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[Reinhard Müller]

Hi,

Am 2018-02-05 um 14:58 schrieb Daniel Pocock:
> - the German laws for non-profits (this was mentioned on another list)
> allow donors to specify that their donation or ongoing contributions be
> used for capital purposes.  So any fellow/supporter can write an email
> to contact at fsfe.org and declare that all or a percentage of their
> donations are for investment / capital reserves and that money can't be
> spent on operating expenses or campaigns.

you misunderstood this:

A donor can indicate that her donation *may* be used to build up a
capital reserve, and unless she does so, the donation has to be used
"immediately" (which in generally accepted interpretation of the law
translates to "not later than in the fiscal year following the donation)
for constitutional purposes.

A donor can not *require* a donation to be held as a capital reserve,
and it would be unlogical if this was possible, because it would mean
that the recipient of the donation does not have the power of disposal
over the donated amount.

In practice, asking for donations for building up a capital reserve is
done in specific cases, for example to accumulate the required capital
for a larger investment (think of a football club wanting to renovate
the sports stadium in 5 years).

I hope this makes it clearer.

Thanks,
-- 
Reinhard Müller * Financial Team
Free Software Foundation Europe

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