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Been meaning to chime in on this.. just low on time right now. |
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|
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I have over $100 from LWE we could bootstrap the BoA account with if we wanted |
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to go with Bank of America (I'm all for it). |
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|
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As for the paperwork, #5 will be the tough one. We don't have the IRS |
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paperwork done yet (I'm dropping the ball on that right now, I need to get |
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some stuff to jhuebel), but on the other hand we can't very well get a |
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notorized letter around to all of the trustees (maybe a partial list?) |
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|
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Let me get the irs stuff to Jason... |
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|
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-C |
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|
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On Tuesday 23 August 2005 03:18 pm, Donnie Berkholz wrote: |
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> Over the past couple of weeks I've been researching a new bank account |
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> that would allow us: |
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> |
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> 1) to get verified with Paypal so we could actually get our money out of |
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> there without a limit; and |
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> |
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> 2) to allow international trustees to have access if they wanted it. |
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> |
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> At the FLOSS summit a couple of weeks ago, the Eclipse Foundation's |
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> director mentioned that it uses Bank of America, which has a number of |
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> enhanced online banking features beyond what most banks have. |
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> |
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> I've met with bankers at the Bank of America twice now, and I think they |
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> can fulfill our needs. |
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> |
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> What regular banks to that gets Paypal to verify them is get everyone |
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> who has access to the account to sign a signature card. This means that |
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> the signature card would need to get sent all over the world, to each |
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> trustee who wants access to the account. It would be useful to minimize |
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> this, so I propose that only our officers do this and therefore have |
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> access to the account. |
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> |
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> For the international case, the signature card would be mailed to the |
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> local U.S. embassy or consulate, and our trustees would need to go in |
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> and have their signatures notarized there. |
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> |
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> The enhanced online banking, called "Online Business Suite," [1] runs |
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> $15/month. What this gets us: |
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> |
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> 1) Separate logins/passwords for each person with access to the account; |
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> |
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> 2) A big list of financial features, some of which we may use, some not. |
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> One of these is direct deposit to employees, which we might be able to |
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> leverage to send Gentoo devs money for their funding requests, but it |
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> looks like this could cost another $10/month. |
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> |
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> Point 1 is probably the most important here. We want to be able to |
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> identify exactly who's doing what with our money. |
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> |
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> If you'd like to read more, go to bankofamerica.com and click the "Small |
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> Business" link at the top. |
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> |
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> |
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> Technical details on opening the account: |
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> |
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> While the signature card's being sent around, only the signers present |
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> at the initial account opening have access to it. Since Corey and I are |
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> both in Corvallis, it would make sense for both of us to sign it so we |
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> have a little insurance. |
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> |
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> What we need to open an account: |
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> |
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> 1) Person authorized to act on behalf of the foundation as indicated in |
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> its corporate resolution; |
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> |
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> 2) The foundation's tax ID number; |
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> |
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> 3) The foundation's Fictitious Name Certificate, or the Certificate of |
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> Trade Name if the account name is different from the corporate title; |
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> |
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> 4) The articles of incorporation; |
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> |
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> 5) The IRS ruling letter of tax exemption, or a notarized statement from |
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> the officers or directors on Gentoo letterhead, saying the foundation is |
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> exempt from tax reporting under 501(c). |
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> |
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> They will not accept a document that hasn't been filed with the |
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> appropriate state official. |
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> |
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> We don't need an official storefront to open an account; we can just |
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> give a home address. |
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> |
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> We need $100 to open the account. |
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> |
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> |
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> Technical details on using the account: |
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> |
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> In Europe, Deutsche Bank ATMs can be used for no fee; |
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> |
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> Debit-card purchases are free, but credit-card purchases are assessed an |
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> additional 3% of the transaction; |
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> |
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> They're having an ongoing special called "Business Deal Days" where the |
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> usual $2500 minimum balance is waived forever if you open an account |
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> during this time. If we open an account outside this special, we need to |
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> meet a minimum daily balance of $2500, or some other, larger monthly |
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> average balance, or pay $9/month. |
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> |
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> The type of account we want is called "Business Economy Checking." |
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> |
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> The banker I've been working with is Erica Lewis, at the Corvallis |
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> branch. It would be nice to open the account with her, if we do open it, |
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> because she's been quite helpful in answering my questions. |
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> |
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> |
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> I'm heading out for two weeks to get married and go on a honeymoon, so I |
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> won't be able to reply until then. |
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> |
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> Thanks, |
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> Donnie |
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> |
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> 1. |
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> http://www.bankofamerica.com/smallbusiness/accountaccess/index.cfm?template |
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>=acct_obs.cfm |
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|
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-- |
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Corey Shields |
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Gentoo Linux Infrastructure Team |
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Gentoo Foundation Board of Trustees |
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http://www.gentoo.org/~cshields |