Re: Let's do online donations today

We've been talking about doing online donations for quite a while, and
discussed it several times on these mailing lists and in meetings, but
we haven't actually done anything. I suggest that the board make a
decision today to go with Network For Good, which I explain more about
below.

First of all, their website:

http://www.networkforgood.org

They are an organization that specializes in accepting donations and
providing a few other useful resources on behalf of 501(c)3 nonprofits
such as SPI. They have several advantages over a merchant account, such
as being much easier to set up and not requiring us to run an 800 number
to deal with mischarges, etc. They will either send us a check or
deposit the money using electronic funds transfer into our account,
monthly in both cases. For the entire service, they only charge 3% of
the donations, and no monthly fee. (They also request the donor to pay
$3.00 toward their costs, but that's optional.)

It's important to note that they are a 501(c)3 charity themselves, and
are not a profit-making company like paypal and (presumably) e-gold are.
In addition to providing us the donor name (unless the donor chooses to
be anonymous), they allow the donor to indicate what they would like the
donation to be used for (e.g., Debian vs OFTC vs SPI). Reputable
charities like many ACLU Foundations, EFF, AmeriCorps, and Habitat For
Humanity already use them, so it seems like it is legitimate. All in
all, it seems quite tailored to our needs.

To sign up with them, one needs to follow the instructions at
http://www.networkforgood.org/npo/fundraising/donations/direction.html .
The first step is to register with Guidestar, which is an online
database of nonprofits (also run by a 501(c)3) in which we should
probably be listed anyway. (See http://www.guidestar.org for more info.)
Then we agree to their agreement, which I have reviewed in detail and
which seems to be nonobjectionable to my non-lawyer eye. Then, if we
want, we apply for electronic funds transfer so that we don't need to
mess with checks. Then we add a link to a website and are done.

Can some of you please take a look at this site and/or think about this
review and make a decision at today's meeting? I know this is being
posted last minute, but Network for Good has been mentioned by others
before, and we have discussed this issue many times already. Delaying
further won't help anything.

I will arrive around 30 or 40 minutes into the meeting, due to other
committments.

- Jimmy Kaplowitz
jimmy(at)debian(dot)org

* Jimmy Kaplowitz <jimmy(at)debian(dot)org> [030909 13:26]:
> It's important to note that they are a 501(c)3 charity themselves, and
> are not a profit-making company like paypal and (presumably) e-gold are.

Is this implying that non-profit companies are less efficient than
companies in competition over online transactions? Its not like that 3%
is only going towards a nonprofit, most of it will be going to Visa or
Mastercard.

EFF also uses e-gold.

I agree that the e-gold scheme is sort of wacky, but dont fault it
because its a company that isn't a non-profit.

--
Scott Dier <dieman(at)ringworld(dot)org> KC0OBS http://www.ringworld.org/
Free USA from energy dependence, http://www.apolloalliance.org/

Jimmy Kaplowitz writes ("Let's do online donations today"):
> Then we agree to their agreement, which I have reviewed in detail and
> which seems to be nonobjectionable to my non-lawyer eye. [...]

From the agreement:

You agree not to use the Link in a manner that is, or otherwise
include materials on your Web site that are, disparaging of NETWORK
FOR GOOD or GuideStar.

That's outrageous ! If they make a mistake we have to ditch them
before we can bitch about it in the Board minutes !

Ian.

Scott Dier writes ("Re: Let's do online donations today"):
> * Jimmy Kaplowitz <jimmy(at)debian(dot)org> [030909 13:26]:
> > It's important to note that they are a 501(c)3 charity themselves, and
> > are not a profit-making company like paypal and (presumably) e-gold are.
>
> Is this implying that non-profit companies are less efficient than
> companies in competition over online transactions? [...]

No, I think he's implying that they might be less money-grubbing.

Ian.

There is a catch our legal advisor needs to look into as well. From
http://www.networkforgood.org/npo/fundraising/donations/ :

If you link your organization's Web site directly to the Network for
Good Giving System as described below, you should be aware that
doing so may be considered a solicitation of charitable
contributions subject to registration and regulation by statute in
approximately 38 states. Several of these state statutes consider
the solicitation to be made where the donor resides, and to have
occurred whether or not a contribution is made. Since the Network
for Good Giving System is not limited to a single state or states,
linking your site to the Network for Good Giving System could
require your organization to register in multiple states. You should
consult with your own legal advisor as to the necessity and method
of registering in your particular situation. Neither Network for
Good, the Network for Good Giving System, nor its partners are
responsible for assisting your organization in such registration
process or for any liability for failure to do so properly.

Wichert.

--
Wichert Akkerman <wichert(at)wiggy(dot)net> It is simple to make things.
http://www.wiggy.net/ It is hard to make things simple.

what would it take to make TipJar acceptable?

--
David Nicol / kernel 2.6.0 is pretty whippy

Previously david nicol wrote:
> what would it take to make TipJar acceptable?

An explanation of what TipJar is and why it would be beneficial would be
a good start.

Wichert.

--
Wichert Akkerman <wichert(at)wiggy(dot)net> It is simple to make things.
http://www.wiggy.net/ It is hard to make things simple.

In effect, TipJar was a prototype for Paypal.

TipJar is still operating, unchanged since 1997. It
is wholly controlled by me personally.

It began when I was the treasurer of the UMKC ACM
student chapter, as a web interface to the club's
checkbook. The current president of the club
did not think that operating a global general-purpose
payment engine was within our club's mission however
so I set it up independently.

It could IMO benefit greatly from having its operation taken
over by another entity, such as software in the public interest.

Or at least by partering with some entity more established than
independent musicians.

The dotGNU CashBox project is to be a system for tracking credit
paid in by customers or donors

We could set up dotGNU cashbox for spi-inc

On Mon, 2003-09-15 at 03:38, Wichert Akkerman wrote:
> Previously david nicol wrote:
> > what would it take to make TipJar acceptable?
>
> An explanation of what TipJar is and why it would be beneficial would be
> a good start.
>
> Wichert.
--
David Nicol / kernel 2.6.0 is pretty whippy