Donating to GnuCash

[John Reynolds]

I think this would be a good Idea, a bounty system. I think it would best be 
administered by the non-developers in the community. 

I have also looked into the process for creating a "GnuCash Foundation" that 
would be a proper non-profit 501(c)(3). I have discussed it with just a 
couple people, and the main concern was if it would be worth the effort. 
Would/is there enough interest in the GnuCash community to support via 
donations for a 501(c)(3) to be set up? 

If it was done, it would not necessarily resolve the paypal problem. But we 
could possibly look at alternative donation methods. It would provide a nice 
place for a bounty system to be set up. Of course, a GnuCash foundation does 
not need to be set up in order for the bounty idea to work.

What do you all think? What are your thoughts on the matter? Would it change 
your willingness to donate if it were a proper non-profit? 

Just wondering, because if it would not be of value to the community then 
there is would be not point in doing it. (currently no plans on doing it).

John R

------Original Message-----
From: John Steele Scott <toojays at toojays.net>
Sent: Saturday 28 February 2004 01:19 am
To: gnucash-user at lists.gnucash.org
Cc: 
Subject: Re: Donating to GnuCash


>On Sat, 28 Feb 2004 15:53, Chris A. wrote:
>> Would it be possible for a number of users to donate money towards new
>> features? The GnuCash team could decide what features are most needed
>> (both internal stuff and new user features), and we could either put
>> bounties on the features, or pay for a developer to take a day off work
>> and code for gnucash instead.
>
>A good bounty system sounds like an excellent idea, although I have no idea
>how they work in practice. There are some features which I am sure many
>people would pay some small amount to have, although none of us would want
> to pay the large amount.
>
>For instance, one feature I would be willing to put some cash towards is the
>ability to "bookmark" reports. I alone would only want to spend maybe
> $25-$50 on this work, but if 10 or 20 other list users felt the same way,
> maybe we could make it happen faster than just waiting for someone to do it
> in their own time.
>
>A couple of semi-random thoughts about this . . .
>
>Although practically, the code is all that is important, I think most of us
>would prefer to have this work done by someone who is already a Gnucash
>developer, seeing as they would best know the code, but also as a kind of
>reward for work already done (although that is just a sentimental reason,
> not a business one). Also someone who has been in the Gnucash community for
> some time is more likely to be trustworthy, which is important for those of
> us who would be sending money overseas.
>
>One thing I hate about most free software donation methods is that they use
>PayPal, and I have heard so many bad stories about them. I know that I can
>buy a US money order at Australia Post, but this kind of thing has large
>transaction costs, so an electronic alternative would be good. I have seen
>some developers use Amazon wishlists as a way for supporters to reward them,
>but "cash is king", as they say.
>
>Another thing I would pay money for is some high quality documentation for
>report writing, similar to the "gentle introduction to Emacs Lisp" which I
>have mentioned once before on this list. That said, it would probably be
>cheaper just to pay someone to write custom reports for me (although I
> really would like to know how to do them myself).
>
>I know at one stage there was a company called Gnumatic based around
> GnuCash, but I think that has disappeared, so maybe that shows the
> difficulty of getting financial support for consumer-targetted software.
>
>Last thing, financial contributors would probably like to have their name up
>in lights (or at least in a subsection of the "About" box).
>
>cheers,
>
>John
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