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Housing board picks logo, plans website donations; opts to evaluate PayPal trial
Summary
The board unveiled a logo contest winner and directed staff to establish a donation mechanism on the forthcoming website, recommending a short PayPal pilot while staff compares other vendor fees and transaction costs.
The Block Island Housing Board on Aug. 26 announced the winner of a logo contest for its new website, approved posting contest entries on the site and directed staff to develop a mechanism to accept donations online, with an initial recommendation to trial PayPal.
Why this matters: A website and an online donations tool help the board raise visibility and solicit financial support for the O’Brien development and other board activities.
Chris (board member) presented the three top logos selected by the board: the winner, by Kelly Case; second place by Spider Sloemen; and third place by Jose Gallegos. The board said it will post all contest entries on a website page recognizing participants and will distribute a total of $200 in cash prizes to entrants (the transcript recorded a $200 total to be awarded). The board asked staff to prepare an email to notify entrants and to deliver finished files to the website vendor, Visionary.
On donations, Chris summarized a vendor review process that grew from a short list into several options. He said Visionary had recommended PayPal, while additional vendors identified by board members and local contacts include Givebutter, Zephyr and Stripe. The discussion emphasized trade-offs: PayPal generally charges higher transaction percentages but typically no monthly fee, while some specialized nonprofit platforms charge low or zero transaction fees but impose monthly subscription costs (an example raised in the meeting was about $120 per month, or $1,440 annually). Board members expressed concern about donor friction (asking donors to enter card details into an unfamiliar platform) and favored starting with an easy option to lower barriers to donation.
The board directed Chris to prepare a comparative summary of vendor fees and recommended starting with PayPal for an initial six- to 12-month trial to measure donation volume; if transaction volume justifies a monthly subscription with a lower percentage take, the board will reassess. The board also agreed to present the donation link and site materials at the Sept. 13 public forum if the website is ready.
Separately, the board agreed that a detailed procedural document on what the transcript calls the "5 13 process" would not appear as exhaustive text on the website’s main pages but instead would be a downloadable document with hyperlinks to relevant town ordinances and other references. The board said the downloadable document would serve as a deeper-dive resource while the website’s main pages remain concise.
Provenance: Logo announcement begins at the board handoff to Chris (transcript ~s=529.115) and donation-platform discussion carries through to agreement that staff will prepare comparative materials and a PayPal pilot (~s=1240.005–1243.845).
Ending: Staff will return to the board with a vendor comparison and a recommendation to start with PayPal for a trial period; the board will revisit the choice if donation volume supports a subscription-based vendor.
