Upon unanimous consent of the membership, 'da Prez made a donation to Clublog in the name of the WVDXA in the amount of $100.00 U.S. (£64.13 British Pounds). This will help support the operation of this great resource that many of us use at least weekly (if not daily!) Below are comments about the current and future expenses of Clublog from their website:
Current Expediture
The running costs for Club Log between 1 April 2013 and 1 April 2014 were £10,230 ($16,368)
Most of our costs are for utilities. Club Log is a very intensive application that analyzes a vast database, and it also receives large volumes of visitors. For example, hosting a large expedition typically results in over a million page loads in a few weeks. The servers (main and standby in two different locations) each require a fast internet connection, electricity and cooling 24/7/365. Other expenses include subscriptions to directories and news services, conventions, security certificates, fees paid to our helpdesk supplier (Freshdesk), and disk storage for backups.
Future Expenditure
In 2015 and beyond, there are several new projects related to Club Log which will need a lot of disk storage and perhaps some RF equipment that we're planning ahead for. Additionally, it is becoming clear that a new server for running reports will be needed, separate from the main service, so that at busy times less juggling of resources is necessary. At the moment, Most Wanted charts are being scheduled to be updated at quiet times between expeditions, for example. This is a trend that will probably continue and it's going to be necessary to expand a little to keep up!
Looking at the donations list over the last year, it appears that Clublog's running costs average $1,364 a month. Adding up the donations in May 2015, they only received $1,079 during that month. But the April receipts totaled $2,277 so they more than made up for the May deficit in the prior month. March was even better with $3,156 being received. That means they received about $2,400 more than their running expenses for that 3-month period. Hopefully the remaining 9 months have supplied enough funds to help with the future expenditure plans. This looks good for the future health of Clublog.
The following email was received in acknowledgement of our donation:
Dear West Virginia DX Association (W8AH), Thanks for your generous donation to Club Log! Each time a user performs an upload or uses the expedition search tools, a donor's name is displayed at random, as mark of appreciation. Your donation ensures Club Log is free of charge and free from advertising. It is thanks to the fantastic kindness of regular users that the running costs are covered. So thanks again, and I hope you continue to enjoy using the site! It's a pleasure to have your involvement, and I am very grateful for your donation. vy 73, Michael G7VJR
