[Grassroots-l] Regarding local grassroots organizations

[Edward Cherlin]

On Sat, Aug 16, 2008 at 12:21 PM, Jason Hoekstra
<jasonhoekstra at gmail.com> wrote:
> 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.

This is what Earth Treasury wants to do, with local, national, and
international projects and groups.

> However, if the non-profit organization is a difficult entity to setup and
> maintain, other routes may need to be investigated.

Not difficult, but there is some expense involved in doing it right.
For NPs intending to work on a national or international level, this
expense is worthwhile to prevent problems later.

> 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).

Or GiveMany,

100@$299=$29,900
1000@$249=$249,000
10,000@$199=$1,990,000

> 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.

Earth Treasury would be delighted to support this.

> 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.

Right.

> 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.

There are groups looking to raise significantly more and buy
significantly more, and your group would be welcome to join in.

> 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.

I have done it. What are your questions?

>>> Thanks,
>>>
>>> Jason Hoekstra
>>> OLPC Atlanta

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