The Facebook group NOT ON AMAZON is administered by NOT ON AMAZON CIC, a UK registered non-profit organisation.
All money donated by our supporters goes towards the day to day costs of running a large organisation with a lot more than just a Facebook group to manage. The table below shows how many subscribers it takes to cover each part of our running costs.
One question a lot of people ask is "why do you need a premises?"
The answer for this one is pretty straightforward. Any organisation of a similar scale would have a premises with reliable internet access, space for meetings, storage for merchandise materials and equipment used at events etc. Ideally we would have at least four people working here full-time if we were adequately funded or able to find locally-based volunteer staff.
Another question often asked is "Why are you charging people to use a facebook group?"
This is absolutely not the case. Nobody pays us to post or advertise on the NOT ON AMAZON Facebook Group page as this would be in breach of Facebook’s Terms of Use which could be grounds for them disabling the group. That's a situation we cannot risk and therefore take all possible steps to avoid, including the high level of content moderation on the page. Buymeacoffee.com do not allow businesses to use their platform to process recurring payments but they do allow non-profit organisations to collect donations. As stated on buymeacoffee.com's front page subscribers are not “customers” they are supporters. In our case, donors and subscribers are pledging support to NOT ON AMAZON CIC, the parent company which administers the Facebook Group NOT ON AMAZON along with several other real-world initiatives including markets, regional community groups and the Room To Grow Project.
Subscribers to our NOT ON AMAZON Sellers level who wish to post to our Facebook page are granted unrestricted access to do so as a gesture of our goodwill and gratitude for their support. We don’t provide these subscribers with a service of any kind and we’re clear that we have no control over any actions that Facebook may take.
The other big question people have is "How much money are you making?"
Well that's an easy one. At the top of the Memberships page there's a running total of currently active members and our monthly income. It's also possible for anyone to view NOT ON AMAZON CIC's up to date financial records on Companies House.
Staff Wages...
Any wages that are paid to NOT ON AMAZON staff are essentially token offerings as we are currently in a position where paying even the minimum wage is not possible. If we were paying an hourly minimum wage for all the work carried out by various members of our team on different projects etc. our monthly wages bill would be somewhere around £3,000. Our total income is currently around £1,500 per month including Shop N.O.A. subscriptions. This financial shortfall is the reason we are reliant on volunteers to take on several key roles in the management of the organisation. While this is fantastic and keeps the organisation running it's not as effective as having permanent, trained staff who understand the intricacies of the organisation and are able to commit regular amounts of time.
