I think this raises some important questions. I am giving only partial answers right now, but they should be some indication of the direction, at least as I see it.
In a message dated 6/13/2006 6:21:28 AM Eastern Daylight Time, eloquence@gmail.com writes:
On 6/12/06, daniwo59@aol.com daniwo59@aol.com wrote:
1 Are we allowed to solicit funds anywhere? Not quite as simple as you may think.
I remember that we've had those discussions before about the fundraising page and the way it should be worded. In recent fund drives, however, we've become more aggressive, with a personal appeal from Jimmy, slogans like "Help empower the world", and so on. We still have a disclaimer that this does not constitute a solicitation, but is that sufficient? Are we currently registered in any U.S. state other than Florida for solicitation of funds? If not, would such a registration make sense? Yes, however, I would hope that a genuine fundraising campaign would extend beyond placing a banner on our websites. It would involve solicitation and, especially, donor cultivation, especially of people making large gifts. The registration process to do this outside of Florida is complicated. It is well underway, but requires time and oversight, as it must be done annually in each state individually.
2 What is the cost of a direct mailing? Try multiplying postage costs by
1000s,
add printing costs, then add hourly rates. We can either do the mailing
in-house
(at which point you must consider whether it is worth paying my salary to
have
me stuff envelopes) or a service (which adds to the costs).
How about trying to decentralize the "licking envelopes" part? Allow a large number of reasonably trusted volunteers to send "thank you" notes (add some legal disclaimer about the sender not being a Wikimedia employee etc. if necessary). Compensate them for postage, but not for time. I'm not sure this is a viable model, but it may be worth trying out.
I agree that this may not be a viable model but worth trying out. Note that in an earlier email, I asked for volunteers and specifically mentioned this. So far one person has volunteered. Regardless, there are some other issues taht should be considered, such as the uniformity of the thank you note. This would mean shipping cards, letters, printed envelopes, and what have you to people--another cost that should be considered. There is also the issue of oversight. I can imagine people pushing off the tedious stuffing of envelopes for any number of valid reasons. What assurance do we have that the proper mailings get sent. Note that I do not believe these problems are insurmountable--just that they should be considered. There are also other options, such as paying a commercial service to do this, however, this is an added expense.
3 Are there any mails that we are required to send by law? Yes
That's a good point. How good are we presently at complying with these regulations, e.g. notifying people who make >$200 donations outside regular fund drives? Does the applicable law already allow for the use of digitally signed e-mails, or do we have to send snail mail? To date, this has been done in time. I have even instituted a policy that a letter is now sent immediately upon receipt by snail mail of any gift over $200. I also have PDFs of each letter for our own records. One practical thing to note is that the bulk of larger donations is sent via bank transfer or personal check mailed to the office, not by Paypal. As such, even if we were able to send such letters electronically (and I was under the impression that we could not), the only contact information we often have is a snail mail address, so the question is moot.
Danny