I don't think asking for donations is the way to
go once a non-profit
is in place. The US is full of foundations that are happy to throw
money at half-baked proposals vaguely related to education. Pretty much
every billionaire sets up a foundation like that. You just write a
grant proposal and wait for the money to come in. Lots of people in
academia make their living that way. And we are talking at least an
order of magnitude higher than your figure above.
Sure, and Jimbo hasn't even ruled out the possibility of taking government
money, although he snapped when I mentioned the EU ;-). We should explore
all reasonable opportunities. Web donations have the advantage of getting
us a quick money fix, if that's what's needed.
Regards,
Erik