[drupal-devel] Re: Drupal foundation

[Chris Johnson]

Boris Mann wrote:

> On Tue, 01 Mar 2005 13:57:51 +0000, Vladimir Zlatanov <vlado at dikini.net> wrote:
>>Tax deductions are good, but not the only thing which matters.
>>Things that matter IMHO are:

> Vlado makes a good point, and I think that is how we should approach
> the construction of a foundation. What do we need it to do? As I see
> it, there are actually only 3 things that are absolutely required, and
> everything else comes down to support functions.
> * have legal standing as some sort of entity which can do things (like own
> * be able to receive money (i.e. open a bank account)
> * pay out money
> 
> While some sort of "foundation" would be a nice-to-have, I think a
> structure that handles those items would be a good start. Donations
> and tax-exempt status are additional issues.


Perhaps the thing to do is create a central, top-level entity that can do 
those 3 things above (legal standing, receive money, pay money) first.

Then it might actually be much easier to create national tax-deductible 
foundations which are member organizations of that top level entity.  The 
national organizations can pass donations up to the global entity as 
legitimate charitable organization expenses.  At least, such a scheme would 
work in the U.S.

Eventually if we get "wealthy" enough we can afford to pay an expert to tell 
us how to become a worldwide charitable foundation.

I'm currently the president of the board of a U.S. 501(c)3 tax-deductible 
charity, so am familiar with that piece anyway.

--
Chris Johnson