A small note from the peanut gallery. I hope folks can see the broader benefit of channeling funds through OSGeo for sponsorship -- although 25% is a chunk of change -- remember that the projects ARE the foundation and in that sense, that 25% also goes back to benefiting the project in other means.
Sometimes there is a perception that OSGeo is arm's length from the technical activities -- but nothing can be further from the truth. It is an entity whose exclusive membership is those seen as the most deserving from within the community developing OSGeo technologies, with a board selected from within this same community. OSGeo needs to find ways to sustain itself - in part through volunteers and in part through hard cash -- just as the projects themselves need to sustain themselves. On the surface - I understand the desire to avoid going through OSGeo for project sponsorship - but in some sense, think of this as a small way in which OpenLayers can help sustain the broader foundation we collectively benefit from. Dave Dave McIlhagga www.dmsolutions.ca On 15-Nov-08, at 4:58 PM, Christopher Schmidt wrote: > On Sat, Nov 15, 2008 at 04:02:30PM -0500, John R. Frank wrote: >>>> In the case of going with the OSGeo Project Sponsorship program, >>>> the >>>> OSGeo acts as our fiscal agent. As a 501(c)(3) (US tax code) >>>> organization, they can accept tax deductible contributions toward >>>> OSGeo >>>> projects. >>> >>> Their application is still pending acceptance. So, it could be a >>> few >>> months before they start giving out receipts for tax purposes. >> >> The tax exempt status of the donation channel is probably crucial >> --- at >> least for US-based donors. Other solutions can't really compete with >> OSGEO without that also having tax exempt status. 501c3 >> applications are >> not complicated but they take calendar time. >> >> OTOH, until OSGEO gets approved to process donations to projects, >> they are >> an expensive savings account :-) >> >> If a donor shows up *before* OSGEO can make the donor's donation tax >> exempt, we might as well just open a bank account at regular bank. > > I'm not sure who "we" is in this case -- It's either a person (which > then means that a single person is taking on the liability) or > "MetaCarta". The latter has serious social issues with it, since the > only way I can see collecting money in that situation is people > writing > a check directly to MetaCarta -- which hardly seems likely to go over > well. (Perhaps there is some other way that I'm missing?) > >> 1) PSC agrees that OL should find a tax exempt donation channel >> >> 2) PSC hopes that OSGEO will soon be that channel >> >> 3) PSC agrees to seek donations while #2 sorts itself out > > Note that we can still *accept* donations even before #2 sorts itself > out, and I think that's worthwhile. If people are willing to dnate > money > to an organization which is not yet completed with 501c3 status -- as > they might in the "open our own bank account" above -- then I don't > see > a reason to tell them "no, you shouldn't". (It's not clear from the > above if you agree on this point.) > > Regards, > -- > Christopher Schmidt > MetaCarta > _______________________________________________ > Dev mailing list > Dev@openlayers.org > http://openlayers.org/mailman/listinfo/dev _______________________________________________ Dev mailing list Dev@openlayers.org http://openlayers.org/mailman/listinfo/dev
