Xfce project and financial contributions

[Bruno Schmidt]

Thanks,  Kevin, for your feedback.

With utmost respect for your thoughts, I feel I should address your 
perception of "... undue administrative burden .." perception. In my 
experience, the fund-raising "front-end" is the easiest part (per these 
links, below)

https://www.paypal.com/us/webapps/mpp/nfp and
https://www.paypal.com/us/non-profit/fundraising/fundraising-online and
https://www.paypal.com/us/smarthelp/article/FAQ4103

Once signed up with and accepted by PayPal as a non-profit org, even for 
a non-tech person, it takes just a few minutes using its button-factory 
to generate the "Contribute" or "Donate" button's underlying link-html. 
Then that link-html simply needs to get copied/pasted into xfce's 
existing page(s). Once published, that button tells PayPal everything 
they need to know to put up their donation page, and process a 
transaction ...

Simple thus far, but here comes the sticky part: xfce, through its 
delegate (aka "admin"), must signup and be accepted by PayPal. In fact 
ANY reputable paywall insists on doing so. Because PayPal acts as a 
non-stop, pass-through service, the "back-end" (read: banking & 
domicile) must be established beforehand as it will be verified by 
PayPal before activating an account.

That's where xfce's organizational details come into play: who manages 
deposits; who draws funds; who authorizes disbursements, and to whom, 
and for what purposes .... The devil is in the details. Is xfce, as on 
org, ready to step up to that? That's my larger question, and I strongly 
suggest that xfce manage its own finances. As I have no way of knowing, 
Is xfce doing so now, or is it relying on proxy arrangements only (ie 
bountysource?

To summarize my boring minutia: the setup is easier than you think, but 
the operation can get tricky if not properly organized beforehand & 
managed later.

Best regards, BW

PS: I personally use PayPal a lot (eBay & such) and have no stake in it.
PPS: I had a very bad experience with Patrean and would not recommend it.

==================

On 4/20/21 5:56 PM, Kevin Bowen wrote:
>
> Thanks for the input Bruno.
>
> I think part of what you wrote neatly summarizes my concerns/criteria 
> in finding a suitable alternative to bountysource. I definitely do not 
> wish to place an undue administrative burden on the devs by using an 
> org that requires providing tax papers(e.g. 1099s) upfront. Especially 
> since many of these folks are located outside of the U.S. So, they 
> have already been disqualified, in my opinion. The GitHub Sponsors 
> program would be one of those, for example (among other reasons for 
> not wanting to use them ;-)). Many of the programs that I have been 
> looking use PayPal, or Stripe as a backend for fiscal disbursement. 
> That is pretty common denominator with many of the candidates.
>
> I think Andre, in a separate mail, has addressed some of your other 
> points.
>
> And just for the sake of clarity/transparency. Here is the list, in no 
> particular order of importance, of the organizations that I have been 
> researching besides opencollective.com:
>
>
> Patreon Developer https://www.patreon.com/developers
> GoFundMe
> liberapay https://liberapay.com/
> paypal
> coil https://coil.com/discover
> indieagogo
> snowdrift.coop
> Software in the Public Interest (SPI) https://www.spi-inc.org/
> Software Freedom Conservancy https://sfconservancy.org/projects/apply/
> https://www.oss.fund/
>
> Thanks again,
>
> Kevin
>
>
> On 4/20/21 9:58 AM, Bruno Schmidt wrote:
>> Greetings to y'all!
>>
>> Fwiw: if your objective is to withdraw from bountysource (@ 
>> https://www.bountysource.com/teams/xfce ) then the link to that 
>> service should be removed from xfce's page ( @ 
>> https://www.xfce.org/getinvolved ) sooner than later. As you can see, 
>> donations are still flowing in, thus donors will have to be contacted 
>> to redirect their payment directives -- not an easy task, for sure...
>>
>> I have looked at kde.org, ubuntu-mate, mate-desktop, linux mint, 
>> opencollective, patreon, and other paywalls, and would humbly suggest 
>> to develop a PayPal-based solution. For the simple reason that it 
>> their API works well and can be used internationally. However, 
>> there's a rub: if the person/entity that manages (read: admin & bank 
>> accounts) the PayPal account is a US-"taxpayer" (has an SSN or 
>> applied for/uses an EIN), then the flow of donations becomes subject 
>> to US tax-laws per se, and possibly tax liabilities, and perhaps 
>> additional information-report filing requirements (ie f1099) on US 
>> recipients of donated funds.
>>
>> On the up-side, Incorporating a non-profit corp / trust /foundation 
>> here in one of the US states is relatively simple and cheap, but does 
>> require a "registered agent" (for legal process) in the state of 
>> incorporation, ie Nevada or Washington.
>>
>> Just some constructive thoughts. Cheers, BW
>>
>> -

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