Ignite is Ending ?
On Valentine’s Day of 2019, MarriageHeat launched a subscription service we called Ignite. It was meant to offer a few perks to those of you who would come alongside us and help cover the costs of keeping the regular stories and discussions available to all. Unfortunately, the cost of providing the membership was high and went up significantly last June. MH lost thousands of dollars, despite around 120 subscribers and a couple of very generous donations. We so appreciate all of your support, but we can’t afford to continue to offer Ignite.
So at the end of March, we will remove the ability to sign up for Ignite and process our last recurring billing. Then we will keep the Ignite Content available for one month to be sure that everyone who contributed gets their month of perks. After that, the Ignite stories, audios, and downloadable compilations won’t be accessible through the website anymore.
We are still evaluating what service we can offer to cover the costs of keeping MH up and running. Part of that is looking back over the responses to the survey we sent out last year. If you’ve joined us since that time, here’s a link to add your voice. Help us figure out what we can make for you that will help you build and sustain hot Biblical monogamy in your marriage.
Again, we are so grateful for the love and support of this fantastic community of married-sex positive people. We will still continue the free stories and discussion posts, and we’ll find a way to make the Ignite content available again, though we aren’t exactly sure what that will look like.
Love in Christ,
Calvin and Missy
P.S.Ā If any of you would like to visit our affiliates, here’s a list of the ones we have currently. If you buy anything, we’ll get a small percentage of what you spend, but your costs won’t increase because of it.
We like the huge selection at SheVibe, but the ethos of MarriedDance is more in accordance with our own. We also have agreements with Lelo, Aloe Cadabra, Fredericks of Hollywood, and Joe Snyder, and Male Basics.
Oh no! Iāve got a feeling all my stories are Ignite stories, can they be moved to the regular website?
Hmmm, hadn't thought of this situation. Let's work this out by email, okay?
Missy
I am so sad to hear this news. But I also understand that if this is what has to happen to keep the site as a whole operating, then itās a loss I will accept (but not easily). I realize that this effort is almost all volunteer ran, so I am so very sorry that you actually lost money last year. We are far from a well-off couple, but I for one would be willing to contribute something to a fund to help recover some of that loss, and I believe there are others here that feel the same.
Also, I am sure that you have worked hard to come up with ideas to keep everything going as is, but is there anything we can do to make it happen? There are a lot of smart people on this site from a wide variety of experience and backgrounds, it seems like there could be some solutions. What would it take in subscribers to keep it running? How much more would people be willing to pay (I know you have tried to keep it low and we appreciate that, but I would pay a little more)? Maybe us Ignite members could write some posts about how membership has blessed us, in order to convince others to sign up. Are there any services you pay for that could be shifted to volunteer or discounted efforts by some of us? I would guess those costs lie more in the technical end of things, but there has to be people on this site with those skills. Iām just rambling out thoughts out of reaction to this news, but my point is, Iām sure Iām not the only one who wants to help. But we are with you no matter what the outcome.
God bless
So sorry to hear this!?
Horny GG.
Itās good to see you back and Iām grateful for your healing. ?
How sad. Have you thought of making a separate site for Ignite content? And we agree with what StillLikeNewlyweds said. I also wonder if you could make the Ignite content open to everyone. Have you considered ads on MH?
A separate site would have the same problems with the card processors (basically, they lump us in with other high-risk sites like porn, tobacco, and the like) and increase the costs to us. The Ignite content is the only thing we currently have to offer and we need a less costly way to provide it, though we are investigating other income streams as well. Our problem with ads is that the advertisers who have contacted us aren't in alignment with our mission. We need to be able to stand behind the providers showing up on our site. MH is first and foremost a mission to reach the world with the message that marriages can be holy AND hot, and we don't want the way we raise funds to sully that.
Iām sure alignment of values isnāt the only headache advertisers would bring. I have had a question for some time, though, that fits into this. You often insert an affiliate link to purchase a product mentioned in a story. Using that link to purchase gets yāall a small portion of the sale. Is there a way to work out with those sellers to have some kind of open link so that whatever we buy from them gets credited to you, not just particular items? For example, one of those sites you link to is SheVibe. I have never purchased an item that you have linked, but I have purchased other things from them. Iād love it if you could get credit when I do. It might even cause me to choose to buy from them more often (and you can tell them I said that). Iām sure it is a small percentage that you get, but if we all made our purchases that way it might add up. Iām sure there are lots of other sites that could do the same thing, and maybe you could have an āAffiliates Pageā with links to them all.
That is actually how it works. This link is good for whatever you buy, not just the item itself. Some companies even keep the link active for 24 hours or 10 days or whatever they decide to give you as credit for bringing them traffic. We like the selection at SheVibe, but the ethos is not as congruent as the new (to us) company we just found called MarriedDance. (I'll stick links above on the original post, because comments won't format them correctly.) And you are right, there are other companies we could create affiliate accounts with and link to on a resources page. It's been a long-held (and fairly simple) goal that I just haven't managed to accomplish. For links, it depends on stories to have something linkable in them: a toy, piece of lingerie or sexy dress, maybe even Christian marriage resources like books or courses. Amazon dropped our affiliate account a few years ago (too risque, I guess, which I can't quite understand), but maybe we should try again?
Sad to hear fairly new to the site. I have been contemplating becoming an ignite member but as this is going away at this time I guess, I won't. Have you looked into pay per story as a possiblity or a quartly, semi-yearly, or yearly options. The per story option would allow newbies such as my self to get a taste of what tge content they would be getting.
I appreciate all youāre doing to keep the MH site up and running. Thank you.
Have you considered moving this to patreon? You can upload audio there, make the posts only available to paying patrons, and they can hold onto/host the audio.
We looked into Patreon, but at the time their terms of use didn't allow for our content. It looks as if they might now; maybe we should do a cost comparison…
I understand if it seems improper to reveal MH's financial details publicly, but some info could help us analytical minds think up some potential solutions. For example, what are the costs associated with providing the Ignite content? Is it technical (website/payment related), or is it time, effort and money that goes toward editing stories, putting together compilations, producing audio recordings, etc.? I'm guessing at least some of that is done on a volunteer basis already, but if not, it could be moved in that direction. For example, besides writing, I also naturally enjoy editing, and I could probably spare some time to help in that area. I think there are probably others in the community who could happily lend a hand.
Even if a system of financial support in exchange for extra content proves to no longer be viable, maybe an expanded team of volunteers could keep something similar to Ignite going. Of course, adding more people to a team adds more complication and potential issues, but it could be worth a look. I'm sure that's been thought of to some degree already, but I thought I'd propose it anyway.
Wishing all the best for the future of MH, in whatever form God wills that it should take! š
May God show you correct path…
According to the IRS: "The exempt purposes set forth in section 501(c)(3) are charitable, religious, educational, scientific, literary, testing for public safety, fostering national or international amateur sports competition, and preventing cruelty to children or animals." Ever thought about the 501 route? Or, just putting in a "Donate" page with a clear statement that donations are not tax exempt, but they help continue the cooperative community called "Marriage Heat"? My experience over many decades is that people tend to donate more than they will usually spend for the same service. Church car washes that wash cars for donations make significantly more money that charging $5 or $10 a car. People will drive by and keep a dirty car at those prices but they will drop $20 as a donation and get their car washed. I know some folks that had a donation yard sale and they made about $8000…..a yard sale! Just a thought.
We did have a donate button before, and five or six people still have recurring donations through that. But with PayPal's crackdowns on anyone they consider to be associated with "the industry" (which we definately are not, but financial institutions have a history of seeing it differently), we are cautious of reinstituting that option and drawing their attention. But no, we hadn't considered that we could be considered religious, literary, or educational enough to be considered a non-profit. Worth a look; thank you.
Is ignite still running? Are you still billing people? Because my account still says I am an ignitor. I can so see ignite content when logged in and I just checked out of my last bill was two months ago. Did you remove all of the stories to people who have regular accounts
Ignite content is still available to those with the Ignite membership level attributed to their account. We took our last payments at the beginning of April, so Ignite stays up until the beginning of May (4th, I think). Then we'll find another way to offer it to those who want to support MH financially. Thanks for being one of those people.