On Sat, Jun 01, 2019 at 09:09:26AM -0400, Sam Hartman wrote: > >>>>> "Adrian" == Adrian Bunk <b...@debian.org> writes: > > >> > >> Talking about the issues involved in paying people to do work. > >> What the options are, collecting people's concerns etc. > >> > >> I actually think the first round of that can be done without > >> significant access to numbers. > >> > >> That said, I'd sure like that anual report (actually I'd love it > >> quarterly) you speak of above. I'm not volunteering. Are you? > > Adrian> My biggest high level concern is the income side, since this > Adrian> is the most difficult part and will likely also be the most > Adrian> controversial one. > > > Ah, I was actually asking if you wanted to volunteer to work on the > reports since you seemed to value them. I was only one quarter serious: > if you did want to do that work, I'd be thrilled, but I didn't really > expect it.
Ah, seems I misunderstood that. Yes, I could work on the reports if you tell me how to get access to the data from the trusted organizations. >From SPI I get the reports, but for the other I have no clue. > I think it's actually impossible for a non-profit to reduce income from > expenses. > > It's a lot easier to do fund raising when you can explain why you want > the money. > I think it's no accident that when people learned our sysadmin team no > longer had hardware donors and was considering how expensive continuing > their current strategy was, we got two very large donations, one of them > intended to make that possible. > > Yeah, unless you want debt (which we almost certainly do not), income > needs to lead expenses. > But when people see you spending their money for purposes they believe > in, it's easier for them to give you more. When they understand your > needs they give more. >... This works well for one-time investments, but less so for ongoing expenses like salaries. It reminds me of NGOs that get drowned in more money than they can spend earmarked for a catastrophe that is in the news, but struggle to get enough money for running their headquarter. > --Sam cu Adrian -- "Is there not promise of rain?" Ling Tan asked suddenly out of the darkness. There had been need of rain for many days. "Only a promise," Lao Er said. Pearl S. Buck - Dragon Seed