Hi Helena,
Sorry, but I somehow missed this mail.
Here's a very brief explanation, based on what I wrote earlier:
Most foss4g projects are not legal entities, just a bunch of nice people
organizing to create beautiful software. As they are not legal entities
they cannot open a bank account, provide invoices, etc. This is what
fiscal hosts are for. They are legal entities that allow groups to act
like a legal entity by allowing them to open accounts, etc. OSGeo is
already playing the role of fiscal host for GitHub sponsoring:
https://github.com/sponsors/OSGeo. <https://github.com/sponsors/OSGeo.>
In the GRASS GIS case, for our current banking account our fiscal host
is OSGeo.eu. But not for our collection of donations which goes through
a money pool that is linked to my personal PayPal account.
It would thus be nice to have one fiscal host that could cover all
aspects: collection of donation, bank accounts, invoices, etc.
OpenCollective offers the possibility for organizations to register as
fiscal hosts: https://opencollective.com/become-a-host. If the fiscal
host requests payments from its hostees than the fiscal host has to also
pay something to OpenCollectives, otherwise it is free, AFAICT.
OpenCollectives then offers a wide array of ways to collect donations.
There are existing fiscal hosts that the GRASS GIS project could use,
notably the Open Source Collective
(https://opencollective.co/opensource), but in my eyes it would make
sens if OSGeo would widen its role of fiscal host from the very specific
Github sponsoring case to such a larger offering. This would allow all
OSGeo projects to organize sponsoring through there. It would then be
discussed if OSGeo takes a percentage of all donations to projects in
order to help finance the common infrastructure and other costs.
I hope this helps.
Best wishes,
Moritz
On 18/03/21 03:55, Helena Mitasova wrote:
Moritz - no need to mail the board, but please do send an email if you
would like to offer a concise explanation
of why GRASS PSC would like to have this set up with OSGeo as fiscal
host - I can explain it, but a written note may be helpful.
You are also welcome to join the meeting - here is the time and jitsi link:
https://wiki.osgeo.org/wiki/Board_Meeting_2021-03-29
<https://wiki.osgeo.org/wiki/Board_Meeting_2021-03-29>
Thank you, Helena
On Mar 17, 2021, at 6:33 PM, Moritz Lennert <[email protected]
<mailto:[email protected]>> wrote:
Thanks Helena !
So no need for a mail to the board on my side, then ?
Moritz
Am 17. März 2021 14:40:16 MEZ schrieb Helena Mitasova
<[email protected] <mailto:[email protected]>>:
I put it up on the upcoming OSGeo board agenda - there has a been a
new initiative setting up sponsorship infrastructure so it is a good
timing,
Helena
On Mar 17, 2021, at 8:24 AM, Veronica Andreo <[email protected]
<mailto:[email protected]>> wrote:
Thanks for looking at all this, Moritz, and for the explanation, of
course :)
Asking OSGeo to be fiscal host then seems the way to go
Vero
El mié, 17 mar 2021 a las 8:40, Moritz Lennert
(<[email protected]
<mailto:[email protected]>>) escribió:
Most foss4g projects are not legal entities, just a bunch of nice
people
organizing to create beautiful software. As they are not legal entities
they cannot open a bank account, provide invoices, etc. This is what
fiscal
hosts are for. They are legal entities that allow groups to act like a
legal entity by allowing them to open accounts, etc. For more info:
https://opencollective.com/become-a-host
<https://opencollective.com/become-a-host>.
<https://opencollective.com/become-a-host.
<https://opencollective.com/become-a-host.>>
OSGeo is already playing the role of fiscal host for GitHub sponsoring:
https://github.com/sponsors/OSGeo
<https://github.com/sponsors/OSGeo>.
<https://github.com/sponsors/OSGeo.
<https://github.com/sponsors/OSGeo.>>
For our current banking account our fiscal host is OSGeo.eu
<http://OSGeo.eu>.
OSGeo could become a fiscal host at opencollective and so allow all
OSGeo
projects to organize sponsoring through there. I'll ask the board.
Otherwise we could use another fiscal host. Fiscal hosts can ask for
a fee for their services, usually around 5%, but they don't have to.
Opencollective uses stripe for credit card payments and also allows
payment via PayPal. Those payments generally also come with a small
fee, so a few percent of the money people give is lost on the way.
Moritz
Am 16. März 2021 21:35:57 MEZ schrieb Michael Barton
<[email protected] <mailto:[email protected]>>:
I believe that a 'fiscal host' is a place where you can deposit
money and keep it until needed or moved to a different local. It
could be a bank account or other account.
Michael
_____________________________
C. Michael Barton
Director, Center for Social Dynamics & Complexity
Director, Network for Computational Modeling in Social & Ecological
Sciences
Associate Director, School of Complex Adaptive Systems
Professor, School of Human Evolution & Social Change
Arizona State University
Tempe, AZ 85287-2402
USA
voice: 480-965-6262 (SHESC), 480-965-8130/727-9746 (CSDC)
fax: 480-965-7671(SHESC), 480-727-0709 (CSDC)
www: http://shesc.asu.edu <http://shesc.asu.edu>,
https://complexity.asu.edu <https://complexity.asu.edu>,
http://www.public.asu.edu/~cmbarton
<http://www.public.asu.edu/~cmbarton>
On Mar 16, 2021, at 12:12 PM, Veronica Andreo <[email protected]
<mailto:[email protected]>> wrote:
Hi Moritz,
Thanks a lot for this initiative! Open collective seems like a
pretty cool complement to other existing ways of collecting money.
I was inspecting a bit which other organizations are there, and I
found many well known companies and NGOs (See for example:
https://opencollective.com/babel
<https://opencollective.com/babel>). Furthermore, it seems it also
allows for recurring contributions with different categories.
I do not understand the fiscal host part, but as you say maybe
OSGeo can become a fiscal host. Would you ask them too?
Cheers,
Vero
El sáb, 13 mar 2021 a las 16:34, Moritz Lennert
(<[email protected]
<mailto:[email protected]>>) escribió:
Dear all,
FYI, for our accounting I have created a continuous ledger in
https://nextcloud.osgeo.org/ <https://nextcloud.osgeo.org/> ->
GRASS-PCS -> Accounting and have filled
it with all transactions in our PayPal and bank account since 2018.
The
idea is to use this as our central accounting tool and note all coming
transactions in this ledger. This will allow to easily extract annual
accounts and follow our current financial situation.
As already discussed we should also review the way we collect
sponsorship money, for different reasons:
- The current PayPal Money pool runs over my personal account which is
not very bus-factor resilient.
- Venka's experience has shown that from some countries it is not easy
to contribute without a PayPal account, e.g. with a credit card.
OSGeo uses a Github sponsorship system which we should advertise as
people can dedicate their contribution to a specific project. However,
AFAIU, the Github sponsorship system is limited to people with a
Github
account and only allows deciding on a continuous (monthly), not a
one-shot donation.
In light of this, I would suggest the following for our sponsorship
system:
- https://opencollective.com/ <https://opencollective.com/> for
flexible one-shot, credit-card based
sponsorships, including a series of different options and advantages
(ex: receipts) for sponsors. How we organize this exactly (via fiscal
host) is still to be determined (maybe OSGeo can become a fiscal host
for all OSGeo projects ?).
- https://github.com/sponsors/OSGeo
<https://github.com/sponsors/OSGeo> for recurring sponsorship.
- Our bank account for direct money transfer, mostly within Europe.
Does this sound reasonable for everyone ? If yes, I will look into the
details of Open Collective and create our system.
Moritz
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Helena Mitasova
Professor at the Department of Marine,
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Associate director and faculty fellow at the Center for Geospatial
Analytics
North Carolina State University
Raleigh, NC 27695-8208
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Center for Geospatial Analytics
North Carolina State University
Raleigh, NC 27695-8208
[email protected] <mailto:[email protected]>
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