Slacker Manager has pitched an interesting not for profit idea to the Blogosphere with his post ‘Help me lasso the Long Tail for charity‘. He’s certainly mentioned some great names in this call for help – if he managed to get that sort of team on board Localism could really go places. It’ll be a project worth watching. Here’s part of his pitch:
‘The basic idea behind Localism is the same as with Gawker and Weblogs Inc, but the primary organizational difference is that Localism will organize blogs across two dimensions–geographic location and topic. So you’d find blogs about snowboarding in Canada, in the PNW, and in the alps. Blogs about mountain biking in Hawai’i, Northern California and Vermont. Blogs about surfing in Oregon and blogs about surfing in Asia. Blogs about art in NYC and art in London. Blogs about professional sports teams, since they’re so closely tied to location. You get the idea–place and topic.
Like Gawker and Weblogsinc, Localism will derive its revenue through advertising. Because Localism is non-profit, ad placement purchases will be tax-deductible. Unlike Gawker and Weblogsinc, Localism won’t take the majority of revenue. I’m envisioning a revenue split along these lines: 10% to Localism to cover overhead; 40% to the blogger; 50% to a designated charity. The blogger definitely needs to be paid, but I’m still not sure what the best strategy is…percentage of ad revenue, or flat fee.’
