[OSGeo-Discuss] OSGeo Fundraising

[Frank Warmerdam]

Allan Doyle wrote:
> 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,

Conveniently the Silver sponsorship level for projects, and associate
sponsorship levels come in at $3000 and have proven reasonably popular.
So, for instance, the seven Silver GDAL sponsors bring in $21000 USD towards
that public support test.

The other thing is that we have been advised that registration at the
conference can be considered a contribution and that brings in hundreds
of thousands of dollars in small contributions ($500-$1000).  So as long
as that is legitimate we should have no problem meeting the public support
test.  Of course, we will need to document it properly.

Best regards,
-- 
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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