Campaign finishes

The campaign closed on 6th Sept, having raising just under 50% of the target of £4,444.

There were numerous ups and downs during the campaign. The initial start where we raised over £1,000 in the first week (from friends and family). The second phase did not work out as we lost our main network - the Children of the Sun. 

The third phase was to go back to our original funders for last minute contributions. During this phase, our highest funder came forward with a donation of £500. Wow

Only £320 could be processed through the web, so the remainder £180 was given to me in cash.

On the close you can get downloads from Indiegogo of all the donations and email addresses and postal addresses etc. 

The way the funding works is that whenever any body pays (all done via paypal) a 9% payment of the donation is paid immediately to Indiegogo (from paypal). In addition paypal takes a fee of approx 4%.

So the funding fees were - £169 (on money through Indiegogo/paypal of £1,876) plus the paypal fee of just under £80. I had not budgeted the paypal fees (and had assumed we would raise the target so only budgeted the 4% ie with the 5% refund for successful campaigns).

Go live email to pilgrims

Go Live

The big date finally arrived.

Before we went live, we had a beautiful blessing by An Ra Nae. Then we pressed the button at noon on 6th August - new moon day right in the middle of Lion's gate.

The last minutes changes to the video, text and perks have been done. There are still a few minor changes needed (eg change icon to include Glastonbury Tor not the crop circle - the problem here is that Dave did it - on a windows machine, and as I don't have the master, I can't change it and Dave is away. (I use mac and sometimes there are compatibility issues).

Tip is to have all material in a central location ( ie dropbox) if someone does some art work , you need to get the master, so it can be changed as necessary.

Sent an email to pilgrims with email template, etc.

I will post a copy of the email.

So we went live on 6th August - and have 30 days to achieve the target of £4,444 (these two elements of the campaign can not be changed post go live - just about everything else, including the video can be changed).

Grand Sextile

Well we had the Grand Sextile - or Star of David on 29th July

It has added its awesome power.

I have re done the youtube with team member suggestions - including using celtic music associated with AA michael.

An Ra Nae has added some awesome perks including £555 as Blue Flame angel and I removed the £5 for free pilgrimage pass as not needed and made it clear it was from Listowel only.

Also added a section with pilgrims photos (not all in yet) and will add voice over with the names and function of each pilgrim.

Found that I need a custom domain for pilgrimage website so that it can be verified with google - so upgraded groupspaces to basic plan £5 a month and bought a domain name for £12.50 for a year.

Checked paypal linkage - and asked pilgrims for help with Twitter - and emphasied need to get 25% to 40% from friends and family initially.

Planning go live

Finding the amount of work is getting quite heavy - but fortunately getting help from other team members.

Sent out an email to pilgrims with:
1. Target for each of us to raise at least £130 from friends and family
2. Then get out to wider networks when there is some money in the pot.
3. Draft email to send out with flyer
4. Note to pilgrims on what to bring etc.
5. Request for a photo so we can add to video (with name to use)

Plus received suggestions for video and mission.

Will re record video tomorrow - saturday
And added mission to campaign details.

It is looking much better now.

Next step is draft thankyou email to donors.

Post go live planning

Now that the Indiegogo site is almost finished (one of the group members is going to do some last minute editing) - I can start thinking about post go live promotions

I draft two documents:
1. Email to be used by pilgrims (and others) to send to their friends
2. a Flyer to be sent with the email.

I also figure out we need a thank you email (with a share on facebook link) - which can be personalised and also used as a template.

I also figure out how you can choose custom thumbnails in youtube - you have to monetise your channel first (under channel settings under video manager)

Anna, Skype call and route plan

Following a very useful Skype call, the travel arrangements for the pilgrims is beginning to come together.

I checked out campsites on route and discovered lots of places that take motorhomes set in beautiful locations:

Tir Abbey outside Swansea in Wales
St Margaret's near Rosslare
a super campsite opposite Newgrange on the way back
and the Whitelodge campsite on Anglesey.

Other connections are being made. An Ra Nae asked that all pilgrims read the book by Claire Heartsong - Anna, Grandmother of Jesus. It is an amazing book that gives the (long) life story of Anna who prepared the way for the birth of Yeshua to her daughter Mary Anna.

Anna was an Essene but not from the Qumran community, but from Mt Carmel. That is the location of the end of the third phase of the pilgrimage planned for next year. She visited Britain many times with her son Joseph of Arimathea. Well the second phase of the pilgrimage is to Glastonbury, Stonehenge and Avebury where Anna came all those years ago.


The next step is to communicate the route plan to the pilgrims - so the travel arrangements are finalised. Also we need to start preparing for the Indiegogo campaign go live - planned for end of July. Ruth has offered to help me with any emails etc that may come in (whilst Trish and I are on holiday in Croatia). An Ra Nae is helping with the email wording etc - and the campaign wording as well.

It is all progressing nicely

On Monday, I will visit the workshop in Upper Dicker to check out Bessy. The cash is in place and Ray has agreed to let her stay on the farm until winter.