[Grassroots-l] Regarding local grassroots organizations

[Jason Hoekstra]

Edward,

Thanks for the good information regarding Earth Treasury.  Will keep this in
mind has time brings us closer to these activities.  If you have updates
regarding Earth Treasury, I'd love to hear about them either on list or off.

Thanks,

Jason

On Sat, Aug 16, 2008 at 3:11 PM, Edward Cherlin <echerlin at gmail.com> wrote:

> 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
>
> --
> Silent Thunder [ 默雷 / शब्दगर्ज ] is my name,
> And Children are my nation.
> The Cosmos is my dwelling place,
> And Truth my destination.
>
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