[Theforum] what to do with donations

Marlene Bruce marlene at digitizethis.com
Wed May 22 13:17:52 CDT 2002


Hi folks,

I'm back for good. I've not be able to get totally caught up, but
I've skimmed a lot of stuff and don't think this topic has been
solved. If it has, please feel free to ignore this email.

Someone pointed out that I'm not the "official" treasurer any more.
Even though I was elected treasurer by the original admin group a
year ago in Austin, and though I never gave up the position, the fact
that the organization never became a legal NFP seems to have been
taken by some to mean that those elections (for executive and the
board of directors) don't mean anything. I'm not sure I agree with
that assessment, but suffice it to say that I have repeatedly
indicated that I'm ready to step up to the plate to help with
evolt.org finances.

I was thinking there may be an easy way to reinstate donation
collecting abilities to http://members.evolt.org/contribute/.

Here are my thoughts:

1. Open a post office box so we have a mailing address. I'd like to
do this tomorrow or Friday, when I also go to the bank (they're right
next to each other). This address could be changed any time theforum
(or whatever committee eventually has jurisdiction) decides.

2. Create an email address to accept donations (through PayPal or
whatever). The email address could be something like
donate at evolt.org. I would be the recipient of these emails (and
someone else, say Elfur as Secretary?) and would have rights to
transfer funds received to a bank account.

3. Tomorrow or Friday I could inquire about opening a separate,
non-interest bearing checking account on behalf of evolt.org at Wells
Fargo (so I don't have personal tax headaches). I'm not sure if there
would be a minimum balance required to avoid all fees, or if they
would waive fees, but I'll find out. I know this doesn't solve the
problem of accountability in all its facets, but it would give us a
place to put money until we get the rest ironed out.

4. Put a donation link above the fold in the evolt.org side-bar. It's
really working against us that one has to search for information on
how to donate to evolt.org.

5. I've mocked up a new "how to donate" page (based only somewhat on
our existing page). You can see it here:
http://freezope2.nipltd.net/acorn/evolt/HowToDonate. Please read and
comment or change.

If you have objections to me/evolt.org taking any of the above steps,
please let me know.

Cheers,
Marlene



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