Hi all! Anno domini 2020 Thu, 23 Apr 09:59:00 -0400 E. Liddell scripsit: > On Wed, 22 Apr 2020 21:46:20 -0500 > Michael <mb_trinity_desktop@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote: > > > On Wednesday 22 April 2020 07:46:27 pm David C. Rankin wrote: > > > I haven't checked if TDE has any formal organization behind it that was > > > created in the past few years, but if not, doing a quick non-profit may > > > make sense. > > > > Probably the best way with Tim 'owning' the non-profit. > > In theory, we should probably incorporate, but this introduces accounting > and tax-reporting requirements we haven't had to deal with up to this point. > Still, we should move away from any single person being solely responsible > for managing funds and resources—that's why we have a problem in the > first place. > > > But, non-profit's rules are fairly odd/strict when it comes to making money. > > AFAIR non-profits can't easily sell stuff, so the non-profit itself making > > and selling t-shirts is probably a no-go. Not that there aren't ways around > > that (usually something like a commercial entity donates % of profits per > > sale of non-profit's licensed product). > > > > I’ve dealt with a bumper sticker place in Austin before that did the above, > > once this gets worked out I wouldn't mind contacting them to see if they > > still do that. > > One thing that has to be worked through if we set up a not-for-profit > is *where* to do it. While a lot of TDE's users are American, a lot of > the developers seem to be European (judging from email addresses and > style of English usage). There are likely to be advantages and disadvantages > to setting up in each jurisdiction. And the US is not a single jurisdiction: > each state is different. > > Selling TDE swag in return for funds could be fine in many places. That's one > of the things we'd need to find out. (Also, "not-for-profit" != "charity"—the > latter have stricter rules to follow, but TDE would not be one.) > >From my experience: US jurisdiction is something you should stay away as far you can. I can only speak for the Austrian situation: Funding a NGO here is simple, it's called "gemeinnütziger Verein". No VAT, simple bookkeeping, just needs to statutes and entry into "Vereinsregister". Fondraising withtshirts et al. is no problem, as is fondraising for EU money. The "Verein" needs 3 members at minimum, normally 6 members (the archchancellor, the minister of propaganda, the treasureor and their vices). > So, what would the money the Trinity Desktop Environment Project, Inc. > acquires be paid out for? > > -hosting > -having someone do the accounting and make required corporate reports > -publicity and outreach? > -salary for one or more full-time devs, if we were to grow that much? > -other? - Fond raising - PR work ... > > And sources of income would be . . . > > -donations > -sales of swag (shirts, coffee mugs, bumper stickers, mouse pads . . .) > -technical support of TDE in larger deployments, à la Red Hat? > -paid feature requests? - EU project funds - local project funds > And the next step would be research of the rules governing not-for-profits > in the jurisdictions of people actually willing to do the *work* associated > with setting up such a corporation (filing documents, paying fees, maybe > an hour or two with a lawyer if necessary). I found the government how-to > handbook for my jurisdiction with a single search on duckduckgo. Not all > governments have this information on-line, but many should have. Done that already for :) statistically every Austrian is member of at least 2 associations. Nik > > E. Liddell > > --------------------------------------------------------------------- > To unsubscribe, e-mail: trinity-users-unsubscribe@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx > For additional commands, e-mail: trinity-users-help@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx > Read list messages on the web archive: http://trinity-users.pearsoncomputing.net/ > Please remember not to top-post: http://trinity.pearsoncomputing.net/mailing_lists/#top-posting > > -- Please do not email me anything that you are not comfortable also sharing with the NSA, CIA ... --------------------------------------------------------------------- To unsubscribe, e-mail: trinity-users-unsubscribe@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx For additional commands, e-mail: trinity-users-help@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Read list messages on the web archive: http://trinity-users.pearsoncomputing.net/ Please remember not to top-post: http://trinity.pearsoncomputing.net/mailing_lists/#top-posting
