Thank you Dr. Jurisica.
I believe many of us recognize that if Krembil had not taken over WCG, it may well have just ceased to exist. Now that you have it, the question becomes how to nourish it so it can flourish. I certainly do not have the public relations acumen to sell the ideas of cutting edge basic research to a community which sometimes sees only the potential for near term profits to the bottom line and not the larger picture of the gains in basic knowledge which open up entirely new vistas for much longer term gains.
Might I suggest finding a really good salesman who would be able to articulate an overarching vision for how the benefits of this research will play out in future years. Finding the right person(s) to do this may break a bit of the logjam for future funding sources. A professional grant writer might also be the ticket. A retired one who might donate their time is a possibility.
Good luck.

Thank you Sgt Joe - I have been reasonably successful getting funding for our research in the past. Expanding this for funding for the Grid, especially in the current environment, is more challenging than I anticipated in 2021. but I am definitely not giving up; and I am opened for any suggestions, help and connection volunteers can help us with. WCG is too great of a resource not to try all possible options to save it

We already have several volunteers, partners and ambassadors helping us with the connections, experience and advice; but the whole TEAM of us will have even better chance to succeed. It is the community aspect that makes the Grid so special.

As we did highlight in the newsletter - it is the amazing support from Distributive that made us "survive" 2022. If a relatively young company can do so much for WCG - I hope that one of the banks, oil companies or any other much wealthier organizations would realize that little support gets multiplied and helps us together solve the most pressing problems humanity faces.

Hi Dr. Jurisica and All,

I have a suggestion
Find a student, some in-house or WCG contributor here with good graphics skills and create merch. For instance, using a service like RedBubble.com, you only have to supply the disgns and then you can place them on lots of things like tea cups, T-shirts, Acrylic blocks, notepads/books, stickers, pillowcases, post cards and a whole lot more.

Pros:
You don't have to deal with shipping, customer orders and all that - it is taken care of by RedBubble.

You set the price that you want for each item and then RedBubble adds their costs and profit for each item on top.

Many people would apprecite getting something nice while you are also getting something.

For instance, I would LOVE to collect my badges in acrylic blocks - how nice would that be?! Very nice. Once you reach a new badge, you can celebrate buy buing an acrylic block (and/or a tea cup, some stickers etc) with that badge and everyone benefits!

And not only badges of course. What if the, via WCG crunching, discovered promising chemical compounds would end up on T-shirts etc. That'd be awesome.

I believe you could easily make $25 per acryclic block for instance.

Another pro is that you spread the word this way as well via the items. A cruncher's friend comes over and sees a shirt like that, acrylic blocks on a shelf, gets a WCG inspired Christmas or birthday card and asks what that is - and a new pathway of communicating WCG has been created.

Also RedBubble ships internationally, so contributors from around the globe can contribute - just like on WCG (when servers are working, sorry for the pun :) )

CONS:
Someone has to put some time into getting it actually done and maintained with new designs as projects, compounds and ideas are created, But I am sure there must be someone in this community who can help out that knows computer graphics / Adobe Illustrator or whatever is needed?

I'm just saying that it would probably draw more attention and willingness to donate via shopping nice things - supporting WCG and getting something nice at the same time. And on Twitter and other channels you would mention when new designs and items are available so people will know when to check new stuff out.

I sent an email to support asking Dr Jurisaca that exact question, provided additional details and requesting guidance.

I look forward to his response.

Sometimes we donate for reasons other than getting a tax deduction. Just because we think it fosters a necessary good.

Cheers