accepting Master’s degree applicants for the Fall 2009 Semester. Accreditation has been applied for and might be achieved in three years. More information can be found at Cherry Hill Seminary website.

Cherry Hill Seminary are currently launching their annual appeal, so as to continue with their important role. Would you be interested in donating, either as an individual or as part of a group? People have donated anything from just a few dollars to thousands – every dollar is important.

If you feel that any individuals or groups might be interested in assisting, please feel free to forward this email. I am quite happy to assist in any inquiries.

Another way to assist Cherry Hill Seminary is through their SCRIP fundraising program which Jo-Ann has initiated. This program, which is used by many schools and charity organizations, functions by having a large number of merchants paying a small amount of money to Cherry Hill Seminary whenever you make a purchase from one of them. There is a comprehensive write up about this, with links, on my website: HermeticMagick.com

]]> http://hermeticmagick.com/blog/2009/04/27/cherry-hill-seminary-annual-appeal/feed/ 0 The Demise of the Amazon Associates Program http://hermeticmagick.com/blog/2009/04/12/the-demise-of-the-amazon-associates-program/ http://hermeticmagick.com/blog/2009/04/12/the-demise-of-the-amazon-associates-program/#comments Sun, 12 Apr 2009 06:52:19 +0000 Tony Mierzwicki http://hermeticmagick.com/blog/?p=38 For those not familiar with the Amazon Associates Program, it was established to pay a referral fee to website owners who were sending users to Amazon. While the revenue earned by high traffic websites may well be quite considerable, the revenue for the average pagan website is comparatively modest.

On 6 April 2009, I received an email from Amazon announcing a “change” to the Amazon Associates Program starting on 1 May 2009. They stated that “After careful review of how we are investing our advertising resources, we have made the decision to no longer pay referral fees to Associates who send users to … Amazon websites in the US or Canada.”

They then added “We appreciate your continued support and participation in this advertising Program.”

This means that all of us who have websites in North America and have been referring clients to Amazon are being encouraged to keep doing so, but will no longer be paid for our promotional efforts. This is most certainly not a change, but a cessation of the whole program!

I have had the privilege of meeting many of the best known pagan authors in the US. The reality is that none of them live in waterfront mansions with a Ferrari or Bentley in the driveway. Royalty payments don’t amount to very much unless you write a best seller that appeals to mainstream society. Pagan authors either have to work very hard at events and venues to make ends meet, or have a regular job. The key to survival is to have multiple income streams. Thanks to Amazon, one of those streams is just about to dry up.

In tough economic times, every income trickle makes a difference, even that from the Associates Program. Amazon are adamant that this “change” is permanent. Perhaps a sufficiently loud outcry from website owners will lead to another e-commerce company offering an equivalent associates program? We can only hope.

Update April 14, 2009:

I’ve received a response to a query email which I sent to Amazon about this matter. It seems that the change will only affect those who use paid search advertising searches that link directly to Amazon. However, if a shopper clicks the Associate link on one of our web sites to get to Amazon, regardless of how they get there, referral fees will be paid as before. So, things aren’t as bad as I first thought.

 

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