[Foundation-l] Fundraising ideas - bursting the bubble

[Erik Moeller]

On 6/14/06, daniwo59 at aol.com <daniwo59 at aol.com> wrote:
> 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.

Are there ways in which the community or the fundraising committee
could help with that process?

> 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.

Prod, prod, prod! :-) Let's make a page on Meta for people to sign up
and indicate their interests to do this for particular countries, and
then announce it widely (most Wikimedians don't read foundation-l).
But before we do this, I would like to clearly distinguish between the
_legal_ requirements and what we _want_ to do. Anthony said:

> Just to clarify what mav said, emails are considered "written"
> communications.  From Publication 1771: "An organization can provide
> the acknowledgement electronically, such as by an e-mail addressed to
> the donor."

Is that correct? What is Brad's opinion on the legal requirements? In
some EU countries, we have also gradually introduced digital
signatures as a valid definition of "written communications". I would
like to be absolutely clear on what we have to do. If we can use
digitally signed e-mails, we should do so, even if it requires an
initial investment in know-how and a certificate.

Written thank you notes and Christmas cards are a good idea to
maintain donor relations, of course. But if we can keep the legal
requirements separate, we might be able to more efficiently
decentralize our communications by not burdening our volunteers with
unnecessary legal complexity -- we could send out standard e-mails
_and_ creative volunteer greetings from around the globe. This would
also make the checking whether a letter has been sent less critical.
And let's face it -- getting a personal greeting from a Wikimedian is
cool in its own special way.

> 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.

Well, I'm not sure how uniform they have to be given the above. The
legally required communications should be standardized, of course.

Erik