fwd: SPI and donations?

[Roger Dingledine <arma@mit.edu>]

nobody said SPI is fast, but I guess they are persistent.
I know both Nils and Darren, so my contacts with the
SPI treasurer (such as they are) remain intact.

------- Forwarded Message

Date: Wed, 11 Aug 1999 09:01:57 -0700
From: "Darren O. Benham" <gecko@benham.net>
To: Nils Lohner <lohner@icd.teradyne.com>, arma@MIT.EDU
Subject: Re: SPI and donations? (fwd)

- --XsQoSWH+UP9D9v3l
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii
Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable

On Wed, Aug 11, 1999 at 11:33:46AM +0200, Nils Lohner wrote:
>=20
> I got this at the end of last year from Arma...
>=20
> You're still treasurer for the spi, right? Here's the situation:
Hi Roger,=20

Actually, I'm treasurer now.  Nils has moved into the vacent secretary
post.  I'm not sure how "timely" this post is but I'll answer it just the
same.

>=20
> We're going to have a site soon (linuxkb.org) that pulls in between ten a=
nd
> several hundred donations yearly, each of around $50, in exchange for a
> service (yeah, ok, so it's not a donation. Stick with me.)
> After a long scuffle about money issues, we've agreed that it would be ne=
at
> if we could turn the 'cost' of our service into a 'you get the service if
> you make a sufficient donation to one of these organizations'. The
> organizations would be such places as spi and fsf. So I have several
> questions:
>=20
> * What places have I missed besides the fsf and spi, that are good
>   free software oriented non-profit orgs?
Linux International, maybe LPI (Linux Professional Institute) I don't know
anything about LPI but I've heard good things about them.

> * About how much money flows through SPI? (I'm wondering what fraction
>   we'd be.)
It fluctuates at this point.  At $5,000 you'd be second largest and maybe
account for 1/3 of the money flowing through..

> * You guys don't have any problem with providing receipts/proof of
>   donation, right? Ie, "yes, this company really did give us >=3D$50".
>   They could give you permission beforehand, of course.
Correct.  It's part of the IRS rules for tax free donations.

> * How does this work taxwise, from our point of view? We never touch
>   any money. We're still just a normal internet project, not an
>   official "group" in the eyes of the IRS. Right?
The points, from the company (SPI's) point of view, there are yearly tax
returns to file and giving out receipts when required.  You would need to
provide a "value" for the service that the people get.  (See next)
=46rom the doner's point of view, he gets to write off the difference betwe=
en
the value of the service and the money they donate.  There are a few tricks
here that could allow the doner to deduct everything (and we wouldn't have
to send receipts unless the amount was over $250).  I'd have to check if
this gets off the ground.
=46rom the project's point of view (yours) there's really nothing to do...

> * SPI allows earmarking for specific projects. What about
>   earmarking for projects that don't exist yet? For instance, "we
>   give you $500 to pay somebody to put better (gpl) USB support in the
>   kernel". What are some ways that can work? (One option is an
>   entry in Alex Boldt's database of "people who will pay for tasks
>   to be done", but that doesn't actually find a programmer.)
We could probably work out something like that.  It'd probably have to go
through the Board and we'd probably have to lay some ground rules....
Personally, I like the idea... Most of the work is paper, the money would
go into the Savings account and marked on paper as earmarked for...

SEUL (on their web page), SPI (on their webpage) could advertise the
existance of the money... and if we can get Linux International (LI)
excited about the idea, we might get them pushing the idea... But basicly,
like everything else SEUL and SPI and Debian does, we'd just find
individuals who were hot on the idea and let-them/get-them to push it when
they have a chance.

- -- Darren
- --=20
Please cc all mailing list replies to me, also.
=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=
=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=
=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D
* http://benham.net/index.html        <gecko@benham.net>           <><  *
* -------------------- * -----------------------------------------------*
* Debian Developer, Debian Project Secretary, Debian Webmaster          *
* <gecko@debian.org> <secretary@debian.org> <lintian-maint@debian.org>  *
* <webmaster@debian.org> <gecko@fortunet.com> <webmaster@spi-inc.org>   *
=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=
=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=
=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D

- --XsQoSWH+UP9D9v3l
Content-Type: application/pgp-signature

- -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE-----
Version: GnuPG v0.9.9 (GNU/Linux)
Comment: For info see http://www.gnupg.org

iD8DBQE3sZ50bbwt//gBAIoRAQf2AKCFAYb46swzoefA10y0R5Gl8EbsQwCeNP4L
hWhQ6pZxzhjkNgussApqAyI=
=mLiE
- -----END PGP SIGNATURE-----

- --XsQoSWH+UP9D9v3l--

------- End of Forwarded Message