Gnucash Foundation [was: Re: Nothing works on Red Hat ]

[Reinke Bonte]

Sending a christmas card sound like the most feasible short term
solution. However, there are many people like me who have problems to
manage sending christmas cards in time for the family alone. 

I think something similar to the "Free Software Bazaar" would be the
best solution to this tip-jar issue in the long run. I'm not sure if it
is such a bureaucratic overkill.

What would be needed in my opinion is the following:

- The creation of a non-for-profit legal entity for gnucash.
- This legal entity should have a bank account.
- A web page which shows these bank account details and a number of
features for which people can contribute money.
- Each feature would have a unique code, which the contributor would
need to state when he remits money to the gnucash bank account.
- There should be a batch job or whatever which would read an ofx file
(or whatever) from the bank and update the web page to show how much
money is contributed for what feature.
- The person who implents the feature would get the money, and the
feature is deleted from the web page. This step would be done manually
by a responsible person.
- Any remittances with an incorrect code would go to a general purpose
tip-jar.
- Maybe it should be possible for users to add feature requests to the
web page, so that the unique code is assigned automatically.

I think that the creation of a non-for-profit legal entity is not such a
bureaucratic and financial hassle as many think. At least in
bureaucratic Germany it seems to be rather simple, my father has founded
two such entities in his life, and he has never been rich nor does he
like bureaucratic challenges.

Probably there are not that many contributions, so the developers will
continue to develop what they personally think is needed most. However,
if a good amount accumulates, it certainly would change the direction of
development to what most users (or the richest user) want.

The main advantage is that it makes contributions very easy.
Contributors just have to fill in a form at their online banking
application. For me that would be much easier than sending a Chrismas
card.

I would volunteer to write the web page if there is interest for such a
project. 


Reinke



On Wed, 4 Dec 2002 20:38:03 -0600
linas@linas.org (Linas Vepstas) wrote:

> On Sun, Dec 01, 2002 at 10:05:00PM +0100, vitaliy rybalka was heard to
> remark:
> > People, let's donate money and/or implement, it is the Right Thing
> > (c)! I'm not sure if there's a PayPal account for GnuCash, but why
> > not?!
>  
> There is no gnucash 'tip-jar', and there is no particular reason
> why there isn't one.  Maybe its time one was set up.
> 
> Since this involves 'real money', a bit of discussion and rules &
> regs are called for.  So:
> 
> 0) Is there general agreement that this is a good idea?  Or is this
>    a bad idea?
> 
> 1)  What should we call this thing? A 'tip jar'? a 'donation
>     account'?  A gratuity fund?  What kind of name would be
>     'obvious' to europeans as well as americans?
> 
> 2) I propose calling the entity that receives the funds 'The GnuCash
>    Foundation'.  If more than $300 or $500 accumulates (which I
>    rather doubt at the moment), I'll incorporate it as a
>    non-for-profit, and do the other footwork to make it a non-taxable
>    legal entity.  Any alternate suggestions?
> 
> 3) Where should the money be collected?  Paypal seems obvious and
>    popular. But I've also heard horror stories ... 
> 
> 4) When and how should money be disbursed?  I propose that one or
>    more 'Most Valuable Contributor' be picked every so often, and 
>    given a reward out of the accumulated funds.  How should the 
>    recipient be picked? After a series of private discussions 
>    between trusted developers (e.g. those having CVS access?)  
>    (Realizing, of course, that the most likely recipient(s) will
>    be one of those with CVS access?) After open discussions on 
>    the mailing lists? After a nomination and popular vote on 
>    the mailing list? 
> 
> --linas
> 
>     
> 
> 
> -- 
> pub  1024D/01045933 2001-02-01 Linas Vepstas (Labas!)
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