Re: Flattr

["Karen Sandler" <karen gnome org>]

Hi Peter,

I did go to register for an account for flattr, and was also going to
apply for a nonprofit/charity account and I noticed this text in the FAQ,
listing software organizations as not eligible for a nonprofit account:

> These will normally NOT get a charity account - Churches, Political
> parties, Sports, Culture, Events, Exhibitions, Software and other types
> of non profit organizations without a clear charitable cause.

I understand that the other organizations that you list do not have a
charitable cause as their primary goal, but that is not necessarily true
about software organizations. The GNOME Foundation, like other charitable
free software 501(c)(3) organizations, is dedicated to creating software
in the public interest and creating a public work that increases access to
technology for those who would not otherwise have it. We also advocated
for the adoption of free and open source software for safety and for the
betterment of society (check out my OSCON speech about the safety of
software on implanted medical devices:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nFZGpES-St8). Clearly we have a clear
charitable cause, and our tax exempt status is predicated on that. I would
understand excluding software trade associations (501(c)(6) organizations
like the Eclipse Foundation or the Linux Foundation), but why all software
organizations?  Free software orgs like GNOME obviously do have a clear
charitable cause - that is how they are formed and also classed as such by
the IRS.

Is this one of the situations outside of what is normally done? Should we
apply? Would you consider changing the wording of your FAQ to indicate
that there are times when software organizations do have a charitable
cause. Perhaps by saying "...and other types of organizations which are
sometimes without a clear charitable cause?

thanks for following up with us,
Karen Sandler


On Tue, November 8, 2011 10:11 am, Peter Ross wrote:
> Hi,
>
> My name's Peter Ross and I'm writing from Flattr, the micro-payments
> system.
>
> I was just looking at
> http://comments.gmane.org/gmane.comp.gnome.marketing/7604 where your
> members seem to be interested in using Flattr to collect donations for
> Gnome.
>
> I was just wondering if there was anything I could do to help this process
> along.
>
> As I understand it, the plan is to use a Word Press plugin which shouldn't
> be too hard to implement. Also you need to register an account for Gnome,
> as there isn't currently one in Flattr.com.
>
> Both actions should be fairly straightforward to achieve.
>
> Please get back to me if you need anything or need any help in getting
> everything up and running.
>
> Thanks,
>
> Peter.
>
>
> Peter Ross
> Flattr - social micropayments
> www.flattr.com
> @Peterro55
>
>
>
>
>
>
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