I think I gave the wrong impression about what I was proposing.

I just think its a good idea to me transparent about what this instance is and is doing. It would certainly help with it being sustainable/reasonable from an funding expenses perspective.

Some specifics that I left out of my original post:

A) As a lemmy admin, you are tracking a lot in the instance database. Having a regular pull of summary information to see some patterns would be neat (and a subtle reminder to users that lemmy is anti-private by design, same as any ActivityPub service or public forum).

B) Money flowing out vs money flowing in and projecting future flows is something I see other instances share in pretty reasonably prepared summaries without getting all CPA-minded about it. (BTW, OpenCollective is great for making the legal aspect of running not-for profit or social benefit oriented activities easy, but is absolutely horrible for its stated purpose of financial transparency)

Some examples of good faith, decent presentation of financial transparency:

• https://beehaw.org/post/9231160
• https://hub.fosstodon.org/finances/

C) Having the admins of an instance discuss what’s new and what’s changing and what they are excited about is part of community building. Having a template that can be followed can help ease that process for admins.

D) Giving people a quick glance opportunity to see what the state of the instance is and see where it’s going and how it’s getting there can help get the instance where it intends to go.

E) You’ve been pretty good at being open, but for people to see that they need to pay close attention to something that is inherently a casual activity. I think a regular update might make it easier for people to see your good work and efforts.