I asked this before, but it wasn't really the place:
1.
To those who donate to Patreons, how do you budget/think about/justify your donations?
2.
Do you have a set budget? What if you really want to support someone suddenly, do you stop supporting someone else to do so, or reduce how much you give them?
3.
When do you stop/reduce Patreon support? How long do you typically support someone? Until you feel they no longer need it?
1) I try to donate roughly $1 per hour of content I consume. For example, a podcaster I support creates several different podcast series on different topics; I am interested in two of the series each of which has about four 1-hour episodes per month; so I contribute $8 per month. The $1 figure is pretty arbitrary. A major-cable-network television episode purchased from iTunes/Amazon/Google costs $2-$3, so $1 seems fair for an amateur podcast?
2) The total amount so far has stayed small enough that I haven't needed to set a budget. If I needed to, I might ask myself questions like: whose content would I miss the most if they stopped making it? Which creators do I know to be trying (reasonably plausibly) to make a living from their creations, vs. those doing it as a hobby who would probably continue without Patreon contributions?
3) I have reduced or stopped contributions when I stop enjoying (and therefore stop consuming) a creator's content, or when the amount of enjoyable content they produce goes down. (I know the latter reason for reducing contributions can create a vicious circle, I don't have a good answer for it.) If the person is trying to make a living off their art, and they aren't a megastar, they will never really stop "needing" contributions from some minimal number of fans.
Some creators I support don't easily fit into the above framework. For instance, for Every Frame a Painting I contribute $1 per video. His videos are rare (one every few months), far less than an hour long, make over $7000/video (so I don't feel like my personal contribution is particularly "needed"), and (so far as I can tell) are not a source of income he depends on. But I enjoy them so much that I often find myself watching them repeatedly and find I want to contribute.
1) Entertainment - just like cable, Netflix, movies, etc.
2) The amounts I donate are so small on a monthly basis - around $3 per artist - that adding a new artist isn't a pain point in my entertainment budget.
3) When I stop consuming the content. Usually after getting the monthly breakdown of my contributions in my email, I say "I'm not listening to/watching this anymore, so I'll go ahead and cancel it."
1. There's currently only one creator I'm supporting, so its not that hard to justify for now. But considering that he puts out ~2 hours of quality video content per day, and I watch 90% of that, makes sense.
2. I like to compare it to my Netflix subscription. I'm pretty sure I watch this certain YT channel more than Netflix, so the $1 a month I give is a good deal IMO.
3. For most patrons, the goal is to enable the content to be created. My money goes towards the creator paying their bills (YT is their only job). Unless I stop caring about the content, or the creator finds an alternative revenue stream that lets them create full-time, I don't see myself cancelling.
Some creators I support just because I like their stuff and want more of it. I usually think about this in terms of the impact my contribution will have on the creator and how much I'll end up enjoying it. For example a guy who makes hours of video in his living room that I watch every month and love (personally, Lindybeige) is worth more to me than someone who makes super high production value stuff very infrequently (e.g. CGPGrey).
Others I'll support for the rewards. I know Patreon is meant to be a "support people out of the goodness of your heart" kind of thing but a lot of creators I just want "stuff" from. Typically for me this is high resolution digital art or physical pieces of original art mailed to me.
Sometimes it's a combination of both.
2. Nope. I just think about how much money I'm spending on Patreon when I do it. I mostly think of creators as individuals, not a big bucket of stuff and I consider my monthly expenses as a whole. If I think I'm spending too much I might cancel a Patreon contribution because I've lost interest in that creator or I might cancel a software subscription or something.
3. See point 1. When the value I place on the support/rewards goes down, the contribution goes down with it. This can be because a creator no longer interests me, a creator has so many contributions from others that I feel mine no longer have impact or because the rewards no longer satisfy me.
It is about the entertainment, perks, and access. So depending on the creator how I go about it. For one person the highest level of perk is $5, and they also have thousands of supporters, so I only do $5, but for another they have much fewer contributors, and I really enjoy what they do, so I donate more. Which gets me email / discord access directly to the creator at a higher level. I get to be a part of it, and I enjoy that. But if I stop listening to a podcast, and start a different one, I may switch my support to them, as a way of balancing the budget. I will stick with supporting someone as long as I derive value from it, and feel they still need it. I have a couple I am thinking about reducing, but will see how things go over the next couple months before I decide for sure.
I judge my donations as paying for content I enjoy. I donate to several web comics and some youtube channels. I enjoy the content but dislike web ads, so patreon is great for me.
I don't have a set budget but I don't tend to go for higher tiers.
I support someone as long as I'm enjoying the content they're creating. So for webcomics, if they're still creating and I'm still reading, I'm happy to keep paying.
1. Anyone I subscribe to (consume content from regularly).
2. 1-5$. 1 guy has 10k patrons, so for him I just do 1$ per episode. "Philosophy Bites" has <300 patrons, so I give them more per episode.
3. When I stop consuming someone's content regularly. I have done this once or twice.
I don't make all that much so I only fund 4-5 creators (and one has stopped taking funds and another has had health issues so isn't producing anything)and I cap them at $1-2 dollars a month.
1. To those who donate to Patreons, how do you budget/think about/justify your donations?
2. Do you have a set budget? What if you really want to support someone suddenly, do you stop supporting someone else to do so, or reduce how much you give them?
3. When do you stop/reduce Patreon support? How long do you typically support someone? Until you feel they no longer need it?