I don't have any specific comment on this; you might talk to fundraising@.
Ian Lynch wrote on Mon, Aug 15, 2011 at 09:52:40 +0100: > On 15 August 2011 02:20, Daniel Shahaf <[email protected]> wrote: > > > Raphael Bircher wrote on Sun, Aug 14, 2011 at 08:01:45 +0200: > > > > > I assume that a donnation to the ASF is only tax-free in the US. > > > Every Country has here there oven criteria. That's the reason why > > > Wikipedia has NGO's in each Country. It means, donnation to the ASF > > > will not be Tax-Free in Switzerland. > > > > I'm aware of one case of an entity incorporated in Europe having wanted > > to donate to the ASF but faced tax issues in the process. They ended up > > supporting the project in other ways. > > > > BTW: I don't see ASF having NGO's in each country. Having one NGO is > > enough overhead... > > > > In the UK you have to be a registered Charity with a board of trustees to > get tax relief on donations. Setting up a charity is much more involved than > setting up a company. Many non-profit companies are either CICs or companies > limited by guarantee rather than limited companies with shareholders. One > reason why we are a straight limited company is that unless we were a > charity there really isn't much advantage. > > One other method of getting resource into the projects is through EU grants. > Over the last 2 years I have written 3 successful applications with a grant > value of about 800,000 Euros. Unfortunately, the recent OpenOffice.org > application failed, but that was on a legal technicality because the > submitting organisation in Germany was not the right type of legal entity > :-( The application was deemed to be good enough. So I propose that we put > in at least 2 versions of this through 2 different teams to different > National Agencies. One for Apache OOo and one for LibO. Since the > application is based on certification of end users we could "clone" this > application further eg to other Apache projects that could benefit from > skills certification or more generally other FOSS projects such as Inkscape, > GIMP, Audacity etc. If anyone has any suggestions for Apache projects that > could be candidates, or better still interest in running such a project > please speak up. You need to be able to apply through a legal company or > public sector body in an EU country. We can get grant funding to meet and > plan and I will provide whatever support is necessary. I can find partners > in a range of EU countries. > > We can apply for these grants each year (unless the EU changes the system). > If we can use these to get viable certification programmes for FOSS going, > that can then generate further income in perpetuity. It's low risk because > the grants are not money that has to be repaid but it is in our (FOSS) > interest to set up a sustainable business so that we are not dependent on > them in the future. > > -- > Ian > > Ofqual Accredited IT Qualifications (The Schools ITQ) > > www.theINGOTs.org +44 (0)1827 305940 > > The Learning Machine Limited, Reg Office, 36 Ashby Road, Tamworth, > Staffordshire, B79 8AQ. Reg No: 05560797, Registered in England and > Wales.
