Replying to list as well as sender. Hopefully sender doesn't mind, I
don't believe their email was personal or private in nature.

On Sun, 2008-05-25 at 23:22 +0200, Ewald Tienkamp wrote:
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> William L. Thomson Jr. schreef:
> | For more of a fun thread. I am just going to list a bunch of ideas I
> | personally have had wrt to what Gentoo could do with money. They are not
> | listed in any particular order.
> [snip]
> |
> | There are likely more, hopefully others will chime in on stuff I missed.
> |
> 
> I am certain the Foundation, and more importantly Gentoo in general,
> would benefit from having (more) money. As you have listed, the money
> can be used anywhere from promoting the use of Gentoo, to increasing the
> amount of people who know about Gentoo, sponsor hardware and software
> for devs, provide support, pay legal fees, etcetera.

Yeah the idea is only to make things better, no worse. But always a
double edged sword.

> Yet I'd like to sidestep the discussion on what to spend the money on
> and focus on how the money is actually coming in. I have emailed several
> Gentoo addresses with my suggestion over the year(s), yet failed to
> receive a single response. (Maybe use some of the income to hire staff
> to answer incoming email? ;) )

FYI, in a month or two, the meeting agenda or part of it will be
focusing on how the foundation can raise funds. Starting with a yearly
budget, and fund drive. But we will explore other more creative ways.

> Either way, why is there no way to donate to Gentoo on a monthly/yearly
> basis?

Can't this be done now via PayPal? Or are we not setup properly with
PayPal to allow people to make scheduled re-occurring donations.

>  I, and as I suspect many people with me, would like to support
> Gentoo, yet can't cough up a decent donation at once. When the
> Foundation provides us with the ability to support Gentoo with a small
> recurring donation, the advantage would be twofold:
> - - More people will be able to or are more likely to donate since it only
> requires a small amount of money at a time (anywhere from 1 to 10
> dollars for instance)
> - - The Foundation acquires a more steady flow of money, (increasingly)
> allowing for long(er)-term spending plans.

If that's not possible now, we will surely see about making it a
possibility before end of term.

> Please correct me if I'm way off on this, but since the issue of money
> was brought up here, I couldn't help but jump in with this suggestion
> I've been carrying around.

Please do provide ideas and feedback. That's why I started the thread.
Mostly for discussion, ideas, food for though, etc.

Although all unofficially atm. Just me as an individual voicing some
ideas and thoughts. The board is a few months from looking into how we
can generate revenue. If there is interest in that. Much less how to
spend it once we do have funds and flow :)

-- 
William L. Thomson Jr.
amd64/Java/Trustees
Gentoo Foundation