5 KiB
RAISING MONEY
Individual Donations
The easiest way to take money in is via Paypal. You will get a Paypal button to use on your site to accept donations to your project. Please do not negotiate further earmarked funds unless you discuss those plans with us first and make other arrangements (we can give you a new PayPal button for those campaigns). For example, donors should not send money in with notes like, "This donation is only for Neal to do work on my bug" or "Please use this money only to pay for supporting my favorite library." Money should be donated to the project generally or to your project's event(s) if you choose to have events. (see more on that in the events section)
Corporate Sponsorships
These are great, but they must be charitable donations. You can display sponsors' logos on your website and in event materials. Charities cannot sell influence over their activities or offer product endorsements or access to their community to a for-profit company. That means you cannot sell a guest blog post or advertisement on your website, a sponsored story in your newsletter, a talk slot at your event or a seat or vote with any project committee. If you are new to the ways charities do things and have any questions about sponsorships, please get in touch with us – we’re happy to help.
Most corporate sponsors need an invoice or want a receipt for their donations. If a new prospective sponsor contacts us first, we will forward the request to you so that you can be in charge of your sponsor relationships and decide if you want to have a relationship with that sponsor. We will not issue any invoices to new sponsors without your approval.
If a new corporate sponsor contacts you first and you choose to accept their sponsorship, please email accounts-receivable@tix.sfconservancy.org with all the background information needed to generate an invoice: company name and address, contact name and email address, sponsorship level and any other details they will want included or mentioned on their invoice or receipt (companies in Europe often want their VAT ID included). Include copies of any emails or other documents indicating the donor’s agreement to be invoiced.
Note that some corporations require a purchase order and/or setting Conservancy up in their supplier system before we can invoice them. Purchase orders and instructions for registering in a sponsor’s system should also be sent to accounts-receivable@tix.sfconservancy.org.
There are a few ways to streamline sponsor relationships. Publicly posting what your sponsor benefits are and choosing a set number of sponsorship types that you offer is a great start. We also strongly advise that you only offer benefits that are very easy for you to fulfill and charge enough for your sponsors levels such that you don't mind doing that work. Conservancy only handles the financial transaction; it is your responsibility to fulfill any sponsor benefits once payment has been received.
Some good examples or corporate sponsorship pages: https://www.seleniumhq.org/sponsor/, https://www.outreachy.org/ (scroll down), https://twistedmatrix.com/trac/wiki/TwistedSponsors and https://www.phpmyadmin.net/sponsors/
Grants
Grants are great way to bring in money. Often a grant will come with a contract or other document describing both parties' understanding of how grant money will be spent and what obligations the recipient of the grant owes to the grant giver. These documents need to be looked over by a Conservancy lawyer to make sure that the work is on the project roadmap, that the obligations are fulfillable, and that we understand how to pay out the money you receive so that the grant is not forfeited for a technicality. Please email any grant documents to legal@tix.sfconservancy.org for review.
Other Fundraising Topics
Swag sales
If you sell swag to raise money for your project, then you need to know how much the item costs and how much of the price of the swag is a donation. For example, if you buy a bunch of hats for $5 and then sell them for $30 to raise money for your project, then $25 is a donation and $5 is a purchase. Buyers are entitled to receive a note acknowledging their donations.
Corporate matching programs
Many companies will match their employees' charitable contributions. The employer typically needs affirmation that the employee donated, along with proof that it was a charitable gift. The thank you email the donor receives from us, along with their PayPal receipt or cancelled check, are usually sufficient for this purpose.
How do I find out if money has come in?
Sponsors donating through your PayPal link are sent a donation receipt by email when the payment is imported into our books. A copy of this email is sent to the PLC.
If the donation or grant was invoiced through our ticketing system, the project representative should have been cc’d on the ticket, and they will receive a copy of the email sent to the donor acknowledging receipt of the funds.