Unfortunately, Cap City either was not interested in that or there was some issue with it from a cost or logistical standpoint. It happens. We're asking for a lot here and there's a big inconvenience factor for them considering that all the proceeds are going to charity.
Appreciate the hard work Meth. Hopefully the crowd-funding option works out.
At this point, barring a change of heart (or a change in circumstances) from
@eCapCity, it seems highly improbable that we'll be able to offer a cap pre-order through the crowdfunding campaign, but I'm still working on the possibility of other incentives.
I actually met with Room to Read on Wednesday, and we'll talk about the fruits of that later and separately, but, with respect to the crowdfunding campaign, I'll continue to brainstorm with them and figure out what we could do to make it successful.
With disaster relief, there's a clear impetus that is inescapable to anyone who follows the news. With regards to, say, building a library, I'm not sure we'd get the same great push from our fellow members as we have for the disaster relief campaigns. I'd hoped that the popularity of the caps would be a good catalyst for us, but, without that, we'd be relying perhaps entirely on the badge model and then it really would be up to us to help people understand what type of impact we could have together.
Just $5,000 raised would be enough for a library in Asia, for example. (Other parts of the world tend to be more expensive.)
We could potentially get some children's books in various languages or digital, .pdf recognition plaques from Room to Read, but we'd want to assess the appeal of those versus the cost of implementation - especially with respect to a physical reward.
So, it's still very much something that we're working on, but I regret that the prospects for pre-ordering look pretty grim at the moment.
Right now, where the caps are concerned, I'm basically in a holding pattern because there's nothing more I can do at the moment. The ordering system is what it is. The order itself still has to be filled.
As for the crowdfunding campaign, I'd still like to do it if possible. Even if the yield is only $1,000 for the charity, that can supply a library with books, help provide school expenses for a student, support literacy education programs and teacher training... every little bit helps.
We'll work with Room to Read to figure out if the CrowdRise platform has the tools we'd need for badge fulfillment and see if we can find a way to direct the funds to a specific country in greatest need, which would help us better focus the campaign and provide a theme for badge creation.
Since that is, unfortunately, a separate issue from the caps now, we'd present and discuss that with you in a separate thread. For example, if we determine that we're planning to move ahead on that even just with the badge incentives alone, I'll start a post to ask for input on badge design, as we did with our Typhoon Haiyan badges (which turned out great).
If you're interested in the crowdfunding campaign WITHOUT the caps, it wouldn't hurt to let me know, just so I can get a better sense of the interest level there, and that can be done even just via PM so as not to disrupt the cap thread.
I just wanted to mention it here briefly to give you all an idea of how, even if "nothing" happens or changes, we really are working hard behind the scenes to create the best possible outcome for everyone.