Slashdot Mirror
Ask Slashdot: How To Get Open Source Projects To Take Our Money?
New submitter wkaan writes "Last financial year, we had an underspend at work, and it was suggested and agreed that we should give some cash away — $20k to be exact — to open source projects. Four projects were selected. A management catch was that it could not appear to be a donation and it had to be for something we had notionally received in the current financial year. At that time it was early June, our financial year finishes at the end of June. The four projects were emailed using the most relevant looking contact address on their website. Often this was 'Finance' or 'Donations' contact. What do you know, none of the projects that were contacted could work out a way to accept our money. We were unable to give a cent of the twenty grand away, not even a cent. All somebody needed to do was invoice us for something (perhaps 'support' or whatever) and they'd have received $5000. Of the projects contacted, two never replied to our mail — perhaps they thought it a scam? The other two contacted couldn't work out what to invoice and just went away. Is open source too rich to need the money? Have you got a funny donation story? Better still, do you have a way this can be streamlined when we have our next underspend? The goal was not to have a funny (sad) story, but to support the projects that support our business." For those of you with open source projects for which would you would like to take donations but sometimes cannot, what complications get in the way?
Couldn't you just do it the Department of Defense way and buy a $20,000 hammer from an open-source project?
Deer project owner,
Our corporation has too much money. Please send details of how give you $500 Dollars US$ without donating.
-Prince of Nigeria
... for being bearded hippies, and then settle out of court
What a bunch of nerds we are, we're looking up "money laundering" in a dictionary.
Open Source projects are not looking to scam the government, and lose their non-profit status or whatever credibility they previously had. They are not willing to draw up fake bills of sale, just to save your company a little money.
Why would you ever admit publicly your underhanded dealings, and tax scams?
Troll is not a replacement for I disagree.