Re: GNOME Foundation budget (Oct 2010-June 2011)
On Wed, 2011-08-03 at 13:45 +0800, Frederic Muller wrote: Ping? From http://www.irs.gov/charities/article/0,,id=135008,00.html An exempt organization must make available for public inspection its exemption application. An exemption application includes the Form 1023 [...]. In addition, an exempt organization must make available for public inspection and copying its annual return. Such returns include Form 990 [...]. Form 1023 page 10 clearly stipulates 'Cash' among other lines in the Asset sections, so does Form 990 (in a different page). I've been looking at the foundation website and can't find any of this information available. I think something like this http://www.councilofnonprofits.org/financials would bring a lot more transparency and compliance to the GNOME Foundation. So can someone in the know point me to the right place or will answer my question? As I said previously, in the short term we will be able to add that information to the budget. -- Germán Póo-Caamaño http://people.gnome.org/~gpoo/ signature.asc Description: This is a digitally signed message part ___ foundation-list mailing list foundation-list@gnome.org http://mail.gnome.org/mailman/listinfo/foundation-list
Re: GNOME Foundation budget (Oct 2010-June 2011)
On 08/03/2011 02:24 PM, Germán Póo-Caamaño wrote:
On Wed, 2011-08-03 at 13:45 +0800, Frederic Muller wrote:
Ping?
snip
would bring a lot more transparency and compliance to the GNOME Foundation.
So can someone in the know point me to the right place or will answer
my question?
As I said previously, in the short term we will be able to add that
information to the budget.
Why is it difficult to just give a rough number at end of our financial
period ('09 or '10) and be done with it for now?
The GNOME Foundation obviously hasn't complied to state laws for years
(by not making the required form available to the public) and you seem
to enjoy not answering foundation members as well. What about the
statement on our financial page:
For comments or questions on the data, please contact the GNOME
Foundation Board of Directors.
I really feel there is an attitude problem with transparency and I am
sadden to see that you're reluctant to be transparent. I am therefore
requesting to the GNOME Foundation board to address this issue as soon
as possible and be in compliance with state and government regulation ASAP.
Now Google being my friend I found the 2009 Form 990 on guidestar.org
(you'll need to register to download it) and for those of us who are
interesting in the amount declared:
Line end of year (2009) - Net assets or fund balances reads:
U$304,834
If you add the U$252,099 profit from 2009-2010 and deduct the expected
loss of U$105,595 for 2010-2011 we should reach a balance of
approximately U$451,338 by end of September.
Thank you!
Fred
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Re: GNOME Foundation budget (Oct 2010-June 2011)
On Wed, 2011-08-03 at 14:50 +0800, Frederic Muller wrote:
On 08/03/2011 02:24 PM, Germán Póo-Caamaño wrote:
On Wed, 2011-08-03 at 13:45 +0800, Frederic Muller wrote:
Ping?
snip
would bring a lot more transparency and compliance to the GNOME Foundation.
So can someone in the know point me to the right place or will answer
my question?
As I said previously, in the short term we will be able to add that
information to the budget.
Why is it difficult to just give a rough number at end of our financial
period ('09 or '10) and be done with it for now?
The GNOME Foundation obviously hasn't complied to state laws for years
(by not making the required form available to the public) and you seem
to enjoy not answering foundation members as well. What about the
statement on our financial page:
For comments or questions on the data, please contact the GNOME
Foundation Board of Directors.
I apologize for my behavior, but I hope you can understand I am
volunteer, the desktop summit is going to start in some days, there are
people with problems getting their visa, I am finishing a lot of things
before flying, I need to pack to fly in some hours, our administrative
assistant is traveling, too.
Personally, I think the tone of your inquiries looks unfair to me
considering I have provided more financial information than ever before.
During the Desktop Summit the board will decide who will be the next
treasure, I hope he or she will be able to accomplish with your
inquiries and demanding time.
--
Germán Póo-Caamaño
http://people.gnome.org/~gpoo/
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Re: GNOME Foundation budget (Oct 2010-June 2011)
On Wed, August 3, 2011 2:50 am, Frederic Muller wrote:
Why is it difficult to just give a rough number at end of our financial
period ('09 or '10) and be done with it for now?
The GNOME Foundation obviously hasn't complied to state laws for years
(by not making the required form available to the public) and you seem
to enjoy not answering foundation members as well. What about the
statement on our financial page:
For comments or questions on the data, please contact the GNOME
Foundation Board of Directors.
I'm sorry that you weren't responded to more quickly and were frustrated,
and I hope you understand that, as Germán says, he is only a volunteer
treasurer.
I'm obviously not on the board (and also new here) but I wanted to respond
because you mentioned being out of compliance with state laws. I believe
the form need only be made available on request in order to meet the state
requirements. While you definitely requested an important piece of
information, you didn't specifically ask to see the last 990 or the form
1023, both of which would overall have less relevant financial information
than what was circulated by Germán (even if the 990 had an ending
balance).Many nonprofits choose not to put their 990s up on their websites
and are not in violation of state laws to my knowledge. California does
make form 990s available directly on their website without registration,
but those forms are often not the best way to see the financial position
of a nonprofit anyway because of the reporting format. So long as a
nonprofit provides the forms when asked (they don't have to do it
instantly and can also charge a reasonable fee for doing so), they are in
compliance with the rules. I think GNOME seeks to do better than that,
which is why the more detailed information was circulated to members.
I'm glad that you found the information you wanted ultimately and thanks
for the suggestion to publish the 990s and to improve the budget report.
karen
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Re: GNOME Foundation budget (Oct 2010-June 2011)
On 08/03/2011 08:41 PM, Karen Sandler wrote:
On Wed, August 3, 2011 2:50 am, Frederic Muller wrote:
Why is it difficult to just give a rough number at end of our financial
period ('09 or '10) and be done with it for now?
The GNOME Foundation obviously hasn't complied to state laws for years
(by not making the required form available to the public) and you seem
to enjoy not answering foundation members as well. What about the
statement on our financial page:
For comments or questions on the data, please contact the GNOME
Foundation Board of Directors.
I'm sorry that you weren't responded to more quickly and were frustrated,
and I hope you understand that, as Germán says, he is only a volunteer
treasurer.
Dear Karen,
I didn't want to answer on this point but since you're emphasizing it
here are my thought on it: I am a volunteer myself and has run
GNOME.Asia Summit for the GNOME Foundation a couple of time and serve as
president on the board of Software Freedom International, another
non-profit registered in the USA. I do that as a volunteer and if I
didn't have the time or the professional skills to do it, then I should
leave my seat to someone who has.
Serving as treasurer for the GNOME Foundation (and board of director) is
a big responsibility and refusing to answer a simple question (how much
cash do we have), emphasizing it will be done later seems to me to be
a totally different issue. Serving as treasurer also means a certain
commitment to the task and stating you are just a volunteer as an excuse
maybe means that German should consider letting someone with more time
on his hands to do the job. But again this is a different issue and not
something I wanted to talk about (you did).
I'm obviously not on the board (and also new here) but I wanted to respond
because you mentioned being out of compliance with state laws. I believe
the form need only be made available on request in order to meet the state
requirements. While you definitely requested an important piece of
information, you didn't specifically ask to see the last 990 or the form
1023, both of which would overall have less relevant financial information
than what was circulated by Germán (even if the 990 had an ending
balance).Many nonprofits choose not to put their 990s up on their websites
and are not in violation of state laws to my knowledge. California does
make form 990s available directly on their website without registration,
but those forms are often not the best way to see the financial position
of a nonprofit anyway because of the reporting format. So long as a
nonprofit provides the forms when asked (they don't have to do it
instantly and can also charge a reasonable fee for doing so), they are in
compliance with the rules. I think GNOME seeks to do better than that,
which is why the more detailed information was circulated to members.
I wasn't requesting this form, please do not 'misquote' me. I was
highlighting government regulations (IRS website should be a good
reference no?) which says An exempt organization must make available
for public inspection its exemption application. It does not stipulate
how to do it, it just says we have to do it. And so I showed how others
are doing it and said maybe we should do the same.
Now failing to get a crucial information about the budget and our
financial status (how much do we have, so we know how much we can spend)
and feeling the reluctance to supply such information which I am sure
German have on his mind even if approximate (and some other people who
also didn't respond) I thought it was important to remind the board that
we are not complying to government regulations by not supplying those
forms (through whatever mean) as well.
Anything else in your email is twisting my request or justifications
about not doing the right thing for the GNOME Foundation.
I am sure all GNOME foundation members expect us to be a transparent
organization (it was pretty clear from the questions during the board
elections this year) and this is something we need to work on.
Sincerely,
Fred
I'm glad that you found the information you wanted ultimately and thanks
for the suggestion to publish the 990s and to improve the budget report.
karen
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Re: GNOME Foundation budget (Oct 2010-June 2011)
On Wed, Aug 03, 2011 at 09:36:46PM +0800, Frederic Muller wrote: I am sure all GNOME foundation members expect us to be a transparent organization (it was pretty clear from the questions during the board elections this year) and this is something we need to work on. As another Foundation member, I agree that I expect us to be a transparent organization, but I find the tone of your inquires to be totally irrespectful towards another volunteer; regardless of whatever their or your role on this matter is. Since Germán has been the treasurer of the GNOME Foundation our numbers have been presented in the most clear and complete way that I can remember, and I believe that any long-time GNOME Foundation member can agree with this. Nobody denies that there is always room for improvement but this irrespectfully demanding attitude is definitely not what's going to move us forward, so please slow it down. Claudio ___ foundation-list mailing list foundation-list@gnome.org http://mail.gnome.org/mailman/listinfo/foundation-list
