Doesn’t directly speak to commission pay, which I think of as a system for prioritizing tasks rather than paying for performance, but definitely relevant.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u6XAPnuFjJc

Meanwhile, he’s going door-to-door building a database of possible advertisers and contacts. These are permanently flagged as leads that came from him, and he gets 10% of their revenue indefinitely.

For deals he handles himself all the way to closing (we haven’t had any of these yet) he’ll get 30% of new contracts and 20% of renewals.

No base salary. It’s less than 10 hours a week for him, often less than 5.

That’s just how we’re doing it at the moment! Also he’s a good guy who believes in the project.

Kickstarter also seems like a great fundraising platform with a whole separate set of ethical questions, but definitely something that all sorts of organizations should be figuring out how to use without compromising their product.

Super-interesting earned-income ideas, too.

Also, my friend Matt added this on Facebook:

“Here’s something for you: humans *do* respond to incentives, but monetary incentives are vastly less powerful and motivating (for most people) than the behavioral economics literature suggests.

“People that are motivated primarily by money probably aren’t the best people for your field, if your field isn’t principally about the money (e.g. banking).

“It turns out many people want to cooperate, and many more respond better to a belief that they are doing meaningful work… like fundraising for a local nonprofit. Yochai Benkler has a very nice summary of the newer, empirically sound, findings here: http://www.amazon.com/Penguin-Leviathan-Cooperation-Triumphs-Self-Interest/dp/0385525761 “

I’m very interested in innovative thinking and models for funding journalism and new media enterprises. You’re right that non-profits general frown upon commission based “sales” as fundraising. I think that even applying commissions to fundraising is still using a very traditional sales model for raising funds.

A couple of ideas I’ve been intrigued by and pondering…

- Kickstarter and the like. I love the idea of this type of micro-funding that’s based on personal connections, personal interests and community connections. Also, the “fundraisers” (the content creators) have to come up with creative incentives and recognition for the backers. I think it’s a great form of engagement and good practice for “selling” in a way that’s appropriate to the content.

- Earned income by providing related service or appropriate products. Again good practice for creative selling related specifically to the content and expertise you are providing. Con: Can be a lot of work that is not direct content creation. Pro: can be very mission-oriented (summer camps, consulting services, podcast development etc.)

It seems to me that you’re mistaking form for content. Maybe the title of a book or blog post isn’t itself innovative. I don’t see why that means the arguments it makes couldn’t be.

To pick a ridiculous example, “The Communist Manifesto” is probably a more appropriate (and potentially more viral) title than “The Top 10 Reasons The Modern Nation-State will Collapse by 1860.” But I don’t think the title alone makes its thought any less radical or innovative.