FSFE Finance (was: Usability)

[Nick Hockings]

Quoting "Georg C. F. Greve" <greve at gnu.org>, ABBREVIATED:

> Although I feel that calling it "membership" would be too much of an
> euphemism, it seems that several people think it would be good to have
> sort of a monthly fee for the FSF Europe.
> 
> I tend to agree. 
> 
> 
> Of course one-time donations are extremely useful, but in order to be
> able to calculate budgets, a guaranteed monthly cash infusion would
> sometimes be preferrable.
> 
> This is normally not a problem for a company. 
> But there is no reason why people shouldn't participate in a similar
> way on a smaller scale.
> 
> Do you have ideas/input on how to call this new category and how to
> organize it?
> 
Not "membership", but "regular donors" yes.
Those of us with salaries could make monthly standing orders.
Self-employed and others with less regular incomes could make frequent but 
variable donations.
Those with more time than money (students, accademics etc) should get 
recognition for regular assistance with FSFE tasks.
Likewise "donations in kind" should be acknowledged.

A fixed amount asked would miss the point though.
We want people to give what they can, and to do so freely.

An important point is to arrange for these donnations to be "before tax".
When you consider the tax rates across much of Europe this will make a big 
difference to how much funds can be channelled to the FSFE by supporters.

Nick Hockings.