[OSGeo-Discuss] OSGeo Fundraising

[Allan Doyle]

Regarding the income side of the budget, I recommend looking at IRS  
form 8734 [1], which will have to be filled out at the end of the 5th  
year of being a 501(c)(3) organization. OSGeo will have to pass the  
"public support test" of getting at least 33% of its support from  
"public sources". That 33%, if I recall correctly must be made up of  
donations of $5000 or less. That means $35,000 in chunks smaller than  
5K for the budget shown.

I think this is why Creative Commons had that huge donation push a  
couple of years ago, when they realized they were about to bump into  
that.

It can be far harder to get a lot of little donations than a few big  
ones. If OSGeo fails the test, it can cause some major tax and  
reporting headaches.

Better to think about it now and build it into the fundraising.

	Allan

[1] http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/i8734.pdf
and http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/f8734.pdf

On Jun 16, 2008, at 12:19 PM, Frank Warmerdam wrote:

> Landon Blake wrote:
>> Another thing I've been curious about is how any funds raised will be
>> spent or dispersed. I know we need to pay Tyler's salary. What other
>> things do we need to pay for? Do we help fund the FOSS4G  
>> conference? Do
>> we fund work/infrastructure for specific projects?
>> I'd like to learn more about this. I think a web page geared towards
>> potential contributors with a concise explanation of how duns are  
>> spent
>> would be an aid to fundraising efforts, if we will ever have any.
>
> Landon,
>
> The 2008 budget might help you see what we plan to spend money on.
>
>  http://wiki.osgeo.org/wiki/OSGeo_Budget_2008
>
> Hopefully the 2007 annual report will be finished soon, and it
> will include a financial report on spending during 2007.
>
> Best regards,
> -- 
> --------------------------------------- 
> +--------------------------------------
> I set the clouds in motion - turn up   | Frank Warmerdam, warmerdam at pobox.com
> light and sound - activate the windows | http://pobox.com/~warmerdam
> and watch the world go round - Rush    | President OSGeo, http://osgeo.org
>
> _______________________________________________
> Discuss mailing list
> Discuss at lists.osgeo.org
> http://lists.osgeo.org/mailman/listinfo/discuss

-- 
Allan Doyle
Director of Technology
MIT Museum
+1.617.452.2111