Flattr
This page updated May 9, 2011
Please consider signing up for Flattr and using it as a way to support this blog, related blogs and people associated with them.
Flattr used to have a rather complicated set of rules for giving away and receiving money, but they recently changed these.
Signing up for flattr is free. If you want to collect money from others, you simply need a website or possibly other place to advertise a flattr button that people can click on and give you money. If you want to give money away, you either need to first collect donations from others or use a credit card or other method of depositing money into your Flatter account.
Money comes into your Flattr account in the ‘Revenue’ column, and money to be given away gets put into the ‘Means’ column. Money can be moved from Revenue to Means, but not vice-versa. Money in Revenue can also be withdrawn. Money deposited by you with a credit card or other method always goes into the Means column.
When you deposit money into Means, you agree to give away a minimum of €2 per month, or about US$3.00 at current exchange rates. You also have to pay some fees associated with using a credit card or Paypal, and if you’re lucky enough that other people give you enough money to take out, you will need to pay a fee for this too. Flattr also deducts a fee when you give someone else money. At the moment flattr has a lot of fees, but they have promised to try to reduce these over time.
Consider for example signing up for flattr and starting with a balance of about €24, sufficient to cover the €2 month minimum for a year. You will pay about €2 in fees, so the total cost will be around €26 or about US$39. Then sign into your account and return to this page. Choose one or more buttons, and click on each one twice. The first click will be to make a one time donation, and the second click will be to sign up for a ‘subscription’. If you choose a 12 month subscription, then your balance will be given to the owner of that button, €2 per month, over the next year. The more buttons you click on, the more your money will be distributed in smaller amounts to more people. You can also raise the monthly minimum to something higher than €2 if you care to, but then you will give away your money faster.
If you offer ‘content’ over the Internet, for example publish a blog or offer software, consider publishing your own flattr button. You might use it to generate income, but be warned the amount of money in flattr is very small right now.
You can also use a flattr button to collect money for the purpose of giving it to other flattr users! In part this is my intention, but I also hope to make some money myself in the future as well.
Of course I would be very pleased if some readers decided to come along and donate larger amounts of money via flattr, but that’s not really what I expect. Since over time flattr will involve larger and larger numbers of people, what’s just as important as donating a lot of money is offering a commitment over time. If you end up giving me 10 cents a month, even this amount will be very gratefully received, because together with what I get from others it may very well add up to a significant amount of money over time and it will be steady income.
On this page you will find flattr buttons, in no particular order, of plant breeders, garden bloggers, small farmers, important plant collectors and others doing similar work. This page is a work in progress, and like my blogroll I’m sure at some point it will become too big to manage here.
In the meantime, if you would like your flattr button to be added, let me know! I don’t intend to include everyone on this page, only people I would personally consider giving money to. Mostly this includes people who do the things I list above. If you think you do something similar, and would like your button included here, send me an email and lets discuss it.
Søren Holt plant breeder and author of the blog In the Toads Garden.
Tom Wagner, plant breeder and author of the blog Tater-Mater.
Lieven David, plant breeder and author of the website De Lusthof.
Tim Peters, plant breeder currently working on perennial food crops among other things.
Patrick Wiebe, the author of this blog, Bifurcated Carrots.
