[Grassroots-l] Regarding local grassroots organizations

[Jason Hoekstra]

Thanks Seth for the thoughts.  I may be making some poor assumptions
regarding the setting up and maintaining of a non-profit organization given
my experience as an solo developer/consultant with a sub-S corp (relatively
easy to run and maintain).  I'm thinking a few months in the future, but
would like to do some fund raising to help fuel 5-10 unit pilot deployments
for some after school programs.  As we would run around to local folks and
organizations, I would think they would have an easier time with the idea of
contributing to something like OLPC Atlanta (or OLPC Southeast) as opposed
to a national organization.

However, if the non-profit organization is a difficult entity to setup and
maintain, other routes may need to be investigated.  Curious if OLPC would
accept and set-aside funds for local groups?  Once the goal amount is
reached, the purchase would be authorized and units dispersed (perhaps via
the Give One, Get One program @ $400/per unit).

Another idea, and this would certainly could use the help of members on the
list, would be setting up a national grassroots non-profit and setting up
local chapters.  I would imagine the donations would be written in the name
of the local chapters (OLPC Grassroots - Atlanta), submitted to a national
account, marked for set-aside and release the amount once purchase goals are
reached.

Ideas all?

Just to take a step back and explain my interest in this..... I've been
involved with some fundraising for the last year.  When the right program
matches up with personal interest, people and organizations are willing and
enthusiastic to contribute (even if in small amounts).  Given the relative
low cost of the units (even at $400/unit via Give One, Get One -GOGO), I
think obtaining $2,000 - $4,000 for 5-10 unit local pilots is certainly
obtainable.  Also, given the nature of the GOGO program, it gives
contributors a lot of buy in to the program on both a local and
international level and helps spread the word of OLPC overall.  Trying to
think of the best way to organize this from a "brand-name", taxation and
legal perspective to give our local efforts the best alignment towards
success.

Jason


On Fri, Aug 15, 2008 at 5:36 PM, Seth Woodworth <seth at laptop.org> wrote:

> AFAIK most groups have not yet organized as a NP with the IRS.  It all
> depends on what level of work the group is doing; if it's
> spreading-the-word/recruiting volunteers, or if it is a Users-Group they may
> not need one.
>
> If a group is rolling out a deployment at a large scale I am sure that it
> would become a necessity to do so. Even though that requires a lot of
> overhead when it comes to paperwork and accounting.
>
> In my grassroots efforts back in Washington state and with the excellent
> SeaXO group, it wasn't necessary to have a formal structure.  But I never
> got very far in my work there.
>
> I would love to hear other group's experience.
>
> Seth
>
> On Fri, Aug 15, 2008 at 5:06 PM, Jason Hoekstra <jasonhoekstra at gmail.com>wrote:
>
>> Hey all,
>>
>> I'm curious for those involved in grassroots organizations, if any have
>> been setup as IRS registered 501(c)3 non-profit groups?  If so, I would
>> assume the organizations take donations in order to fund projects and
>> equipment.  If a group on list has gone through the process, I'd be really
>> interested in hearing about the experiences.
>>
>> Thanks,
>>
>> Jason Hoekstra
>> OLPC Atlanta
>>
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>>
>>
>
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