---------------------------- Original Message ---------------------------- Subject: Re: Questions about barnraiser From: "tom calthrop" tom@barnraiser.org Date: Thu, March 10, 2005 15:51 To: hesa@sandklef.com --------------------------------------------------------------------------
Hi Henrik,
nice to meet fellow kin:) Sadly I have not had the pleasure of meeting so many FSF folk in Sweden. I looked out for a society or organisation that promotes FSF here, but I could not find one.
Karl is processing (very helpfully) our gnu acceptance. I'm one MakeFile and a release away from aroundme gaining gnu status.
I read with interest your DN involvement, so i've attached a more detailed description of our activities. You will note that we are in the process (quietly) of starting up here. We have 15 youth organisations working with us representing over 100,000 Swedish youth. We now await Landsrådet för Sveriges Ungdomsorganisationer board approval (a formality) prior to applying to the National youth board for funding. I have very big plans for this project including free FSF for every youth as part of them obtaining "computer driving license" certification for employment.
Today i do not make a living out of the project, but that will change soon. Barnraiser is growing fast and if i obtain funding for the above project and one in the middle East we will go from a purely voluntary project to an employed team of 4-6 people (plus 100,000 contributors;)
Today there is only 2 or 3 of us that contribute (combined only about 30 hours per week), but that's actually a positive at the moment. Its a process that is easy to manage in a startup phase. I of course always welcome FSF fold getting involved so if you feel the need to engage with our activities you are more than welcome to!
[the 30 hours is for all activities. My guess that is about 12 hours per week coding]
Tax - The "Swedish org" is headquarters. We work in waring countries and it is helpful to be neutral. Also as a social project Sweden is very well respected. Within the next year I aim to obtain tax except status 501(c) to enable USA charitable (tax back) donations. We aim to bank off shore (Caribbean or Channel Islands) to remove all tax for the organisation. We will then transfer operational expenses into Sweden monthly. The aim of this is to provide "accounts" so that people can donate to either our projects directly or to the software development. I'm learning about European tax and charity status at the moment so I reserve the right to change any statement i've just made:)
Sorry to bombard you with long answers and documents. I guess i'm just overexcited about meeting FSF folk:)
Tom
Henrik Sandklef wrote:
Hi!
The main reason for my questions are perhaps answered with "about to receive gnu acceptance" (is it Karl evaluating your software?). Further
more I read about you (barnraiser) believing in the values of FSF (Europe). Great, you are good guys ;)
I am currntly writing an answer to an article published in DN a while ago. It is almost finished and I am thinking about the next article and
look for ideas. Karl Berry directed me to your site. Wow, was my first impression!
Do you make a living through that project?
How many people work more than an hour every now and then?
Being a swedish organisation(???) you wiull probably have dealt a lot with fund raising questions since we have a complex tax system here in
sweden. It is not ok for a company to fund your org and receive tax reduction for it. How did you solve it?
I will read more about you organisation and probably will come back with more questions about it and you.
You have certainly saved my day!!!
/hesa
Hi Henrik,
You certainly do. I'm the founder of Barnraiser and the maintainer of
aroundme. We are currently nongnu, but i'm very happy to say we are about to receive gnu acceptance with the next release.
Feel free to ask questions.
Tom
Henrik Sandklef wrote:
Hi
I received your email adress from Karl Berry (GNU project). I have a
few questions about barnraiser but I just want to make sure that the address is OK. When answering this email I probably know I have got it right;)
regards, hesa
btw, I work with FSF Europe
-- Tom Calthrop Founder, Barnraiser.
dedicated to giving people the tools they need to share knowledge and further society through social software.
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