I was wondering the same thing.<br><br>I guess they are both tax write-offs. I'm not very experienced yet. I don't want to bend any rules, I was just curious.<br><br>Even in the case that it weren't a charitable contribution, it would still be nice to have an organization which helped connect passionate developers interested in particular types of development with those willing to spend money for it.<br>
<br>The problem with outsourcing, in many cases, is that you don't get someone as passionate about what you're building. You get someone who wants a job.<br><br>With open source you know you're getting someone who really loves that type of project.<br>
<br clear="all">AJ ONeal<br><br><br><div class="gmail_quote">On Sat, Dec 18, 2010 at 10:38 AM, Frank Warmerdam <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:warmerdam@pobox.com">warmerdam@pobox.com</a>></span> wrote:<br><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin: 0pt 0pt 0pt 0.8ex; border-left: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); padding-left: 1ex;">
<div class="im">On 10-12-18 12:20 PM, AJ ONeal wrote:<br>
<blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin: 0pt 0pt 0pt 0.8ex; border-left: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); padding-left: 1ex;">
Let me know what you find out.<br>
<br>
Right now I'm hiring some guys in India to do work for me that I'm open<br>
sourcing[1].<br>
<br>
The end product will use the tools that they're writing, but the whole<br>
technology community will benefit from having these tools (which will in turn<br>
generate more tools that I may end up using for my product).<br>
<br>
I would be very willing to hire someone to create just about every component of<br>
my product as an open source module and then tie the modules together myself<br>
with a UI.<br>
</blockquote>
<br></div>
AJ,<br>
<br>
To me this is directed development and would be very iffy for charitable<br>
status. I don't know SPI's position on such things, but within OSGeo<br>
(another foundation I am involved with) we would not accept a contribution<br>
for such work as something that could be considered a charitable contribution<br>
under US tax law.<br>
<br>
We do allow sponsors for projects, but the sponsors are not able to provide<br>
any specific direction to how the project will spend the money. Projects<br>
can also post activities they would like to pursue and sponsors can choose<br>
to fund one of these efforts specifically. But we make an effort to make<br>
is so that organizations cannot actively direct funds to a specific<br>
development they need for their own commercial reasons.<br>
<br>
Now, I'm not a lawyer, and it may be that we are being overly cautious.<br>
But this was based on our interpretation of a lawyer's advice and various<br>
"wisdom" on the net. I think you should be cautious in this regard. I<br>
also think SPI should be careful before volunteering to be a conduit for<br>
such funds though I'm not going to get mixed up in it.<br>
<br>
I'm curious, if you are getting this work done to develop a product,<br>
isn't it enough to treat the cost as a business expense? I'm vague<br>
on the advantages of making a charitable contribution vs. just writing<br>
something off as a business expense. In Canada I believe they normally<br>
amount to the same tax effect.<br>
<br>
Best regards,<br><font color="#888888">
-- <br>
---------------------------------------+--------------------------------------<br>
I set the clouds in motion - turn up | Frank Warmerdam, <a href="mailto:warmerdam@pobox.com" target="_blank">warmerdam@pobox.com</a><br>
light and sound - activate the windows | <a href="http://pobox.com/%7Ewarmerdam" target="_blank">http://pobox.com/~warmerdam</a><br>
and watch the world go round - Rush | Geospatial Programmer for Rent<br>
<br>
</font></blockquote></div><br>