i just received a donation for debian from a fan in the UK through paypal, because donating to debian from anywhere but the US and Germany is a pain. but talking to Joey about it, i just had this idea that i'd like to propose for general discussion. please try to keep this down to the point - we all have the tendency to make some threads grow so ridiculously massive that in the end they aren't productive nor can you find any info. what about entrusting two people per country (as far as possible) with the position of donation recipients in the name of debian. two simply because one might be out of town, and it's a good way to help each other out by keeping an eye on them. now, instead of transfering each and every donation separately, these two people start establishing a fund, and report to the SPI treasurer in regular intervals. this fund can be used for national debian events, after permission is granted by the treasurer. or, if the treasurer wants, any part of the current sum can be transferred to the US on request. this is basically how germany handles it. but i do see a problem (actually, Joey told me) - this does not work for people who want to deduct their donations from taxes, because there isn't a charitable organization to receive and write receipts for the donations. moreover, you have to be a charitable organization to be able to receive donations, or else you'll be in trouble for receiving money that you don't pay taxes for. i think the first solution is soluble. if the recipient gets the donation, s/he notifies the treasurer, who'll then write a receipt and send it off to the donor. as for the second part - well, as long as such private donations are not exceeding the usually low (way too low) amount, one could well do that via a private account. only when the sums grow bigger (any doubts they will?) then we get into trouble. however, being basically a receiving tentacle of SPI, i wonder how tax laws would digest that. i can check... in any case, donating to debian is *way* too US centric, and while europe almost sees no more distinction between national and intracontinental transfers (and even asia isn't hard to transfer to and fro), the US/Canada just happens to have the least compatible (and most awkward) banking system of the universe IMHO. donating to debian should be easy. the donor shouldn't have to jump through hoops and put effort behind his generosity. but: the SPI is already discussing ways. paypal is (a) too US centric and infeasible outside the US, and (b) it's expensive. and there aren't any other ways really. so i say - delegate, branch, take on the world! -- martin; (greetings from the heart of the sun.) \____ echo mailto: !#^."<*>"|tr "<*> mailto:"; net@madduck you will be run over by a beer truck.
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