Donations page
Jason Robinson
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Maxwell posted details of the PayPal donations account that has been set up by the FSSN for receiving funds for the Diaspora project. I'm sure he will update here too soon - if not the email and the PayPal button code is on the press@ box.
PayPal shouldn't be the only option - but it looks like we will have to start with that and work with the FSSN in the future to provide more options.
Any ideas what kind of page we should have for donations? Anyone want to take a stab at prototyping one?
IMHO we could add a donations page without too much fuss or promotion, then slowly start saying we accept donations. No point in shouting for money as we didn't want a crowdfunding either.
Jason Robinson Wed 18 Dec 2013 9:29AM
It sounds to me the whole FSSN thing was just one big bad idea. Maybe we should start thinking of other options.
Other opinions on the Flattr thing vs legality? I really wouldn't start worrying about nitpicking things here - it's not like any of us are legally responsible.
What do you think the FSSN will do if we create a Flattr account and add it to the project page - but never cash out so really we never see the money? Sue us?
Jason Robinson Thu 26 Dec 2013 3:40PM
Extended across holidays, maybe get more than two opinions :)
Flaburgan Thu 26 Dec 2013 3:56PM
Well, for me the problem is still the same, we need people, not money. We need to answer "who do we want to pay" before "how do we want to pay"
Jason Robinson Thu 26 Dec 2013 5:08PM
I disagree. Of course we can keep not accepting donations ever :)
goob Fri 27 Dec 2013 6:21PM
I think: let's discuss how we want to organise (the monthly IRC meeting will help with this). Once we have decided how we want to organise, we'll know if and how we can use donations and then it'll be a good time to start asking for them.
Jason Robinson Fri 27 Dec 2013 8:03PM
... or we can add a Flattr button now and just let people Flattr the project if they want to :P
goob Fri 27 Dec 2013 8:09PM
But we can't get the donations to FSSN that way. The donations wouldn't go to the foundation, so we couldn't accept them. At least, that's what it sounds as though is the case.
Jason Robinson Fri 27 Dec 2013 10:03PM
Quoting my earlier comment;
I don’t agree on this reasoning. If the Flattr donations were paid out, they would go to the FSSN since Flattr payouts are via PayPal. But we can get some love and show some love as a project without ever touching cash.
We could accept Flattr donations without ever paying out and support our devs and other FOSS projects this way. No cash = No FSSN involved.
Guys, don't be so bureaucratic ;)
goob Thu 9 Jan 2014 8:27PM
Guys, don’t be so bureaucratic
I'm not being bureaucratic - I simply don't believe we have the structure at the moment to be able legally to accept payment except through the FSSN, and they won't accept any payment except via Paypal.
It is possible that now that Diaspora is no longer incorporated in USA, the restrictions for US-based organisations (which I think was what made the FSSN link necessary) no longer apply, but this would need to be investigated and definitively worked out before we just decide to go ahead and accept payments extra-FSSN.
In any case, we need a mechanism for distributing payments, and to decide what we need money for. E.g. one of Maxwell's rationales for instituting the donation structure was so that Jonne could be paid, and Jonne said 'I don't want to be paid.' I think putting lots of work into establishing a means to accept donations before even knowing whether we have any use for those donations is a bit arse-about-face, if you'll excuse the language.
Dennis Schubert · Wed 18 Dec 2013 9:10AM
Yes, we are. That's the way it is. There is nothing we can change about this.
To be legally legal (wait, that's a fucked up sentence, nvm), the account has to be created by the FSSN (at least in their name), which they - given the information I got some months ago are still valid - will not do.
I'm really sorry for blocking this, but I cannot unblock this until we got some statements from the FSSN itself (heyas dudes, I know you are reading this!) or somebody who knows better (Maxwell for example).