[Board] Next steps re accepting donations

[Galen Charlton]

Hi,

I note, by the way, that PayPal is currently charging 2.9% of donations +
$0.30 per transaction as a fee. This fee will go down to 2.2% + $0.30 upon
approval of our application to be recognized as a confirmed charity by
PayPal.

The rates are higher for PayPal donations made from outside the US: 4.4% +
$0.30 pre-confirmation, 3.7% + $0.30 thereafter. This does _not_, I
believe, include additional fees for currency conversion and credit card
processing. If it's desired, I can readily create a second donation form
that accepts CAD, but we _cannot_ make any general statement as to whether
contributions by Canadians would give them any tax benefit. E.g., <
https://www.hodgsonruss.com/canada-united-states-charity.html> gives you
some idea of the complexities.

Regards,

Galen

On Sat, Oct 10, 2020 at 11:04 AM Galen Charlton <gmc at equinoxinitiative.org>
wrote:

> HI,
>
> Further to this, I've established a PayPal donation form/button and added
> it to the footer of the website to start. I figure we can do more later to
> establish a good permanent place for it on the website, and of course, we
> can readily include it on any blog post we might do about the situation.
>
> The direct link to the donation form is:
>
>
> https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_s-xclick&hosted_button_id=6NJ744B3UJVCG
>
> Regards,
>
> Galen
>
> On Fri, Oct 9, 2020 at 6:39 PM Galen Charlton <gmc at equinoxinitiative.org>
> wrote:
>
>> Hi,
>>
>> I've taken the following immediate steps to get us along the path to
>> being able to readily accept donations by means other than a check:
>>
>> - I've set up G Suite for the evergreen-ils.org so that I can more
>> readily manage project email separate from my personal accounts without
>> looking like I'm some rando not associated with TEP.  I've taken steps to
>> ensure that existing email at evergreen-ils.org addresses will continue to
>> work as is, but as of now, gmc at evergreen-ils.org and
>> treasurer at evergreen-ils.org will now reach me.
>>
>> I've also applied for G Suite for Nonprofits; I note that doing so will
>> take us most of the way towards becoming known to TechSoup.
>>
>> The decision to turn on G Suite is one that I acknowledge is precipitous;
>> it's not baked in stone. However, it does of course offer some benefits in
>> the shape of more readily being able to centralize management of our Google
>> Docs.
>>
>> - I've created a PayPal account for us and have applied for status as a
>> "Confirmed Charity". That status will give us a discounted rate, speed up
>> transferring received funds to our checking account, and is a prerequisite
>> to claiming ourselves as a charity on GoFundMe.
>>
>> Speaking of proving that we're a 501(c)3, I discovered that the IRS is
>> delayed updating their public nonprofit organization database.
>> Consequently, we will be slower than normal to show up on other service's
>> lists of charities. However, in most cases sharing a copy of our
>> determination letter from the IRS should suffice to prove our status.
>>
>> Regards,
>>
>> Galen
>> --
>> Galen Charlton
>> Implementation and Services Manager
>> Equinox Open Library Initiative
>> phone:  1-877-OPEN-ILS (673-6457)
>> email:  gmc at equinoxInitiative.org
>> web:  https://equinoxInitiative.org
>> direct: +1 770-709-5581
>> cell:   +1 404-984-4366
>>
>
>
> --
> Galen Charlton
> Implementation and Services Manager
> Equinox Open Library Initiative
> phone:  1-877-OPEN-ILS (673-6457)
> email:  gmc at equinoxInitiative.org
> web:  https://equinoxInitiative.org
> direct: +1 770-709-5581
> cell:   +1 404-984-4366
>


-- 
Galen Charlton
Implementation and Services Manager
Equinox Open Library Initiative
phone:  1-877-OPEN-ILS (673-6457)
email:  gmc at equinoxInitiative.org
web:  https://equinoxInitiative.org
direct: +1 770-709-5581
cell:   +1 404-984-4366
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