The History Project is a non-profit entity, but it's not a non-cost entity. We pay to support development and technical support, we pay our web hosts for the underlying technology, and we pay royalties on certain aspects of the systems. So we need some help with those expenses.

Local projects may also incur costs associated with marketing their project. They may also choose to pay a stipend to writers and editors from sponsors' funds. These are entirely a matter of choice for the local group.

Web Publishing Expense

To support a single web site, the cost is $19.95 per month. For that, the individual user receives only the use of the editing tools and the publishing services of our web host plus telephone support regarding the editing suite. No creative support is provided with the basic program, but an experienced browser user should be able to maintain the text and graphics using the instructions available in the extensive help files.

Of course, individual sites are nice, but they don't grow the project very fast. What we hope to develop is a growing network of user communities who will train local users to build their own sites.

To any group that will purchase 100 sites we offer a 30 percent discount. That means the group can buy the sites for around $14 per month each. They're still worth $19.95, so the group instantly gets its money back when it receives donations from the sponsors of the sites. Naturally, the best outcome for the organization is to ask for a year prepaid by the sponsor.

Sponsors can be the subject of the sites or local businesses and organizations that support the objective of recording the broad history of the community.

But it gets better. If the local group seeks additional, broader sponsorship, it can actually use the project as a fundraising tool. See Fundraising in the table of contents for more information.

Creative Labor Expense

Each local history project is free to develop its cost schedule as it chooses. The History Project (THP) does not impose restrictions on local groups. There are several methods of organization. You may wish to define your own. Here are some examples:

• a school could organize a history project as part of its curriculum. Teams of students could build sites around a person, a business or an organization.
• an alumni association or college fraternity could request or assign members to write the stories of famous alumni
• a professional organization could profile its members

THP does not participate in or provide assistance with local groups' accounting or offer advice on profit/non-profit status.

To pay or not to pay (the writers); that is the question; whether 'tis nobler in the mind to suffer the taunts and barbs of one's readers having gone unpaid for one's labors, or by thrusting a paystub in their faces end them.

As you can see, there's no limit to the literary excursions possible for your writers, whether by perspicacity or paraphrase.

Similarly, there's no rule imposed by THP on whether you should pay your writers. One assumes that students in a class would not be paid, but that's no shiboleth. Perhaps good work should be rewarded despite the context.

We think a really good idea is to organize your project as a youth employment project. You could find project sponsors among local businesses and organizations and use the sponsorship funds to pay your writers and artists. We think experience of this type would look at least as good on a job or a college application as comparable time spent in french fry purgatory. DECA and Jr. Achievement organizers, take note!

It's all very flexible.