Newsletter

Dear %s,
Dear BeWelcome member,

Today I am going to ask you for your help. Today I am going to ask you to make a difference.

BeWelcome is a website, but it's also a community which you have chosen to be a part of. It is also a place where ordinary people like you and me have put in thousands of hours of voluntary work to make the community interesting, fun and functional. It may surprise you, but no one has ever been paid for any of that hard work.

BeWelcome is unique in another way, because it is the only truly democratic online hospitality exchange network. This means that this is the only place where your voice, your opinion truly matters. BeWelcome is built on this promise, this opportunity:

"Creating a hospitality community based on collective work, democracy and transparency."

But we're in serious danger of losing this opportunity. We are not growing as we'd like to grow. We have trouble keeping our donations flowing. We're simply not seeing the usage and the support that BeWelcome needs. Out of frustration regarding this current state of affairs and because of serious time constraints, Florian has stepped down as chairman of the board of directors of BeVolunteer (the legal organization underneath this all) and asked me as former vice chairman to take over. I would like to personally thank Florian for his voluntary work so far, but especially for the strong wake-up call he is giving us in this way. Because he's right: making BeWelcome work sometimes seems like an impossible task with very little in return.

That's why we need your help. We need you to speak up, to let us know if you still care about this project.

You can do this in many ways:

• You can vote with your feet. You can log in and make your presence known:
  put up a picture, update your profile, write a reference, join a group. Or - if you are not interested any more in participating - terminate your account.
• You can participate in this evaluation phase by letting your voice be heard in our forums. Tell everyone what you think should be done. Make suggestions.
• You can make an even stronger statement: donate. This one is simple; if we can't get enough donations, we will simply not be able to afford the rent for the website servers anymore. This will be the end of the community no matter what. You know BeWelcome doesn't ask for money often, so when we do, it's serious. Donate.
• Volunteer. Join one of the many efforts to make BeWelcome work. Or, show your appreciation to any of the hard-working volunteers out there.

I'm going to do my part as well. Together with the entire board of directors, I will try to reach out to other organizations to form long-term alliances. We will also listen to you, read and process all of your suggestions/comments/questions and create a poll in the very near future that will determine where BeWelcome is headed.

Show that you care. Make this community live.
Log in, participate, debate, donate, volunteer or send thanks. Make a difference.

Thank you,
Thomas Goorden, new chairman of BeVolunteer, and the BoD

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