At the moment, the way Debian money outside the USA and Germany is handled is not quite clear or well defined. In the States, we have Software in the Public Interest, Inc. (SPI), Debian's legal organization, which takes care of our main assets and donations. In Germany (and for large parts of Europe), ffis (a non-profit that promotes free information and software) is kindly managing our money and donations for us. However, in most countries, there are currently no organizations which play a similar role. Nevertheless, there are some individuals who manage and take care of Debian money (usually obtained through donations at trade shows). There are unfortunately no good records at the moment of who keeps Debian money. This is problematic because we often cannot use this money efficiently. Someone in that country might need some money to organize a Debian event or a booth at a trade show, and while there is Debian money in the same country, we have to do an expensive bank transfer from a different country. Furthermore, having no person or organization clearly responsible for handling Debian money in a specific country makes it very hard to accept donations. I have recently had contact with a company in New Zealand which wants to make a donation to Debian but is reluctant to do so because of the high fees associated with a money transfer to the States. I have heard similar sentiments saying that it is hard to make donations to Debian before. As a first step to solve these problems, we have to clearly identify who keeps Debian money, what amount, etc. Therefore, I would like to compile a list containing this information. Mako Hill, who is already handling our hardware donations, has agreed to do this. Please get in contact with him at <accountant@debian.org> if you hold any Debian money. Using the newly compiled list, we can better distribute money when it is needed for Debian related activities. Furthermore, we can then evaluate whether it makes sense in a given country to set up a non-profit organization to maintain that money or (better) to cooperate with an existing non-profit organization with similar goals as Debian (for example, with local FSF chapters or LUGs). That way, we can also handle donations to Debian from countries other than USA/Germany much better, and document the possibility of making donations in those countries on our web site. Again, if you are holding any Debian money (e.g., from previous trade shows), please contact him at <accountant@debian.org>. Thanks. -- Martin Michlmayr leader@debian.org
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