Gentoo Archives: gentoo-nfp

From: Daniel Robbins <drobbins@g.o>
To: gentoo-nfp@l.g.o
Subject: [gentoo-nfp] CDs and t-shirts
Date: Mon, 26 Apr 2004 06:48:51
Message-Id: E1BHzv8-0003Bu-Ar@smtp.gentoo.org
1 Corey wrote:
2 > What about paypal donations in regards to the NFP transition?
3 > The proceeds from the store will go towards Daniel's debt, and that
4 > has been agreed upon.
5
6 This is not an accurate summary of what I said. What I said is, and I quote:
7
8 "OK. The purpose of this is to allow me to continue to support my family by
9 doing things like pay for a house, pay for food, and potentially pay off
10 some of the $20,000 in debt I accumulated during my tenure as Chief
11 Architect of Gentoo, etc."
12
13 So, to make try to make this impossible to misunderstand -- what I said is
14 that the Store would be used to support me and my family in our ability to
15 cover _basic living expenses_, and *potentially* help pay off *some* (notice
16 I did use the word *some* in my original email) accumulated debt. That is
17 probably more wishful thinking than anything. That's why I used the word
18 "potentially." People seem to have focused on the fact that I mentioned the
19 word "debt" and ignored the main thing I said.
20
21 The main reason for continuing to run the store is to ensure that my family
22 has its basic living expenses covered. This NFP transition involves some
23 financial risk on my part. I need to make sure my family doesn't get hurt in
24 the transition. This could happen if the funding I am currently receiving to
25 work on Gentoo full-time disappears. This would be very hard for my family,
26 since as I've pointed out, I have $20K in debt. We have no savings,
27 investments or retirement at all. I have no money to pull from if I lose
28 funding. If I were just a single guy then I could justify making some risky
29 decisions, but I have a wife and two small children and they shouldn't have
30 to suffer due to any risky decisions I make. Making a smooth transition that
31 works for the NFP and my family involves some careful planning on my part.
32
33 > Will the donations go into an account that gets controlled by the NFP?
34
35 Another thing I explained in prior emails is that the Store would continue
36 to cover the costs associated with setting up the 501(c)(6), and the legal
37 fees by the time this is completed would probably be around $7-$10K (also
38 including misc. legal stuff and continuing costs associated with federal
39 trademark apps, logo usage agreements etc..) I'd hope that donations could
40 go towards paying these tabs before we look at re-routing this money to set
41 up an operating budget for the NFP. It really isn't enough for any kind of
42 real budget anyway.
43
44 I think I'm going to avoid answering financial questions because the stuff I
45 have already said gets misinterpreted and distorted. I don't want to
46 continue to participate in what seems to be an unavoidable downward spiral
47 of confusion. It doesn't seem to be helping anyone. I really do try to be
48 clear in my emails, but that doesn't seem to be enough.
49
50 To be honest, after having to put my financial situation in writing, it
51 seems rather stupid for me to be making any kind of personal commitment to
52 keep the store running and get the money to cover $7-$10K of Gentoo legal
53 fees. It would probably be best if I get a job as soon as possible and bail
54 out of Gentoo after the NFP is set up next week, and leave the NFP to
55 continue running the store and arrange its own funding for the 501(c)(6)
56 application process. But that would be really high-stress for everyone and
57 is what I am trying to avoid.
58
59 Daniel
60
61
62 --
63 gentoo-nfp@g.o mailing list

Replies

Subject Author
Re: [gentoo-nfp] CDs and t-shirts Donnie Berkholz <spyderous@g.o>
Re: [gentoo-nfp] CDs and t-shirts Corey Shields <cshields@×××××××.edu>