Firsthand Weather Needs To Raise $1200 By June 28th

Click here to view the fundraiser! Firsthand Weather is needing to raise $1200 by June 28th in order to keep the website running after July 1st and to pay for the newsletter for 6 months, which will be sent out weekly. There are currently around 8,400 people signed up for the newsletter, and as long as that stays under 10,000 subscribers, the costs will not go up. $600 will be used to purchase a one year hosting plan that will support two million monthly visitors to the website. We typically run well under that mark during the summer, however the visits on the site rise dramatically in the fall and especially the winter. While views are typically lowest during the summer months, Firsthand Weather is having record views compared to previous summers, and Firsthand Weather is well on the way to having a record year.

Firsthand Weather’s growth is dependent entirely on viral growth and word-of-mouth. No money has gone into advertising, and we will likely continue with that strategy through the rest of 2015. Also, Firsthand Weather has no web design or web developer costs since I do all of that myself, which saves A LOT of money.

Originally, I decided to try to fund the newsletter for a year, but I have come up with another way to possibly fund it after the six months are up. I’ll discuss that later in the year.

Also, I had planned to try to fund a mobile app, but Firsthand Weather is just not ready to pull off something like that yet. While development continues on the app, the active weather last winter slowed down the entire process. That’s going to be a big project that is going to continue to take months of planning and development. We will start raising money for that when we’re ready.

So basically, it’s simple. Firsthand Weather needs $1200! This fundraiser is beginning Thursday, June 18th and will last 10 days. If we go over our goal, then that money will be used for buying new software, upgrading the website, providing additional services on Firsthand Weather, funding a mobile app, and much more!

ANY amount is appreciated! Seriously, a couple of bucks can make a huge difference when many people are contributing to something. If you contribute $5 or more, your name will be listed on the newly designed Firsthand Weather website later this year, if you choose. If you contribute $15 or more, you will be guaranteed early access to the mobile app as a beta tester, along with having your name listed on the site. Keep in mind that we’re currently behind on the development of the app. If you contribute $25 or more, I will send you a one to two paragraph early 2015-16 winter forecast for your exact location, along with making you an early mobile app tester and adding your name to the site. Just to estimate, you should get this forecast sometime in July or August, depending on how many people give $25 or more. This would be after the national winter forecast is put out publicly on the site later in July.

I hope that you’ll consider helping us out. Amazing things are being done at Firsthand Weather, and I’m excited for what the future has in store. Click here to go to the fundraiser, and then click “Back This Project” if you decide to donate!