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

Matthew Vanecek mevanecek@yahoo.com
07 Dec 2002 10:07:15 -0600


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I have an idea.  In general, I think donations are a wonderful idea.=20
Had I some extra cash...but this darn Gnucash software keeps telling me
how little I have =3DP.  All jokes aside, I think a combination of tip-jar
+ christmas cards may be best.  My thought is, it takes money to upgrade
computers, pay for bandwidth, etc.  So a tip-jar account could go to
gnucash.org, which uses the money for upgrades, expanded/maintaining
bandwidth, etc.  Personal donations could be sent to a specific
developer.

Perhaps a central web-site for donations, a la United Way.  Let the
donor earmark his/her donation via a selection on the Web site, which
has an interface to one or more of the paypal/c2it/whatever sites.=20
Developers could designate a preference, and if a donor selected that
developer, the money would go to the developer's paypal/c2it/whatever
account.

I don't know how hard the interface would be to set up, or even if it
can be done.  If it can't, then perhaps the administrator could send out
monthly checks, or money whenever it appeared, and everything just goes
to one account (with the allotment being recorded).  That's less
automatic than desired, probably...

This method would, however, protect privacy while allowing donors to
choose who to send money to, or to send money to gnucash.org.  Something
may need to be done to accomodate those w/o credit card/bank card
access, but in our venue, I'm not sure how common that lack is...

Just my $.02 US, after reading a bunch of the ideas here.

On Wed, 2002-12-04 at 20:38, Linas Vepstas wrote:
> On Sun, Dec 01, 2002 at 10:05:00PM +0100, vitaliy rybalka was heard to re=
mark:
> > 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?!
>=20=20
> There is no gnucash 'tip-jar', and there is no particular reason
> why there isn't one.  Maybe its time one was set up.
>=20
> Since this involves 'real money', a bit of discussion and rules &
> regs are called for.  So:
>=20
> 0) Is there general agreement that this is a good idea?  Or is this
>    a bad idea?
>=20
> 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?
>=20
> 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?
>=20
> 3) Where should the money be collected?  Paypal seems obvious and
>    popular. But I've also heard horror stories ...=20
>=20
> 4) When and how should money be disbursed?  I propose that one or
>    more 'Most Valuable Contributor' be picked every so often, and=20
>    given a reward out of the accumulated funds.  How should the=20
>    recipient be picked? After a series of private discussions=20
>    between trusted developers (e.g. those having CVS access?)=20=20
>    (Realizing, of course, that the most likely recipient(s) will
>    be one of those with CVS access?) After open discussions on=20
>    the mailing lists? After a nomination and popular vote on=20
>    the mailing list?=20
>=20
> --linas
>=20
>=20=20=20=20=20
--=20
Matthew Vanecek
perl -e 'print $i=3Dpack(c5,(41*2),sqrt(7056),(unpack(c,H)-2),oct(115),10);'
***************************************************************************=
*****
For 93 million miles, there is nothing between the sun and my shadow except=
 me.
I'm always getting in the way of something...

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