Nice initiative.

Dear Srikanth, 

It different than asset concept. Its about making process cashless. 
For example, Chapter needs xyz amount to manage Travel (For Board meetings,attending events etc), 

This can be zeroed down by having 'in-kind' Airline or Travel/Hospitality partner. 
i.e instead of providing money to they will offer service/tickets directly, and this gives them tax exemption under
Corporate Social Responsibility (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Evolution_of_corporate_social_responsibility_in_India)

By providing cashless service - In return they get branding and exemption from Government of India.
For company - its easy to provide service as compared to money, If they provide money - then they have to pay tax.

So could you please provide Chapters requirements for next one year? So we can find donors easily?
What are Chapters plans after receiving donations? If this is crystal clear - then its easy to attract more

corporates and individuals to donate.
This is real glitch - There is separate WMF Fundraiser every year, where Jimmy Wales makes appeal for donation.
People might get confused, Many Indians donate directly to WMF. Is it fair to ask them to do same again?

From third person, it looks like - WMF runs donation campaign, then asks regional chapters to raise money
on their own instead of supporting them. Is there any kind of rejection from WMF to support Chapter activities

financially? or Chapters proposed budget is beyond WMF approval?

Already we have few volunteers to spread Wikimedia mission in India.
Instead of spending volunteers precious energy on raising donations, Its better to devote same energy to fulfill Wikimedia mission?

Just curiosity question : Before announcement - Was there any public discussion about having 'separate' donation campaign? 
Who proposed and approved idea? 

Clarification about Chapters expected budget and 'exact' financial requirements will enable easy donations.

Regards,

Abhishek Suryawanshi,

On Behalf of Wikipedia Club Pune

On 2/7/13, Srikanth Ramakrishnan < srik.ramk at wikimedia.in > wrote : 

Hello Abhishek, thank you for your suggestion. The 'in-kind' donation
idea, while good actually has a small glitch. Anything that comes to
the Chapter would be considered an asset and be kept in a certain
place physically. Moving it out to a different place becomes a
problem. Anyway, thanks for the suggestion. Do spread the word about
our fundraiser though.

On 2/7/13, Abhishek Suryawanshi <i.abhishek.suryawanshi at gmail.com> wrote:
> Nice initiative.
>
> It would be great to have 'in-kind' donations option along with monetary
> option.
>
> i.e If someone wants to donate projector,room,laptop etc in-kind, It may be
> easy for donor also as well as Chapter to receive it. This will also make
> sure Tax money is saved from both ends.
>
>
>
> Just two cents from my side.
>
>
>
> Regards,
> Abhishek Suryawanshi,
>
> On Behalf of Wikipedia Club Pune
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> ---------- Forwarded message ----------
> From: Karthik Nadar <karthikndr at wikimedia.in>
> To: Wikimedia India Community list <wikimediaindia-l at lists.wikimedia.org>
> Cc:
> Date: Fri, 1 Feb 2013 21:19:57 +0530
> Subject: [Wikimediaindia-l] Wikimedia India needs your support: Our First
> Fundraiser
> *Dear all,*
> *
> *
> *On the second anniversary of the Chapter, we made public our intention of
> running our first fundraiser. Going ahead with the first phase of this
> plan, we will be running a central site notice on the chapter website for a
> period of two calendar months starting 1 February, 2013. In the second
> phase of this plan, we aim to approach high networth individuals and
> corporates in the month of March 2013. This will be done using personal and
> professional networks of current and past EC members, staff, volunteers
> among others.*
> *
> Suggestions, help and support from the community on what we can do to
> ensure success of this fundraiser are welcome. Every drop counts :)
>
> Donations can be made by Online Bank Transfer (NEFT/RTGS) or by sending us
> a Cheque through snail mail. We are unable to accept card payments at this
> current time. Link to the donation page on our website:
> http://wiki.wikimedia.in/Donate
>
> Thanking you,
> Executive Committee,
> Wikimedia India.
>
> *Reasoning* (From our public statement on 4 January, 2013)
>
> A lot of people may ask why the chapter needs a fundraiser when it has
> access to WMF funding. The answer is, we are still ineligible for FDC of
> WMF (we hope to be eligible for the second round of funding in 2013) and
> would need to rely on grants, spending of which is restricted by the WMF.
> Since formation, the chapter has relied heavily on the Executive Committee
> to take on the burden of running the show. In an ideal world, the EC would
> like to take on the role of guiding the chapter rather than actually be
> responsible for operations after two years of incorporation, which should
> be best done by professionals rather than volunteers in their spare time.
>
> The chapter has hired an employee (Sowmyan Tirumurti, our Executive
> Manager) as well as plans to lease its own office premises in Bangalore. We
> will need the help of those volunteers who are in a position to support us.
> It could be a small individual donation or in the form of a corporate
> donation from an institution. A small token of support from you could go a
> long way in helping us achieving our goals of furthering the movement in
> India.*
> *
> *
> *
> *
>
> --
> Thanks and regards,
> Karthik Nadar,
> Secretary, Wikimedia India Chapter.
>

-- 
Srikanth Ramakrishnan
Member of the Executive Committee
Wikimedia Chapter [India]

Donate to the Wikimedia India Chapter today<http://wiki.wikimedia.in/Donations>