Dries Buytaert wrote:
If any of you have practical experiences with setting up a non-profit
foundation (to deal with donations), please drop me an e-mail. I'll
investigate our options.
I run a nonprofit in the US, and consult for several others. My advice:
don't bother setting up a non-profit. It will obligate you to file lots
of paperwork, and the benefits are not valuable enough to justify.
Establishing a nonprofit corporation (in the US) gets you two main
advantages:
1. Individual donors who are US taxpayers can deduct their gifts from
their taxable income.
2. Since the government has recognized your nonprofit, there's a
perception of trustworthiness.
But it creates obligations to file a large amount of paperwork.
I don't think that the above advantages justify the obligations for
Drupal.
1. People who would like to donate to drupal (including me) are
probably able to deduct the donation as a business expense (against
consulting income etc).
2. Nonprofit status for drupal in a any one country probably offers no
tax benefits to the majority of likely drupal donors (a very
international group).
3. People who would like to donate to drupal will evaluate the
trustworthiness based on their perception of the community and the
openness about how the money is used, not based on any government
recognition.
4. Who will handle all the paperwork?
Regards,
Cheryl Chase
PS: I cheerfully made a 25,00 Euro donation this morning.
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