[GRASS-PSC] Accounting and organization of sponsorship

Mon Mar 29 00:25:04 PDT 2021

Hi Helena,

Sorry, but I somehow missed this mail.

Here's a very brief explanation, based on what I wrote earlier:

Most foss4g projects are not legal entities, just a bunch of nice people
organizing to create beautiful software. As they are not legal entities
they cannot open a bank account, provide invoices, etc. This is what
fiscal hosts are for. They are legal entities that allow groups to act 
like a legal entity by allowing them to open accounts, etc. OSGeo is 
already playing the role of fiscal host for GitHub sponsoring:
https://github.com/sponsors/OSGeo. <https://github.com/sponsors/OSGeo.>

In the GRASS GIS case, for our current banking account our fiscal host 
is OSGeo.eu. But not for our collection of donations which goes through 
a money pool that is linked to my personal PayPal account.

It would thus be nice to have one fiscal host that could cover all 
aspects: collection of donation, bank accounts, invoices, etc.

OpenCollective offers the possibility for organizations to register as 
fiscal hosts: https://opencollective.com/become-a-host. If the fiscal 
host requests payments from its hostees than the fiscal host has to also 
pay something to OpenCollectives, otherwise it is free, AFAICT. 
OpenCollectives then offers a wide array of ways to collect donations.

There are existing fiscal hosts that the GRASS GIS project could use, 
notably the Open Source Collective 
(https://opencollective.co/opensource), but in my eyes it would make 
sens if OSGeo would widen its role of fiscal host from the very specific 
Github sponsoring case to such a larger offering. This would allow all 
OSGeo projects to organize sponsoring through there. It would then be 
discussed if OSGeo takes a percentage of all donations to projects in 
order to help finance the common infrastructure and other costs.

I hope this helps.

Best wishes,
Moritz

On 18/03/21 03:55, Helena Mitasova wrote:
> Moritz - no need to mail the board, but please do send an email if you 
> would like to offer a concise explanation
> of why GRASS PSC would like to have this set up with OSGeo as fiscal 
> host - I can explain it, but a written note may be helpful.
> You are also welcome to join the meeting - here is the time and jitsi link:
> 
> https://wiki.osgeo.org/wiki/Board_Meeting_2021-03-29 
> <https://wiki.osgeo.org/wiki/Board_Meeting_2021-03-29>
> 
> Thank you, Helena
> 
> 
> 
>> On Mar 17, 2021, at 6:33 PM, Moritz Lennert <moritzlennert at posteo.net 
>> <mailto:moritzlennert at posteo.net>> wrote:
>>
>> Thanks Helena !
>>
>> So no need for a mail to the board on my side, then ?
>>
>> Moritz
>>
>> Am 17. März 2021 14:40:16 MEZ schrieb Helena Mitasova 
>> <hmitaso at ncsu.edu <mailto:hmitaso at ncsu.edu>>:
>>> I put it up on the upcoming OSGeo board agenda - there has a been a 
>>> new initiative setting up sponsorship infrastructure so it is a good 
>>> timing,
>>>
>>> Helena
>>>
>>>> On Mar 17, 2021, at 8:24 AM, Veronica Andreo <veroandreo at gmail.com 
>>>> <mailto:veroandreo at gmail.com>> wrote:
>>>>
>>>> Thanks for looking at all this, Moritz, and for the explanation, of 
>>>> course :)
>>>> Asking OSGeo to be fiscal host then seems the way to go
>>>>
>>>> Vero
>>>>
>>>> El mié, 17 mar 2021 a las 8:40, Moritz Lennert 
>>>> (<mlennert at club.worldonline.be 
>>>> <mailto:mlennert at club.worldonline.be>>) escribió:
>>>> Most foss4g projects are not legal entities, just a bunch of nice 
>>>> people
>>>> organizing to create beautiful software. As they are not legal entities
>>>> they cannot open a bank account, provide invoices, etc. This is what
>>>> fiscal
>>>> hosts are for. They are legal entities that allow groups to act like a
>>>> legal entity by allowing them to open accounts, etc. For more info:
>>>> https://opencollective.com/become-a-host 
>>>> <https://opencollective.com/become-a-host>.
>>>> <https://opencollective.com/become-a-host. 
>>>> <https://opencollective.com/become-a-host.>>
>>>>
>>>> OSGeo is already playing the role of fiscal host for GitHub sponsoring:
>>>> https://github.com/sponsors/OSGeo 
>>>> <https://github.com/sponsors/OSGeo>. 
>>>> <https://github.com/sponsors/OSGeo. 
>>>> <https://github.com/sponsors/OSGeo.>>
>>>>
>>>> For our current banking account our fiscal host is OSGeo.eu 
>>>> <http://OSGeo.eu>.
>>>>
>>>> OSGeo could become a fiscal host at opencollective and so allow all 
>>>> OSGeo
>>>> projects to organize sponsoring through there. I'll ask the board.
>>>>
>>>> Otherwise we could use another fiscal host. Fiscal hosts can ask for 
>>>> a fee for their services, usually around 5%, but they don't have to.
>>>>
>>>> Opencollective uses stripe for credit card payments and also allows 
>>>> payment via PayPal. Those payments generally also come with a small 
>>>> fee, so a few percent of the money people give is lost on the way.
>>>>
>>>> Moritz
>>>>
>>>> Am 16. März 2021 21:35:57 MEZ schrieb Michael Barton 
>>>> <Michael.Barton at asu.edu <mailto:Michael.Barton at asu.edu>>:
>>>> I believe that a 'fiscal host' is a place where you can deposit 
>>>> money and keep it until needed or moved to a different local. It 
>>>> could be a bank account or other account.
>>>>
>>>> Michael
>>>> _____________________________
>>>> C. Michael Barton
>>>> Director, Center for Social Dynamics & Complexity
>>>> Director, Network for Computational Modeling in Social & Ecological 
>>>> Sciences
>>>> Associate Director, School of Complex Adaptive Systems
>>>> Professor, School of Human Evolution & Social Change
>>>> Arizona State University
>>>> Tempe, AZ  85287-2402
>>>> USA
>>>>
>>>> voice: 480-965-6262 (SHESC), 480-965-8130/727-9746 (CSDC)
>>>> fax: 480-965-7671(SHESC), 480-727-0709 (CSDC)
>>>> www: http://shesc.asu.edu <http://shesc.asu.edu>, 
>>>> https://complexity.asu.edu <https://complexity.asu.edu>, 
>>>> http://www.public.asu.edu/~cmbarton 
>>>> <http://www.public.asu.edu/~cmbarton>
>>>>
>>>>> On Mar 16, 2021, at 12:12 PM, Veronica Andreo <veroandreo at gmail.com 
>>>>> <mailto:veroandreo at gmail.com>> wrote:
>>>>>
>>>>> Hi Moritz,
>>>>>
>>>>> Thanks a lot for this initiative! Open collective seems like a 
>>>>> pretty cool complement to other existing ways of collecting money.
>>>>>
>>>>> I was inspecting a bit which other organizations are there, and I 
>>>>> found many well known companies and NGOs (See for example: 
>>>>> https://opencollective.com/babel 
>>>>> <https://opencollective.com/babel>). Furthermore, it seems it also 
>>>>> allows for recurring contributions with different categories.
>>>>>
>>>>> I do not understand the fiscal host part, but as you say maybe 
>>>>> OSGeo can become a fiscal host. Would you ask them too?
>>>>>
>>>>> Cheers,
>>>>> Vero
>>>>>
>>>>> El sáb, 13 mar 2021 a las 16:34, Moritz Lennert 
>>>>> (<mlennert at club.worldonline.be 
>>>>> <mailto:mlennert at club.worldonline.be>>) escribió:
>>>>> Dear all,
>>>>>
>>>>> FYI, for our accounting I have created a continuous ledger in
>>>>> https://nextcloud.osgeo.org/ <https://nextcloud.osgeo.org/> -> 
>>>>> GRASS-PCS -> Accounting and have filled
>>>>> it with all transactions in our PayPal and bank account since 2018. 
>>>>> The
>>>>> idea is to use this as our central accounting tool and note all coming
>>>>> transactions in this ledger. This will allow to easily extract annual
>>>>> accounts and follow our current financial situation.
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>> As already discussed we should also review the way we collect
>>>>> sponsorship money, for different reasons:
>>>>>
>>>>> - The current PayPal Money pool runs over my personal account which is
>>>>> not very bus-factor resilient.
>>>>>
>>>>> - Venka's experience has shown that from some countries it is not easy
>>>>> to contribute without a PayPal account, e.g. with a credit card.
>>>>>
>>>>> OSGeo uses a Github sponsorship system which we should advertise as
>>>>> people can dedicate their contribution to a specific project. However,
>>>>> AFAIU, the Github sponsorship system is limited to people with a 
>>>>> Github
>>>>> account and only allows deciding on a continuous (monthly), not a
>>>>> one-shot donation.
>>>>>
>>>>> In light of this, I would suggest the following for our sponsorship 
>>>>> system:
>>>>>
>>>>> - https://opencollective.com/ <https://opencollective.com/> for 
>>>>> flexible one-shot, credit-card based
>>>>> sponsorships, including a series of different options and advantages
>>>>> (ex: receipts) for sponsors. How we organize this exactly (via fiscal
>>>>> host) is still to be determined (maybe OSGeo can become a fiscal host
>>>>> for all OSGeo projects ?).
>>>>>
>>>>> - https://github.com/sponsors/OSGeo 
>>>>> <https://github.com/sponsors/OSGeo> for recurring sponsorship.
>>>>>
>>>>> - Our bank account for direct money transfer, mostly within Europe.
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>> Does this sound reasonable for everyone ? If yes, I will look into the
>>>>> details of Open Collective and create our system.
>>>>>
>>>>> Moritz
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>> _______________________________________________
>>>>> grass-psc mailing list
>>>>> grass-psc at lists.osgeo.org <mailto:grass-psc at lists.osgeo.org>
>>>>> https://lists.osgeo.org/mailman/listinfo/grass-psc
>>>>> _______________________________________________
>>>>> grass-psc mailing list
>>>>> grass-psc at lists.osgeo.org
>>>>> https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://lists.osgeo.org/mailman/listinfo/grass-psc__;!!IKRxdwAv5BmarQ!JYQHuCCW-r_wk5ZkIBeP49QU77SHS7hiB50Ncbo81102GGGA-Ce_UmCsrjjKdZlGnTm0oAE$ 
>>>>>
>>>>
>>>> _______________________________________________
>>>> grass-psc mailing list
>>>> grass-psc at lists.osgeo.org <mailto:grass-psc at lists.osgeo.org>
>>>> https://lists.osgeo.org/mailman/listinfo/grass-psc
>>>
>>> Helena Mitasova
>>> Professor at the Department of Marine,
>>> Earth, and Atmospheric Sciences
>>> Associate director and faculty fellow at the Center for Geospatial 
>>> Analytics
>>> North Carolina State University
>>> Raleigh, NC 27695-8208
>>> hmitaso at ncsu.edu <mailto:hmitaso at ncsu.edu>
>>>
>>> "All electronic mail messages in connection with State business which 
>>> are sent to or received by this account are subject to the NC Public 
>>> Records Law and may be disclosed to third parties.”
>>>
>>> _______________________________________________
>>> grass-psc mailing list
>>> grass-psc at lists.osgeo.org
>>> https://lists.osgeo.org/mailman/listinfo/grass-psc
> 
> Helena Mitasova
> Professor, Department of Marine, Earth and Atmospheric Sciences
> Faculty Fellow,
> Center for Geospatial Analytics
> North Carolina State University
> Raleigh, NC 27695-8208
> hmitaso at ncsu.edu <mailto:hmitaso at ncsu.edu>
> 
> 
> 