<div dir="ltr">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. <br>
<br>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). <br>
<br>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.<br>
<br>Ideas all?<br><br>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.<br>
<br>Jason<br><br><br><div class="gmail_quote">On Fri, Aug 15, 2008 at 5:36 PM, Seth Woodworth <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:seth@laptop.org">seth@laptop.org</a>></span> wrote:<br><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="border-left: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); margin: 0pt 0pt 0pt 0.8ex; padding-left: 1ex;">
<div dir="ltr">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. <br>
<br>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.<br><br>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.<br>
<br>I would love to hear other group's experience.<br><br>Seth<br><br><div class="gmail_quote"><div><div></div><div class="Wj3C7c">On Fri, Aug 15, 2008 at 5:06 PM, Jason Hoekstra <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:jasonhoekstra@gmail.com" target="_blank">jasonhoekstra@gmail.com</a>></span> wrote:<br>
</div></div><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="border-left: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); margin: 0pt 0pt 0pt 0.8ex; padding-left: 1ex;"><div><div></div><div class="Wj3C7c"><div dir="ltr">Hey all,<br><br>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.<br>
<br>Thanks,<br><br>Jason Hoekstra<br>OLPC Atlanta<br></div>
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