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FreeBSD Foundation Needs Cash For 501(c)3 Status
ashpool7 writes "In an *extremely* late announcement, the FreeBSD foundation has posted in their quarterly newsletter that they're $30,400 short on donations in order to prove that they're a non-profit charity (501(c)3 as they say). If your organization relies upon FreeBSD, it might be a good idea to see if you can scrounge up the $8,000 maximum donation."
Actually if you read what the foundation wrote, you will see that they did so well in large donations that they would loose their charity status which they want to keep. So they are asking for lots of smaller donations.
PS: if I read the ballance sheet right they have about $200K in the bank. Hardly poorly managed
Why are we looking to an "organization" (aka, corporation) to bail out FreeBSD? Why not have individuals contribute? I sent $100 to the FreeBSD Foundation via PayPal this morning.
$100 is nothing to "pay" for the dozen or so releases I've used in the past four years. I also subscribe to FreeBSD releases, even though I might never remove the wrappings from the CD cases.
I know the FreeBSD community will step up to the plate in the last 10 days of 2004 to help the FreeBSD Foundation meet the IRS' tax rules.
Helevius
*clears throat* WHY?!
This is, of course, answered in TFA, but I'll do some cut and pasting for the lazy:
December 31st of this year will mark the end of the FreeBSD
Foundation's probationary period as a 501(c)3. The IRS requires
all non-profit public charities to prove, at the five year mark,
that they have met the "public support test" or be classified as
a private foundation. For several reasons that are too technical
to go into, it is in the Foundation's interest to remain a public
charity.
The easiest way for the Foundation to demonstrate "public support"
is to pass the "1/3rd test":
[ Editors comment: The following formula is not presented exactly as in TFA, in order to avoid the lameness filter]
Limited Donations / All Donations = 1 / 3
For the purposes of this test, no single donor may contribute
more than 2% of the total donation pool to the numerator.
Through good fortune and the extreme charity of a handful of
donors, the FreeBSD Foundation finds itself at risk of failing
the "1/3rd test". As of today, the ratio of limited donations
to total donations stands at 27.9%. While we have every confidence
that our support history will substantiate that the FreeBSD
Foundation is a public charity, going through the appeals process
can be a lengthy and expensive ordeal.
May we live long and die out
While we are on the subject, OpenBSD is also looking for donations (around $20,000) to organize their anual hackathon, a one week meeting of most OpenBSD developers.
See Theo's mails to misc@: (1) and (2)
I didn't know either but luckily it was answered by Hank on Osnews.com
change the law - it is a disincentive
Guys stop missing the big picture on the law. Picture it, I'm a millionaire (the name is Joey Bucks) who just made another $750,000 in a stock market transaction. I donate that stock, and thus the capital gains, to my favorite tax free company named "Joey Bucks' Beach Improvement Fund" who's sole purpose is to beautify the wretched Hamptons, Long Island shoreline. Are we getting the picture? The 30% is there to ensure that the ridiculously rich aren't creating phantom tax shelters to stash their millions or billions of dollars.
How come? Check it for yourself. NetBSD 2.0 is actually *faster* than FreeBSD 5.3, which was once the epitome of performance on x86. And NetBSD's code was the most clean I've seen in the free unix-like world.
If you donate via PayPal, please provide a "shipping address." FreeBSD Foundation treasurer Justin Gibbs has to mail a paper receipt to every contributor, per IRS rules. If you don't give him a "shipping address" at PayPal, he has to email you and request an address. He told me he is dealing with a "flood of donations missing address data."
Helevius
Helevius