Actually, no. I meant that in all seriousness. The OP has a nice idea, but it is hard to imagine making it fully workable in real life, without a rather significant infusion of cash, or team of dedicated volunteers, or both.
I have several friends who have tried to monetize a service web site, and that can be an absolute nightmare at times. One in the U.S. even got the FBI involved with multiple hacking instances, theft of user credentials, etc.
For early testing, you might want to have a human in the loop so that when a donation comes in, they trigger the dispense by hand and can ignore or override what the computer is saying.
Paypal doens't have crazy fees when you show them that your company is a nonprofit.
Thank you for the input WildBill. Ha, that's also my father's nickname. I will add a photo of my donkey for you, no problem. She's such a sweet heart. The cow comes this spring. My donkey loves to hang out with me for hours. We go on walks together and she likes it when I read to her. She gets homemade apple/banana treats that are baked fresh and warm on these cold winter days. They always get stuck to the roof of her mouth! 
Hamming you're making it sound like my idea might be a bad one 
As interesting as your project is, there is a need (I go so far as to say requirement) to understand this is a live animal with the same hierarchy of needs as you... shelter,safety, socializing, status and purpose. I would like you to consider interacting with the donkey along with your project, so you, donkey and audience look forward to each interaction. Also... nature is rarely experienced by modern society, who think animals are immortal, trained pets without toilets, arguments, sickness or babies (and what it looks like)... live streams will have the world analyzing every inch of the view... especially the beer.
Post videos of these activities on YouTube. I'll bet you get a following, and possibly even become an "influencer". People can watch videos any time they want, so there is no need to be around for a live feed event.
Of course. I won't stop training, petting, walking, and spending hours with my donkey. Plus she will always get treats from me. This is just a little cute idea of her and my cow coming to the sirprise random bell cor a treat for a unique way to thank people for any potential donations while actively seeing the good they are supporting with a cute thank you to my animal.
Maybe I will just make it remote activated so there is still the surprise aspect for the animal, have people message me on Facebook when they are watching and would like to see her get a treat. I think my donkey would get a lot of enrichment from having a surprise bell ring telling her she is getting a treat delivered.
She already knows our vehicles and screams in joy as we drive close, she hears my dog's unique excitement bark when I put on my boots and screams in joy before I open the door to go out. I want her to have more surprises and this seems really cute.
I promise you she is one of the most spoiled--but not rotton--donkeys you'll have ever heard of. I love brushing her and she gets at least one one hour session a week. She goes on multi hour walks with me around my residential neighborhood and has a lot of fans. She won't be involved with the nonprofit other than guarding the mini cow. I trained her as a livestock guardian the first three years of her life. To this day when my friend would visit with their dog when it was super preggo my donkey's training instantly kicks in. My donkey is so proud of protecting smaller animals, she takes great joy in it especially when she gets to see baby animals. But, she is a donkey, they have a habit of not trusting strangers. That's just how their brains work. It's why a horse will panic and run from a snake but a donkey will stop, think, then stomp the snake to death. Donkeys will always think first, and that includes weither or not they trust every stranger they see. She was never trained as a therapy animal and won't be, she is simply my friend.
Social media is too much work. I did it for years successfully but am burnt out on it. Maybe with my cow it'll be different, but my donkey currently gets jealous if I am on my phone around her a lot. She starts using her lips to tug at my clothes in fustration, starts licking me, and puts her nose righhhhht up in my face like, "why you touching that cube so much? I am right here and way better." She makes me laugh. I have been OK with her doing that though because phones--especially with social media--seem to be a bit of a leach into my daily peace. I like being fully at peace just sitting in my lawn chair for hours talking to my donkey.
I'd rather share an organic, casual peak experiance where people can see how the animals are doing than a filtered edited view-grabbing experiance. Things like people who have depression that find they benifit from hugging and petting my mini cow for free. If they're feeling down right that moment, they can reach out to the cow that helps them live and hopefully that will help them in that moment of depression.
I feel like I medically need a pet cow. You have no idea what I mean I am sure, but there's something with my brain that really loves cows and understands them.
I have the time, experiance, land, and 17k; I feel I can get a cow. Then I think of other people who might feel like I do--some of which like I have said have broken down in tears talking with me about cows--and I feel empathetic for those who don't have the time, land, experiance, or money. I want those people to have access to my cow for free, including a little spy cam in their soon to be built heated barn with 24/7 access if they need to see the cow for a moment of mental health crisis.
Then if the cow isn't there, shucks. That's why I thought of the treat thing. Maybe instead of monitizing it, I can simply give people credits to use via Javascript? That way she only gets so many treats a day ha. The animal's health, happiness, and wellbeing must come first.
Cool.
As far as people being judgemental for things like the beer, I already as a cis woman walk my donkey topless for hours around my residential area on hot days. I do not care if people judge me at all, it doesn't affect me. I am just a happy person with a donkey as a friend working towards getting what will be a service cow, who wants to share my service cow with others who need it but can not have a cow.
Don't worry; my donkey doesn't drink beer. She just responds to me holding it out and saying "cheers!" with a lick and a smile. She loves all the time we spend together as much as I do.
Thank you.
So much this! I roll my eyes at the "horses are such gentle, majestic beasts" people. No. They may be pretty (sometimes), but they can be mean, vicious jerks who will prey on the ones weaker than themselves and torment them to no end. A lot like people, actually!
When I get a minute, I'll see if she can find the link but my wife posted a video of one of our horses farting and at last check it was over 250,000 views.
Jim Morrison was right: people are strange.
Ok maybe I can do social media. I don't know though.
If I do, I'll share about it with all of you.
No updates on the treat dispenser build.
GoFundMe a possibility?
This topic was automatically closed 180 days after the last reply. New replies are no longer allowed.
