Re: [Gnu-arch-users] NPO Time?

[Andrew Suffield]

On Thu, Jan 29, 2004 at 11:55:08AM -0800, Tom Lord wrote:
>     >>   Fees for filing for NPO status are pretty cheap.
> 
>     > I think you've underestimated it a little. In total, in the US, you're
>     > going to need a few thousand dollars to do the administrative stuff
>     > (varies depending on state).
> 
> If on a shoestring, you can get by for quite a bit less than "a few
> thousand" dollars in California.  "A few thousand" is realistic for
> minimal professional help with the matter, as nearly as I can tell.

Ah. I guess you *can* do it yourself, but that
is... "fraught". Speaking lawyer is about as easy as speaking
Cantonese, and getting it wrong can be disasterous (when five years
down the line, the IRS decide that your paperwork wasn't quite right,
declares it invalid, and demands back taxes).

>     > This might not be the best time to sink that much money into a
>     > startup.
> 
> "startup" implies, to me at least, a for-profit venture investment.
> That is not what this is.

It does? Creepy. Must be an American thing.

>     >>   Recruiting executives and seed funding?   I'm not an expert in those
>     >>   matters.   I can only (wildly) guess -- so I won't.   Other
>     >>   successful NPOs have grown from pretty small seeds, though setting a
>     >>   record in that regard isn't one of my goals.
> 
>     > Since you want it to do actual, practical work, I'd say that you'd
>     > need $50k-100k seed money, for initial capital expenses, and you'll
>     > either need people who will take an IOU in lieu of salary or some form
>     > of regular revenue on top of that.
> 
> It gets more complicated than that for a number of reasons.  Depending
> on your particular corporate form, executive officers may be
> required.

Ick. That could get horribly expensive in a hurry.

> NPOs can be eligable for loans although that is only a realistic route
> to take if confidence in the prospects of the organization are quite
> high.

Eligable, sure - but convincing a bank to actually give you the money
is usually nigh-impossible. It's hard enough to get anything less than
$10m when you *do* have a conventional business plan.

>     > You might want to make a temporary arrangement with an existing
>     > organisation, like the FSF or SPI, to handle arch for now. That
>     > way you get tax-free donations and payment systems that won't
>     > make corporations scream and run away (they really hate personal
>     > cheques and paypal), without having to wait.
> 
> In actual practice, such approaches are being attempted and obstacles
> are arising.   That's part of the inspiration to raise this topic at
> this time.

Hmph. What's going on there? There are other players in this game;
there's got to be *somebody* who could pick up the ball right the hell
now.

-- 
  .''`.  ** Debian GNU/Linux ** | Andrew Suffield
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