Group Finder's Guide Merch Store

This is the first (and possibly only) blog that we will have on this merch store, but it serves as a record of WHY we are selling merch and WHAT we do with the proceeds. 

Why merch?

Well, to be brief, I (TikiSteve) am really proud of what we do in the community, I like streaming and hanging out with my friends, and I like merch. Other members in the community also like merch and the topic of creating some merchandise came up several times while Jimmy was owner of the server. Despite that, we kept running into the same roadblock each time the topic came up. 

No one really wants a cartoon beer icon on a mug, shirt, hat, desk mat, or whatever.

Now that we have rebranded and have some more universally acceptable branding, maybe folks will be more interested in helping to create and then purchase some GFG merch!

TikiSteve, are you getting rich off the t-shirts and coffee cups?!

GFG has NEVER been about profits or any sort of exchange of currency. The community is free and will always be free, the services within the community are free and will always be free, but there are costs of doing business as we grow and expand. 

The server has pretty much always operated at a net loss from what I understand from my short time here. We make a bit (around a hundred bucks or so) from server subscriptions. We have a twitch that brings in 20 bucks or so a month at the time of writing this. That is basically it for the 'ins' that we have. The outs are web hosting, bot hosting, tools for running the server (adobe creative cloud, hiring artists, running this shop, etc..), and most importantly... charity and giving back. 

Show us the money!

One of the most difficult things about giving back is that, often times, the situations that we are most drawn to offering our support for are situations that are sensitive. Someone may lose their job and no longer be able to cover their wow subscription, we may hear of a death within the community, a raid lead might have their computer catch on fire randomly or their microphone stop working. All of these things are examples of specific situations where we have helped out a member of the community. We don't share that information super openly for a couple of reasons.

Reason Number 1

First, as you see from the 'ins' above, we don't have a ton of funds to be able to help our members and leads. As much as I think it would be awesome to more openly advertise that we can ship a gaming accessory to a member in need or cover someone's WoW sub, that 100-200 bucks a month would VERY quickly end up in the red (full disclosure we are already well in the red in the first month post-Jimmy due to the rebrand). That is the practical reason that we don't have like a giving statement or something like that. We just CAN'T help everyone and so we have to help where we can, when we can. 

Reason Number 2

Second, I have always felt strongly about protecting the privacy of others. ESPECIALLY in situations where they are at a low point which is where they need some help the most. No one likes handouts and many folks have too much pride to openly talk about being given something even if they 100% deserve it. So, we will NOT share details about the giving that we do outside of organized charity events where we are donating to a specific charity. 

Charity Events

Speaking of charity events, that is the outlet for any additional funds that we generate via merch, stream or YouTube revenue, and sales from this merch shop. A fresh, dedicated bank account was opened for the server when we transitioned ownership away from Jimmy and all proceeds from anything connected to Group Finder's Guide are deposited in that account. That account will ONLY be used for server overhead and improvements, giving back to our leads and members, and HOPEFULLY (one day if we are able to generate enough revenue) we can continue doing our seasonal charity events and use the balance in that account to do a donation match. Heck maybe if you all like the merch enough and the stream/youtube gets big enough we can do 2 or 3 or maybe even 5 times matches of any donations during charity events. 

Are you really still here reading? 

Here's the deal. Myself (as well as all of the other admins and moderators of the GFG community) are employed, working adults that run this thing as a hobby. We aren't here to grift. We are here to play games with our friends, give back to those same friends when they are in need, and do something positive in the world. 

At the end of the day, merchandise sold here will be sold on razor thin margins (just to make sure we aren't stuck paying a bill for merch at the end of the day) and is purely for you all to enjoy repping the community as much as I know I will. 

Thanks for reading and supporting and I look forward to seeing all of you rep some shiny new GFG Merch!