On Sat, Aug 16, 2008 at 12:21 PM, Jason Hoekstra <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > Thanks Seth for the thoughts. I may be making some poor assumptions > regarding the setting up and maintaining of a non-profit organization given > my experience as an solo developer/consultant with a sub-S corp (relatively > easy to run and maintain). I'm thinking a few months in the future, but > would like to do some fund raising to help fuel 5-10 unit pilot deployments > for some after school programs. As we would run around to local folks and > organizations, I would think they would have an easier time with the idea of > contributing to something like OLPC Atlanta (or OLPC Southeast) as opposed > to a national organization.
This is what Earth Treasury wants to do, with local, national, and international projects and groups. > However, if the non-profit organization is a difficult entity to setup and > maintain, other routes may need to be investigated. Not difficult, but there is some expense involved in doing it right. For NPs intending to work on a national or international level, this expense is worthwhile to prevent problems later. > Curious if OLPC would > accept and set-aside funds for local groups? Once the goal amount is > reached, the purchase would be authorized and units dispersed (perhaps via > the Give One, Get One program @ $400/per unit). Or GiveMany, [EMAIL PROTECTED],900 [EMAIL PROTECTED],000 10,[EMAIL PROTECTED],990,000 > Another idea, and this would certainly could use the help of members on the > list, would be setting up a national grassroots non-profit and setting up > local chapters. Earth Treasury would be delighted to support this. > I would imagine the donations would be written in the name > of the local chapters (OLPC Grassroots - Atlanta), submitted to a national > account, marked for set-aside and release the amount once purchase goals are > reached. Right. > Ideas all? > > Just to take a step back and explain my interest in this..... I've been > involved with some fundraising for the last year. When the right program > matches up with personal interest, people and organizations are willing and > enthusiastic to contribute (even if in small amounts). Given the relative > low cost of the units (even at $400/unit via Give One, Get One -GOGO), I > think obtaining $2,000 - $4,000 for 5-10 unit local pilots is certainly > obtainable. There are groups looking to raise significantly more and buy significantly more, and your group would be welcome to join in. > Also, given the nature of the GOGO program, it gives > contributors a lot of buy in to the program on both a local and > international level and helps spread the word of OLPC overall. Trying to > think of the best way to organize this from a "brand-name", taxation and > legal perspective to give our local efforts the best alignment towards > success. > > Jason > > > On Fri, Aug 15, 2008 at 5:36 PM, Seth Woodworth <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: >> >> AFAIK most groups have not yet organized as a NP with the IRS. It all >> depends on what level of work the group is doing; if it's >> spreading-the-word/recruiting volunteers, or if it is a Users-Group they may >> not need one. >> >> If a group is rolling out a deployment at a large scale I am sure that it >> would become a necessity to do so. Even though that requires a lot of >> overhead when it comes to paperwork and accounting. >> >> In my grassroots efforts back in Washington state and with the excellent >> SeaXO group, it wasn't necessary to have a formal structure. But I never >> got very far in my work there. >> >> I would love to hear other group's experience. >> >> Seth >> >> On Fri, Aug 15, 2008 at 5:06 PM, Jason Hoekstra <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> >> wrote: >>> >>> Hey all, >>> >>> I'm curious for those involved in grassroots organizations, if any have >>> been setup as IRS registered 501(c)3 non-profit groups? If so, I would >>> assume the organizations take donations in order to fund projects and >>> equipment. If a group on list has gone through the process, I'd be really >>> interested in hearing about the experiences. I have done it. What are your questions? >>> Thanks, >>> >>> Jason Hoekstra >>> OLPC Atlanta -- Silent Thunder [ 默雷 / शब्दगर्ज ] is my name, And Children are my nation. The Cosmos is my dwelling place, And Truth my destination. _______________________________________________ Grassroots mailing list [email protected] http://lists.laptop.org/listinfo/grassroots
