Group: Ipernity Members Association Project

The survey was reopened and will continue through February 12th after numerous people said they were not aware of it or had not had the chance to participate. Preliminary results remain encouraging showing that if members work together and keep their commitment to this site, the Ipernity platform can be restructured into a sustainable site and saved. To date, more than 1300 members have participated with an overwhelming interest in joining a membership association. The hope is stronger! :)

I just wanted to add that everything remains encouraging especially when BlipFoto, a site taken over by a membership association BlipFuture CIC is considered. Ipernity seems to have a lot in common with BlipFoto except that it has more features and options. Prior to the successful membership takeover, BlipFoto was reported to have about 100,000 members but when "dead" accounts were deleted it turned out they had in reality just under 3,000 "real" accounts. I believe this is the case with Ipernity. Furthermore, if BlipFoto was able to make a successful transition with these numbers, it is encouraging Ipernity can do the same.

Survey Results:

1443 members participated with 97% expressing a desire for Ipernity to be saved with an overwhelming number expressing a willingness to join a membership association. Almost 2/3 of the respondents offered to participate in a CrowdFund campaign. When the answers for “other” are excluded, the amount offered was 34,595€. In addition, 2/3 of the respondents agreed to an annual membership fee of 50€ or above. As a result, the IMA annual fee will be 50€, which is competitive with other photo sharing sites and will offer a sustainable, viable long-term future for the Ipernity platform.

Last, based on the survey results, the percentage of people use the Ipernity platform as follows:

98.4%: Photo Sharing
56.5%: Comments/Interaction
51.4%: Group Participation
26.2%: Article/Blog Writing
22.4%: Video Sharing
19.2%: Social Media
13.4%: Audio/Music Sharing

Note: Answers for “All of the Above” were added to the totals for each of the categories.

Out of the 1443 respondents, 70.3% were Club Members and 29.7% were non-Club Members.

German translation:

Die Umfrage ist abgeschlossen:

1443 Mitglieder haben teilgenommen wobei 97% den Wunsch geäußert haben, dass Ipernity erhalten bleibt und eine überwältigende die Absicht hat, der "Ipernity Members Association" beizutreten. Fast 2/3 der Antwortenden wollen sich an der Spendenaktion beteiligen. Ohne Berücksichtigung der Antwort "Anderer Betrag" war der durchschnittliche angebotene Betrag 34,595 €. 2/3 der Antwortenden waren für einen Mitgliedsbeitrag von 50 € oder mehr. Der zukünftige Beitrag wird also voraussichtlich 50€ pro Jahr betragen, was wettbewerbsfähig mit anderen Foto-Plattformen ist und einen nachhaltigen und langfristigen Betrieb der Plattform sicherstellen wird.

Hier noch die prozentualen Nutzungszahlen:

98.4%: Photo Sharing / Fotos teilen
56.5%: Comments/Interaction / Kommentieren/Dialog
51.4%: Group Participation / Teilnahme an Gruppen
26.2%: Article/Blog Writing / Artikel schreiben
22.4%: Video Sharing / Videos teilen
19.2%: Social Media / Soziale Medien
13.4%: Audio/Music Sharing / Musik teilen

Die Antwort "Alle" wurde entsprechend zugeordnet.

Von den 1443 Antwortenden waren 70,3% Club Mitglieder und 29,7% Nicht-Mitglieder.

French Translation:

Résultats du sondage :

1443 membres ont participé au sondage, parmi lesquels 97% ont exprimé le souhait qu'Ipernity soit sauvegardé, une large majorité étant prête à adhérer à l'Association des Membres.
Près des 2/3 des sondés se disent également prêts à participer au financement participatif de l'Association : sans tenir compte des réponses "Autre", le montant offert se monte à 34,595€.
Par ailleurs, 2/3 des sondés sont d'accord pour cotiser à hauteur d'un montant de 50€ ou plus.

En conséquence le montant de l'adhésion à l'Association est fixé à 50€, ce qui reste compétitif avec celui des autres sites de partage de photos et permettra d'offrir un avenir pérenne et viable à long terme à la plate-forme Ipernity.

Par ailleurs, les résultats du sondage permettent d'établir que les membres d'Ipernity utilisent le site aux fins suivantes :

98.4%: Partage de photos
56.5%: Commentaires/Interactivité
51.4%: Participation aux groupes
26.2%: Rédaction d'articles et de blog
22.4%: Partage de vidéos
19.2%: Réseau social
13,4%: Partage de musique

Note: les réponses pour "Tous les services" ont été ajoutées aux totaux pour chacune des catégories.

Sur les 1443 répondants, 70,3% sont des membres du Club et 29,7% ne sont pas membres du Club.

Good morning/afternoon:

The bylaws for IMA were unanimously agreed upon and approved by the founders on February 18, 2017. French, English, and German translations have been added to the IMA website. Considering each version is 5 or more pages, I've submitted hyperlinks below for those interested in reading them.

French: ipernityma.wixsite.com/ipernityma/copy-of-bylaws

English: ipernityma.wixsite.com/ipernityma/bylaws

German: ipernityma.wixsite.com/ipernityma/copy-of-statuts

04/03/2017 news: Ipernity SA said to get in touch with us this weekend (4-5/03/2017) to give their point of view regarding our offer.
At this hour we are still waiting for their communication. As soon as it is known, we will consult each other then indicate you the terms and implications.

Ipernity SA has always been positive regarding our project and always wished to make our points of view coincide. That's all we can say right now.

06/03/2017: this weekend Ipernity SA announced a short delay in their communication to us, for internal logistics reasons. We're expecting it soon.

07/03/2017: IMA received its receipt for filing. This allows IMA to begin business -- open a bank account for CrowdFunding and ultimately running the Ipernity platform. It also means the official certificate will be issued in about 2-3 weeks.

09/03/2017: IMA and Ipernity S.A. are close to an agreement. I'm hopeful it will be attained sometime tomorrow. If so, the terms will be published here. Please know that the agreement if finalized is aimed at meeting the best interests of the Ipernity platform, IMA and the platform's members' interests.

In anticipation, IMA will be establishing a bank account in France and opening a Paypal account to facilitate revenue receipts and payment of operating expenses. IMA also anticipates the start of a CrowdFunding campaign early next week and once it is underway, daily updates will be given. Please know, it is critical people contribute as soon as possible without delay when CrowdFunding is underway since a decision will have to be made within about 2 weeks whether to continue to the platform into April. The combined March and April costs are approximately 10,000 € (Amazon in agreement with Ipernity S.A. allowed the platform to operate this month with expectation that the payments will be made in April).

In addition, please be aware that annual operating expenses for the Ipernity platform are approximately 66,000 €. This does not provide any funds for contingency reserves, future obligations, platform upgrades (for example, future conversion to https protocol as some have suggested), rate increases or other unanticipated expenses or shortfalls. Nevertheless, a stable club membership base near the reported membership figure is more than sufficient to maintain viability and offer a bright long-term future.

IMA thanks everyone for their patience, input, ideas and efforts to keep this site running and for your assistance to ensure a successful CrowdFunding campaign.

11/03/2017: Ipernity Members Association is now official. The official declaration of IMA was published this morning in Journal Officiel!

13/03/2017: The CrowdFunding campaign as officially begun. Even though the goal is listed at $25,000, we need approximately $30,000. If people honor their survey commitments, we should realize this.

We have approximately 2 weeks to achieve this goal. Even though it is a short time frame, it is achievable if everyone acts with urgency. I just made my own contribution and doubled what I had said I would offer in the survey so that the crowdfunding campaign begins with a good start.

The hyperlink for making donations is:

www.generosity.com/community-fundraising/ipernity-members-association-a-non-profit-entity/x/16237256

Please note, Indiegogo decides the method of payment.

These next two weeks will be the most critical and decisive. Starting tomorrow, IMA will provide daily updates as to the progress of the crowdfunding campaign.

Thank you for your support for this worthy cause to keep this unique and great site alive.

Preliminary but not finalized agreement:

IMA will purchase the platform for a symbolic 1€ or a sum between 1€ and 10,000€ to cover March and April 2017 hosting costs covered solely by crowdfunding revenue.

Ipernity S.A. will ask for additional compensation up to 100,000€, the estimated value of the platform (less the symbolic purchase price and hosting costs) with the understanding this may not be possible. Costs would be spread out over 10 years with no obligation in years 1-3 (2017-2019). Afterwards, IMA would only make a payment if the portion of excess revenues over expenses exceeds six months working capital (estimated 33,000€). In any year this does not occur, such payment would not be made. Thus the obligation would diminish over time and expire in 10 years (even if no payments were made) even though IMA would make its best effort to compensation Ipernity S.A for the maximum amount.

Platform and other operating expenses deemed essential by IMA (that may include but is not limited to platform maintenance, platform upgrades, conversion to https protocol, marketing and advertising, and goodwill) would always take priority and membership dues would not be raised to enhance payments to Ipernity S.A.

Any future crowdfunding revenue would be held solely to meet unexpected or unanticipated platform operating expenses and shortfalls. Thus the actual cost will likely be 10,000€ based on market dynamics and the nature of photo-sharing sites like Ipernity since "for-profit" models have proven impractical.

Ipernity S.A. will transfer the platform to IMA some time in April 2017.

IMA will have unrestricted, exclusive use of the platform free of third party rights.
IMA reserves the right to operate, maintain and/or upgrade the platform.

Upon transfer of the platform, Ipernity S.A. agrees to provide IMA with all documentation and useful information as to its operation, its source code and administrative privileges and passwords to operate, maintain and/or upgrade the platform

In the event IMA ceases to exist or dissolves before 10 years, sales proceeds if any would be forwarded to the historical shareholders.

None of the founders and/or officers of IMA nor members of the Ipernity platform will have any personal liability to Ipernity S.A. and/or its historical shareholders.

Note: As the agreement is not finalized, please be aware that some things may be added, others deleted and some things may be changed or revised. This is only posted to provide a rough outline of where things stand and the outline of negotiations that from IMA's part always pursues the best interests of the membership.