Positive impact: small, yet meaningful

Hello dear readers,

Max is here with an accidental update. I can't help but share my thoughts about what is happening at mnngful.

In recent weeks three featured photographers — Jim Mortram, Benedict Stenning and James Hopkirk — suggested donating their fees to funds and charities that support homeless, vulnerable and otherwise marginalized people.

It is hard to express how moving and inspiring such intentions were for us, me and Zak. mnngful is fueled by pure enthusiasm and curiosity, funded from our own hard-earned pocket money and very far from covering any costs via subscription fees, but such photographers' feedback and support prove that we are working in the right direction.

Our fees are small, yet. And donations are small too. But we hope and strive to increase both. I believe these three publications will inspire others either to pay attention to, focus their work on such meaningful topics, or simply to donate something to such funds.

Look at these stories below, follow the links to funds and charities, back us in building a bigger platform and stronger impact.

James Hopkirk: Mark

Monday, 10 Oct

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Benedict Stenning: Black Eyed Dog — A Photographic Healing Process

Published — Wednesday, 13 Oct

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J A Mortram: Small Town Inertia

Monday, 18 Oct

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We call you to support what we do

I didn't use to ask for help and usually tried to find the way on my own, but here, with mnngful the situation is different and it is totally not about us needing money to survive.

The idea to run a subscription-based platform is to achieve the balanced relationship between readers and photographers, between taking and giving.

We aim to increase fees for photographers and writers and our donations but we will only be able to do that from the moment when our earnings cover our costs, let's call it a breakeven point.

What are the costs?

The math is simple:

— 12 stories a month;
— $50 photographer fee per story;
— $50 writer fee per story;
— ~$5-10 average for stories promotion across social networks (otherwise it is almost impossible to break through the algorithms and get some visibility);
— ~$200 per month for tech including hosting, domains, some other services;
— some accidental and variable fees for services like accounting and etc.

To sum everything up, mnngful monthly costs are around $1,500–1700 in total.

How do we cover them?

I was clear about how difficult it will be to achieve a positive economy when I decided to start this project and have committed that I will fund it until I have resources and the costs it bears do not hurt my little family.

This is what I decided I can afford to cover from my other projects:

• I do marketing and product strategy for IT at ClaritySupply.co — a small agency of two, me and my partner.
• I work as a Chief Product Officer at Sociaro.AI — a marketing technology startup.

How much do we earn from subscribers?

Less than $100 per month for now. I will find a way how to share the full project economy or earnings at least in a live mode soon.

What is the target?

To achieve breakeven and start investing more, increase payments to photographers, we need ~300 monthly subscribers. 300 × $6 = $1800.

Is that realistic and possible? I believe so. We also believe that we need to provide more value for you, readers, and build a stronger impact.

How to support us?

First of all, back us with a $6 monthly subscription — as little as two espressos, $0.5 per story.

Then, spread the word. Let photographers and those interested know about what we do.

And let us know about your ideas — we'd be happy to collaborate. Reach out to me via info@mnngful.com, or on Twitter and Facebook.

Let's build mnngful together.

Cheers,
Max Zhiltsov