On Apr 4, 2005, at 15:41, [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:
Why wouldn't the time you spend
answering technical questions for a group like Arachne qualify as volunteer time?
Or, the uncompensated hours you spend designing and writing instructions for
a lace that appears in one of our IOLI, The Lace Guild, OIDFA, etc.
publications?
We've been exploring the subject for a while on chat before I shifted it to lace, and I think the answer (that Alice dug up for us) is that, to qualify for a tax break on the "education" basis, you need to do it a) for the "general public" and b) at an event of which the "general public" has had prior notice. While writing for Arachne and/or specialised publications is "preaching to the converted" - a different kind of educational activity.
And then, there is the question of credit for expenses in connection with any
educational effort connected with these organizations -- travel, in
particular, since it is so costly. You can submit a travel voucher if you are paid to
teach. Why not submit the travel time and costs as being a "donation" to your
Guild?
Would be nice, but I think it would break the back of the organisation :) When I used to volunteer at my local library some years ago (shelving, unscrambling label dilemmas etc), they collected my hours most assidiously - volunteer *work* got them matching grants (based on the minimum-per-hour-wage). But paying for gas wasn't on the cards (of course, in my case, gas cost was negligible, since I'm only 2 miles away from the library) - the library didn't have the money for it, and the government wasn't offering to pay :). They'd have an"appreciation brunch" once a year instead, and I often wished (and told them so <g>) they'd keep the money for more books, since it was coming out of their already limited resources...
On a slightly different topic about which you have just written: Tamara, you
have demonstrated - for the first time, and a very short time - under such
fairy tale circumstances
Yes, I was very much aware that, in general, Museum-attending public is somewhat different from fair-attending one (excepting, of course, the young man who'd been dragged there by the dragon-mother <g>); they're, sort-of, hand-picked already :) And the environment is different, too - the Museum doesn't permit food or drink, so there's no danger from spills and such... Still, it was as much education for me as it was for them :)
To tease, and to paraphrase ...."How're we gonna keep her (Tamara) down on
the farm, after she's seen (demonstrated lacemaking) Paree (Baltimore Museum of
Art)?"
Well... There's the American Frontier Museum (3 different - German, English and Irish - homesteads, run as a sort-of "living skansen") within 35 miles of me and I might be able to persuade them to include lacemaking demos - all three countries were making BL at the time they relocated here, so it'd be "historically correct". But then I think of the summer weather (hot and humid or worse), and the population to be educated (tourists with kids), and I don't think I want to face all that on a daily basis, so I'm not going to make an effort at persuasion :)
They do have - far less frequently (once or twice a year, I think) - a public-event, demo-type, *quilting* bee. I don't se why there couldn't be a lacemaking gathering along the same lines, and an opportunity could, perhaps, be created. But I'd rather "stay on the farm" or tend my own garden (to quote Voltaire), than do it by myself and, so far, only Betty Ann ever said she might be interested in getting something like that organised.
Wish everyone could have seen Tamara's stunning Rosalibre brooch. Yummy!
Thanks; I did try to upload the photo to my website for everyone to see, but was unsuccessful. Eventually, I took a Polyanna stance abut it; it was probably for the best, that I'm such a compu-idiot... :) I need to talk about the elements with Cathy (Belleville) who's my "spiritual mother" on the subject of Rosalibre, and I need to find nice names for them (once something's published, it's impossible to change). That, as well as some help in uploading photos (from my son) should be forthcoming in two-three weeks time, during my stay in CA...
-- Tamara P Duvall http://t-n-lace.net/ Lexington, Virginia, USA (Formerly of Warsaw, Poland)
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