Financing BiblicalStudies.org.uk

One of the highlights of my Sundays recently has been the arrival of the www.apollos.ws newsletter. I have a special interest in this site because it is in many ways similar in its aims and practice to my own and I see it as complimenting rather than competing with my sites. The webmasters of Apollos Bronson Taylor and John Sabatino have always been very honest about their aim to make their site self-supporting and their latest update is no exception to this. In it Bronson and John write that they are seeking support through advertising accredited US seminaries on Apollos.ws (which receives around 30,000 page views per month) at the rate of $1,000 per advert per month and are looking for at least three to take them up on their offer.

Much of what they shared struck a cord with me, as for several months now I have been thinking that the way forward for www.biblicalstudies.org.uk & co. will involve me investing more time in development. At present I am working full-time for a Christian charity and work on the sites is done when my two little boys are in bed. It is unlikely that as things stand with the amount of work awaiting digitisation (e.g. Vox Evangelica, Evangelical Quarterly, etc - see my previous entries) that I will be able to maintain the current rate of output, especially as my wife and I intend to homeschool.

Over the last 5 years I the material on my sites has been available free of charge (and will continue to be so) and I have noted that donations towards the cost of bandwidth and development are welcome. Over these five years I have received 18 donations and have one supporter who makes regular donations each month. Currently visitor numbers are now passing 315,000 per year and "page views" average around 40,000 per month. Advertising with Google and commission from Amazon for books sales pays for the bandwidth, but has not increased significantly with increased site usage. Despite the large number of visitors the current level of funding is low.

This leads me to think that the kind of sponsorship being sought by www.apollos.ws may also be a way forward for Theology on the Web (as I have named my group of sites). If sufficient funds were to be generated I would initally want to move towards working part-time and then towards full-time on the sites.

Well that's my vision for the sites. Time will tell whether it is going to be achievable. Any suggestions and/or feedback would be most welcome. Please pray with me that the Lord would raise up a group of supporters who will share my vision and becomes partners with me.