I'd be interested to hear what Hero Complex readers think of the quality of the offerings on the website but more than that what your view is on the idea of creating something akin to an "Avatar" community. "Star Wars" and "Star Trek" have each became the axis of vast tribal followings (with some factions treating it as a quasi-religion) but other "visionary" sci-fi franchises ("The Matrix" springs to mind) live on as great moments in film but don't become pop-culture movements. "Avatar" certainly stirred some obsessive behavior but, a decade from now, will there be conventions dedicated to Cameron's universe? A lot depends on that alien-oceans sequel, I'd say...My own personal guess would be that pushing that hard is probably not the way to develop this. Obviously, the Star Wars universe has continued to expand*, but part of the appeal of the fan community was DYI: you had to go to cons, you had to make your costumes, etc. Those projects and those events brought people together--you got some place, or started talking to someone, and realized that you weren't alone in your intense feelings about this piece of art that other folks thought you were weird for liking, and that because of that, you weren't alone in at least part of your world view. For me, that moment came when I met another kid who liked Star Wars as much as I did on the last day of a middle school summer writing camp, and we were fan fic pen pals for a while. (If your'e out there, dude, and reading this, you mattered a lot to me. Be in touch.) But what mattered is the work.
Hooking people to sponsor a tree they won't even get to see grow, much less that they'll have to keep alive by working with someone else, isn't going to produce that effect. Fandom's about the work at its most basic level. It's about the communities you create together and what you learn about yourself along the way. You can't generate that through a marketing campaign. Particularly when you've got, uh, a sort of thinly-sourced universe to begin with.
*Guys, there are a couple of extended universe posts in the draft phases, among them, meditations on the detente between the Empire and the Republic, and questions about whether the Force is feminist. In between looking for new jobs, and then starting the current one, I have been fried on longer projects for here. For which I apologize.