Standing together
Why amana has three prices and still only one scope
We could have made it easier on ourselves. A small version for small communities, a big one for big ones, and whoever pays little gets little. That is how it is done.
We do not do it that way. For a reason that is older than any business model.
The community that has the least needs the most
The very community that cannot afford software is the one where a volunteer enters contributions into a spreadsheet late at night. Whose treasurer searches shoeboxes for receipts before the audit. That submits no proof of use of funds because nobody knows how, and so goes without grant money.
Giving it a cut-down version would mean: whoever is already struggling keeps struggling. That would be the opposite of what we set out to do.
The principle has a name: Takaful
Takaful (تكافل) means standing up for one another. Not donations or charity handed down from above, but carrying each other as equals. In Islamic law it is the basis of mutual protection: many pool together so that one is caught when it matters, without anyone profiting from it.
That is exactly our pricing model. The city community with 800 members helps carry the rural community with 20. Not out of pity, but because both do the same work.
تَعَاوَنُوا عَلَى الْبِرِّ وَالتَّقْوَىٰ
Help one another in goodness and in mindfulness of God.
The verse does not say: help the weak. It says: help one another. That is the whole difference.
Whoever pays, pays for someone they will never see
وَيُؤْثِرُونَ عَلَىٰ أَنفُسِهِمْ وَلَوْ كَانَ بِهِمْ خَصَاصَةٌ
And they give them preference over themselves, even when they themselves are in need.
The verse describes the Ansār of Medina, who shared before they were asked. Whoever pays the €99 for amana does not pay only for themselves. They pay so that a community they will never meet can put its books in order.
Why free stays free
إِنَّمَا نُطْعِمُكُمْ لِوَجْهِ اللَّهِ لَا نُرِيدُ مِنكُمْ جَزَاءً وَلَا شُكُورًا
We give to you only for the sake of God. We want from you neither reward nor thanks.
We do not say this to sound modest. We say it because it is the condition under which Join stays free for good. No ads, no selling of data, no paywall added later. Whoever pays nothing owes us nothing, not even gratitude.
What becomes of a contribution
مَّثَلُ الَّذِينَ يُنفِقُونَ أَمْوَالَهُمْ فِي سَبِيلِ اللَّهِ كَمَثَلِ حَبَّةٍ أَنبَتَتْ سَبْعَ سَنَابِلَ فِي كُلِّ سُنبُلَةٍ مِّائَةُ حَبَّةٍ
Those who spend their wealth in the way of God are like a grain that grows seven ears, in every ear a hundred grains.
One grain, seven hundred. No merchant counts like that. But that is exactly how it works: from one contribution comes a community that finds its grant money again, a youth group that actually meets, a board that does not give up.
What this means in practice
- Nobody has to explain themselves. There is no means test, no bank statements, no proof. You choose the way that fits you.
- The scope is the same everywhere. No locked features, no watermark, no hint of which way you chose. Inside amana, nobody can tell.
- The way is open in both directions. If your community grows, you help carry others. If things get tight, you pay less or nothing. One call is enough, no notice period. A change applies from the next month; you keep using the month you have paid for until it ends.
- We do not earn badly from this — we earn later. Better said openly than hidden: we carry the costs for small communities because we believe they will grow. And because we would do it even if they did not.
In the end, a simple calculation
We could earn more if we sold small communities worse software. We decided against it.
Not because we are not a company, but because we want to be one you can still recommend with a clear conscience in forty years.