613 lines
		
	
	
	
		
			29 KiB
		
	
	
	
		
			HTML
		
	
	
	
	
	
			
		
		
	
	
			613 lines
		
	
	
	
		
			29 KiB
		
	
	
	
		
			HTML
		
	
	
	
	
	
{% extends "base_conservancy.html" %}
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{% block subtitle %}NPOAcct - {% endblock %}
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{% block category %}npoacct{% endblock %}
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{% block head %}
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<link href="/jquery-ui.css" rel="stylesheet" type="text/css"/>
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<script type="text/javascript" src="/jquery.min.js"></script>
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<script type="text/javascript" src="/jquery-ui.min.js"></script>
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<style type="text/css">
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  #progressbar .ui-widget-header { background: rgb(206, 31, 31); }
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</style>
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<script type="text/javascript">
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  $(document).ready(function() {
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    $("#progressbar").progressbar({ value: (66274.98 / 75000) * 100 });
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    $('.toggle-content').hide();
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    $('.toggle-control')
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     .addClass('clickable')
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     .bind('click', function() {
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        var $control = $(this);
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        var $parent = $control.parents('.toggle-unit');
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        $parent.toggleClass('expanded');
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        $parent.find('.toggle-content').slideToggle();
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        // if control has HTML5 data attributes, use to update text
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        if ($parent.hasClass('expanded')) {
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            $control.html($control.attr('data-expanded-text'));
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        } else {
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            $control.html($control.attr('data-text'));
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        }
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    });
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    $('a.donate-now')
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      .addClass('clickable')
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      .bind('click', function() {
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        var $control = $('#donate-box');
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        $control.toggleClass('expanded');
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        $control.find('.toggle-content').slideUp("slow");
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        $control.find('.toggle-content').slideDown("slow");
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    });
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  });
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</script>
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{% endblock %}
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{% block content %}
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<div class="donate-sidebar">
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<table style="background-color:#afe478;width:100%;">
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<tr><td style="text-align:center;padding:10px;padding-bottom:10px;">
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<div id="donate-box" class="toggle-unit"><h1 class="toggle-content">Donate Now!</h1></div>
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<!--
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<script type="text/javascript" src="https://js.balancedpayments.com/v1/balanced.js"></script>
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<script type="text/javascript">
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   // FOR DEMONSTRATION PURPOSES ONLY - if you already have a server you can POST to, replace
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   //                                   the URL with the URL to post to.
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   // go to http://requestb.in/
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   // click create new request bin and COPY that URL without the ?inspect at the end
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   var requestBinURL = 'http://requestb.in/1dk2x8y1';  // make sure it doesn't end in ?inspect
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   var marketplaceUri = '/v1/marketplaces/TEST-MPMp7ZUPDpbj69vk2wGHRVY';
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   //var marketplaceUri = 'https://www.balancedpayments.com/marketplaces/TEST-MPMp7ZUPDpbj69vk2wGHRVY';
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   balanced.init(marketplaceUri);
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var cardData = {
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  "name": "Bernhard Riemann",                 // Optional
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  "card_number": "4111 1111 1111 1111",
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  "expiration_month": 4,
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  "expiration_year": 2014,
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};
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function evbind(el, ev, handler) {
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if(el.addEventListener) {
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el.addEventListener(ev, handler, false);
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} else if(el.attachEvent) {
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el.attachEvent('on'+ev, function() {handler.apply(el);});
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}
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}
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/*
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   function responseCallbackHandler(response) {
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      alert(response.status);
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      switch (response.status) {
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        case 400:
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            // missing or invalid field - check response.error for details
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            console.log(response.error);
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            break;
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        case 404:
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            // your marketplace URI is incorrect
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            console.log(response.error);
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            break;
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        case 201:
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            // WOO HOO! MONEY!
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            // response.data.uri == URI of the bank account resource you
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            // should store this bank account URI to later credit it
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            console.log(response.data);
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            var $form = $("#bank-account-form");
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            // the uri is an opaque token referencing the tokenized bank account
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            var bank_account_uri = response.data['uri'];
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            // append the token as a hidden field to submit to the server
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            $('<input>').attr({
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               type: 'hidden',
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               value: bank_account_uri,
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               name: 'balancedBankAccountURI'
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            }).appendTo($form);
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            $form.attr({action: requestBinURL});
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            $form.get(0).submit();
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        break;
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    default:
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        console.log(response.status);
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        }
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    }
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   //alert('allo?');
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   var tokenizeInstrument = function(e) {
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        alert('what"s going on?');
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        e.preventDefault();
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        var $form = $('#bank-account-form');
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        var bankAccountData = {
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            name: $form.find('.ba-name').val(),
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            account_number: $form.find('.ba-an').val(),
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            bank_code: $form.find('.ba-rn').val(),
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            type: $form.find('select').val()
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        };
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        balanced.bankAccount.create(bankAccountData, responseCallbackHandler);
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    };
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   $('#bank-account-form').submit(tokenizeInstrument);
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*/
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</script>
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-->
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$66,275 raised toward<br/>
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our $75,000 goal.<br/>
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<div id="progressbar" style="height:20px;"><span style="float:right; align:center; margin-right:40%">88.4%</span></div>
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<p style="font-size: 75%">(Progress bar updated monthly.)</p>
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<a id="donate" style="text-decoration:none"></a>
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<h3>Help us reach our goal:</h3>
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<!-- PayPal start -->
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<form action="https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr" method="post" target="_top">
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<input type="hidden" name="cmd" value="_s-xclick">
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<input type="hidden" name="hosted_button_id" value="3VRTJALJ5PQRW">
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<input type="image" src="https://www.paypalobjects.com/en_US/i/btn/btn_donateCC_LG.gif" style="border:0" name="submit" alt="Donate Now!">
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<img alt="" style="border:0" src="https://www.paypalobjects.com/en_US/i/scr/pixel.gif" width="1" height="1">
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</form>
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<!-- PayPal end -->
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<!-- Balanced start -
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<div class="container">
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- <form action="#" method="POST" id="bank-account-form" class="form-horizontal" onsubmit="balanced.card.create(cardData, function(response) { alert(response.status); });"> -
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<form action="#" method="POST" id="bank-account-form" class="form-horizontal">
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    <fieldset>
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        <legend>Bank Account Information</legend>
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        <p><label>Account Holder's Name
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            <input type="text"
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                   autocomplete="off"
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                   placeholder="Bank Account Holder's name"
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                   class="ba-name"
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                   name="ba_name"
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                   value="4111 1111 1111 1111">
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        </label></p>
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        <p><label>Routing Number
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            <input type="text"
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                   autocomplete="off"
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                   placeholder="Routing Number"
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                   class="ba-rn"
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                   name="ba_rn"
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                   value="4">
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        </label></p>
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        <p><label>Account Number
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            <input type="text"
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                   autocomplete="off"
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                   placeholder="Account Number"
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                   class="ba-an"
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                   name="ba_an"
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                   value="2014">
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        </label></p>
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        <p><label>Account Something
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            <input type="text"
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                   autocomplete="off"
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                   placeholder="Account Something"
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                   class="ba-as"
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                   name="ba_as"
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                   value="something someone">
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        </label></p>
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        <p><label>Account Type
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            <select name="ba_type">
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                <option value='' disabled selected style='display:none;'>
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                    Select Account Type
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                </option>
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                <option value="checking" default>CHECKING</option>
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                <option value="savings">SAVINGS</option>
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            </select>
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        </label></p>
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        <button type="submit" class="btn">
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            Tokenize
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        </button>
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    </fieldset>
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</form>
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</div>
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<script type="text/javascript">
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evbind(document.getElementById('bank-account-form'), 'submit',
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  function(e) {
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    e.preventDefault();
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    console.log(this.ba_as.value);
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    balanced.card.create(
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 {
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  "name": this.ba_as.value,
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  "card_number": this.ba_name.value,
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  "expiration_month": this.ba_rn.value,
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  "expiration_year": this.ba_an.value,
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/*
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  "name": "Bernhard Riemann",                 // Optional
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  "card_number": "4111 1111 1111 1111",
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  "expiration_month": 4,
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  "expiration_year": 2014,
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*/
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 },
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    function(response) {
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      console.log(response);
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      console.log(response.data.uri);
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      $.ajax("/campaign/?token=" + response.data.uri + '&amount=' + document.getElementById('bank-account-form').ba_an.value);
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      alert(response.status);
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    });
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});
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</script>
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- Balanced end -->
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<p>
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Other donation methods:
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<div class="toggle-unit">
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    <h4 class="toggle-control" data-text="Wire Transfer" 
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    data-expanded-text="Wire Transfer:">Wire Transfer</h4>
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    <div class="toggle-content">
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        Please
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            contact <a href="mailto:accounting@sfconservancy.org">Conservancy
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            by email</a><br/> for wire transfer instructions.<br/>
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            Please Include your currency and country.<br/>
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    </div><!-- /.toggle-content -->
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</div><!-- /.toggle.unit -->
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<div class="toggle-unit">
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    <h4 class="toggle-control" data-text="Paper Check" 
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    data-expanded-text="Paper Check:">Paper Check</h4>
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    <div class="toggle-content">
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    Send paper check donations to:<br/>
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    Software Freedom Conservancy, Inc.<br/>
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    137 MONTAGUE ST  STE 380<br/>
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    BROOKLYN, NY 11201-3548<br/>
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    Please write <q>NPO ACCOUNTING</q> in the memo line. 
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    </div><!-- /.toggle-content -->
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</div><!-- /.toggle.unit -->
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<!-- Flattr start -->
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<p><a href="https://flattr.com/thing/1296704/NPOAcct-to-develop-Free-and-Open-Source-Non-Profit-Accounting-Software" target="_blank"><img src="https://api.flattr.com/button/flattr-badge-large.png" alt="Flattr this" title="Flattr this" style="border:0" /></a></p>
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<!-- Flattr end -->
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</td></tr></table>
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</div>
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<div style="align:left;width:80%;">
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<!-- begin campaign text -->
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<h2>Fundraising Campaign: Non-Profit Accounting Software</h2>
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<img src="/img/conservancy-accounting-campaign-logo.png" alt="Conservancy accounting campaign logo" style="float:left;" />
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<blockquote>
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<p><strong>Update on 2014-12-03:</strong> As can be seen, Conservancy sadly
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  never reached our fundraising target for this project.  However, as we
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  promised below, we <a href="http://npoacct.sfconservancy.org/">continue to
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  work on this project</a>.  We'd really appreciate more donations, as we've
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  needed to make a lot of compromises in our plans since we didn't reach our
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  fundraising goal.  We did complete Phase 0 described below
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  (<a href="http://npoacct.sfconservancy.org/">results are on our wiki</a>),
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  and Phase 1 now comprises the development of an REST API for double-entry
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  accounting  which many applications (including this one) can use.</p>
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</blockquote>
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<br/>
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<hr/>
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<p>Conservancy has a plan to help all non-profit organizations (NPOs) by
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creating an Open Source and Free Software accounting system usable by
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non-technical bookkeepers, accountants, and non-profit managers.  You can
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help us do it by donating now.
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</p>
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<p>To keep their books and produce annual government filings, most NPOs rely
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on proprietary software, paying exorbitant licensing fees.  This is
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fundamentally at cross purposes with their underlying missions of charity,
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equality, democracy, and sharing.</p>
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<p>You can help Conservancy fix this problem by <a href="#donate-box" class="donate-now">donating now</a>.  We seek to
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raise $75,000 to employ a 
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developer for one year to make substantial progress on this project.</p>
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<p>This project has the potential to save the non-profit sector
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millions in licensing fees every year.  Even non-profits that continue to use proprietary accounting
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software will benefit, since the existence of quality Open Source and Free
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  Software for a particular task curtails predatory behavior by proprietary
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  software companies, and creates a new standard of comparison.</p>
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<p>But, more powerfully, this project's realization
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will increase the agility and collaborative potential
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for the non-profit sector — a boon to funders, boards, and employees —  bringing the Free Software and general NPO communities
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into closer collaboration and understanding.</p>
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<p>Thanks in advance for <a href="#donate-box" class="donate-now">helping us</a> develop Free Software to benefit all
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non-profit organizations, and the 
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populations they serve.</p>
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<p>Donors of $500 or more will be acknowledged in the THANKS file and other
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  appropriate places in the codebase itself.</p>
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<p><a href="#endorsements">Endorsers of this effort</a> include April, Fractured Atlas, The Free Software
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Foundation, Mozilla Foundation, GNOME Foundation, OpenHatch, Open
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Source Initiative, QuestionCopyright.org, and Software in the Public
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Interest; all encourage you to <a href="#donate-box" class="donate-now">donate and support it</a>.</p>
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<h3>Background</h3>
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<p>Like many non-profit organizations (NPOs) in the USA, Conservancy's
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  financial accounts are audited annually by an independent accounting firm;
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  we recently completed our fiscal year 2011 audit.  As usual, our auditors
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  asked plenty of questions about our accounting software.  Conservancy uses
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  only Free Software, of course, centered around a set of straightforward reporting
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  scripts that we created to run on top
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  of <a href="http://www.ledger-cli.org/">Ledger CLI</a>. (Conservancy's
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  current configuration using Ledger CLI
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  is <a href="https://gitorious.org/ledger/npo-ledger-cli">publicly
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  documented and explained</a>.)</p>
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<p>Our auditors were only familiar with proprietary accounting software, and
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  so our system seemed foreign to them, as it relies on Ledger CLI's text files, Emacs and
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  version control.  During their questions
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  about our setup, we asked them to hypothetically prescribe a specific
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  proprietary software setup as a model for  managing Conservancy's
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  accounts.  Our chief auditor started by mentioning a few well-known
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  proprietary solutions.   But then he paused and continued:  <q>Given
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  that Conservancy's a fiscal sponsor with so many temporarily restricted
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  accounts, existing systems really wouldn't do that good of a job for
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  you</q>.</p>
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<p>Indeed, Conservancy reached out into the broader fiscal sponsorship
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  community beyond the <abbr title="Free, Libre and Open Source Software">FLOSS</abbr>
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  <abbr title="Non-profit Organization">NPO</abbr> community and discovered that many larger fiscal sponsors — even
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  those willing to use proprietary components — have cobbled together
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  their own unique systems, idiosyncratically tailored to their specific
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  environments.  Thus, good, well-designed, and reusable accounting software
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  for non-profit fiscal sponsorship is not just missing in the software
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  freedom community; it's missing altogether.</p>
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<p>The project that Conservancy proposes will take a modest step
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  forward in creating a better solution for everyone. 
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  <a href="#quotes">Many NPO leaders and academics agree</a> with Conservancy about the
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  immediate need for work to begin on this
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  effort.  <a id="endorsements"
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  style="text-decoration:none"></a><a href="http://april.org">April</a>, <a href="https://www.fracturedatlas.org">Fractured Atlas</a>, The <a href="http://fsf.org">Free Software
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  Foundation</a>, The <a href="https://www.mozilla.org/foundation/">Mozilla
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Foundation</a>, The <a href="http://www.gnome.org/foundation/">GNOME Foundation</a>,  <a
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        href="https://openhatch.org/">OpenHatch</a>, <a href="http://opensource.org/node/658">Open Source Initiative</a>,
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  <a href="http://QuestionCopyright.org">QuestionCopyright.org</a>, and <a href="http://www.spi-inc.org/">Software in the Public Interest</a> have
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  all endorsed Conservancy's plan, and they encourage you to <a href="#donate-box" class="donate-now">donate and
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  support it</a>.</p>
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<p>Conservancy is uniquely qualified to undertake this task.  Using only Free
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  Software, Conservancy already meets the complex accounting challenges of
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  earmarked, directed donations for over thirty different projects.  We've
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  learned much about this work in our first seven years of
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  operation, and we're prepared to apply what we've learned to solve
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  this problem not just for ourselves, but for anyone who seeks a
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  solution that both respects software freedom and handles non-profit
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  accounting for all sorts of NPOs, including fiscal sponsors.  General NPO
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  accounting is just a “base case” of fiscal sponsorship (i.e.,
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  an NPO is just a fiscal sponsor for one and only one specific project),
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  and Conservancy therefore believes a solution that handles fiscal sponsors
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  will also handle the simpler case as well.</p>
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<h3>The Plan</h3>
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<p>Conservancy proposes to hire a software developer for one year to
 | 
						|
  accomplish the first two phases of this project.  Conservancy seeks to
 | 
						|
  raise $75,000 toward this project to help cover salary and benefits for a
 | 
						|
  full-time staffer to work on this project.  We ask that you give generously
 | 
						|
  via the donation buttons on this page to support our work.</p>
 | 
						|
 | 
						|
<h4>Phase 0</h4>
 | 
						|
 | 
						|
<p>Some Free Software accounting systems do exist.  A previous informal
 | 
						|
  survey of these systems that Conservancy conducted in 2007 led us to the
 | 
						|
  conclusion that, in general, these systems were heavily geared toward
 | 
						|
  for-profit endeavors, ignored the unique needs of NPOs generally, and
 | 
						|
  were completely hopeless for the specific needs of a fiscal sponsoring
 | 
						|
  organization.  Conservancy's assessment at the time was that these
 | 
						|
  challenges could be addressed only with a large rewrite of one of these
 | 
						|
  systems.  Conservancy chose
 | 
						|
  <a href="http://www.ledger-cli.org/">Ledger CLI</a> precisely because
 | 
						|
  it provided flexibility and configurability not present in any other Free Software
 | 
						|
  double-entry accounting system.</p>
 | 
						|
 | 
						|
<p>However, while that previous informal survey informs Conservancy's
 | 
						|
  existing hypothesis that Ledger CLI is the right base system here,
 | 
						|
  Conservancy will first test that hypothesis.  The first phase of this
 | 
						|
  project (estimated to last approximately 6-8 full-time weeks) will produce
 | 
						|
  a written survey of all known Free Software accounting systems, and
 | 
						|
  indicate what challenges exist to adapt such systems for the needs of
 | 
						|
  NPOs.  The <a href="https://fsf.org/">Free Software Foundation</a> has
 | 
						|
  pledged their help in the evaluation of SQL-Ledger,
 | 
						|
  and <a href="http://www.gnome.org/foundation/">the GNOME Foundation</a> has pledged their
 | 
						|
  help in the evaluation of <a href="http://www.gnucash.org/">GNUcash</a> (which they
 | 
						|
  currently use, respectively).</p>
 | 
						|
 | 
						|
<h4>Phase 1</h4>
 | 
						|
 | 
						|
<p>Phase 1 of the project will select the preferred codebase from Phase 0,
 | 
						|
  and improve that system to create a basic accounting system for
 | 
						|
  small-to-medium sized USA NPOs (i.e., Form 990-filers) — including fiscal
 | 
						|
  sponsors — with the following features:
 | 
						|
<ul>
 | 
						|
<li>Basic accounts payable/receivable (with invoicing)</li>
 | 
						|
<li>Tracking and reporting of non-profit income types (related business
 | 
						|
  income, unrelated business taxable income, donations, etc.)</li>
 | 
						|
<li>Basic backup documentation tracking for expenses and payments</li>
 | 
						|
<li>Basic bank statement reconciliation reporting</li>
 | 
						|
<li>Basic annual audit preparation reporting
 | 
						|
  (A <a href="https://github.com/ledger/ledger/tree/next/contrib/non-profit-audit-reports">prototype
 | 
						|
  of this portion is already complete</a> and has been relied on for
 | 
						|
  real-life audits; but the prototype is just a hack and needs to be
 | 
						|
  rewritten.)</li>
 | 
						|
<li>Ability to easily handle all these features on a project-by-project
 | 
						|
  subset of the accounts, and to easily export and excise that subset from
 | 
						|
  the system. (i.e., support for temporarily restricted assets, earmarked for
 | 
						|
  fiscal-sponsored projects)</li>
 | 
						|
<li>Multi-currency support and reporting</li>
 | 
						|
</ul>
 | 
						|
 | 
						|
<p>We will consider the first year of this project successful <em>only if all these
 | 
						|
  functions can be performed by a bookkeeper who is generally qualified as a
 | 
						|
  bookkeeper</em>, but not necessarily familiar with standard Free Software tools
 | 
						|
  such as GNU/Linux, Emacs, version control, and command line scripts.  This
 | 
						|
  requirement is essential: Conservancy's existing system using Ledger CLI
 | 
						|
  already provides sufficient functionality to manage non-profit accounting,
 | 
						|
  but our system requires a bookkeeper who is also adept with the
 | 
						|
  aforementioned tools already.</p>
 | 
						|
 | 
						|
<p>Finally, while the first year of work focuses on USA NPO needs,
 | 
						|
  Conservancy seeks to lead an international effort, and welcomes
 | 
						|
  contributions and input from everyone in the non-profit community from
 | 
						|
  around the world.  Conservancy has created
 | 
						|
  a <a href="http://lists.sfconservancy.org/mailman/listinfo/npo-accounting">mailing
 | 
						|
  list for discussion of this project</a> and
 | 
						|
  a <a href="http://npoacct.sfconservancy.org">Wiki for collaboration</a>  and encourages interested parties
 | 
						|
  from around the world to join the mailing list and contribute to the
 | 
						|
  project!</p>
 | 
						|
  
 | 
						|
<h3>Why Conservancy Must Fund This Work</h3>
 | 
						|
 | 
						|
<p>As it stands, nearly all Open Source and Free Software NPOs either use
 | 
						|
  proprietary software, or fully outsource their bookkeeping and accounting
 | 
						|
  to third-parties.  Those that don't do so (such as Conservancy and the Free
 | 
						|
  Software Foundation) have long complained that existing Free Software in
 | 
						|
  this area is inadequate, and have been forced to develop customized,
 | 
						|
  one-off solutions in-house to make the systems work.</p>
 | 
						|
 | 
						|
<p>It's highly unlikely that the for-profit sector will adapt existing Free
 | 
						|
  Software accounting systems to meet the differing needs of NPOs (let alone
 | 
						|
  the more complex needs of fiscal sponsors; based on
 | 
						|
  advice from our auditors and other fiscal sponsors, Conservancy understands that <em>no existing
 | 
						|
  solution — proprietary or Free — meets the requirements of fiscal sponsorship accounting</em>).  Fiscal sponsors like
 | 
						|
  Conservancy must track a separate set of books for every project, keeping
 | 
						|
  in mind that a project may leave at any time for another NPO and need to take
 | 
						|
  their books with them.  Yet, the books of the entire organization are the
 | 
						|
  aggregate of the books of all these projects, and internally, they need to
 | 
						|
  be presented as a single set of books for those purposes.</p>
 | 
						|
 | 
						|
<p>Meanwhile, even if an organization is not a fiscal sponsor, non-profit
 | 
						|
  accounting is <em>just different</em> than for-profit accounting, particularly in
 | 
						|
  the USA.  For example, for-profit-oriented systems often make problematic
 | 
						|
  assumptions about the workflow of accounting tasks (often because NPOs
 | 
						|
  rely primarily on donations, rather than fee-for-service or widget-selling
 | 
						|
  income).  Also, non-profit income is categorized differently than
 | 
						|
  for-profit income, and the reporting requirements vary wildly from their
 | 
						|
  for-profit equivalents.</p>
 | 
						|
 | 
						|
<p>Conservancy's existing system is working adequately, but requires daily
 | 
						|
  the relatively more expensive time of a highly technical person to do the
 | 
						|
  job of bookkeeping.  Also, the system cannot easily be adapted in its
 | 
						|
  current form for another NPO, unless they also have a
 | 
						|
  skilled technical employee to act as bookkeeper.  This project aims to build
 | 
						|
  on what Conservancy has learned and produce a non-profit accounting system
 | 
						|
  that corrects these flaws.</p>
 | 
						|
 | 
						|
<p>Finally, Conservancy's mission (as stated
 | 
						|
on <a href="http://sfconservancy.org/docs/conservancy_Form-1023.pdf">our Form
 | 
						|
1023 with the USA IRS</a>) includes producing Open Source and Free Software.
 | 
						|
Thus, this project is a great way to pursue Conservancy's mission and address a
 | 
						|
specific need that so many NPOs (including us) have.  If no one steps up to create Free Software to replace the widely used
 | 
						|
proprietary software, NPOs in aggregate will pay <em>much more</em> money for
 | 
						|
proprietary licensing than Conservancy will ever spend in developing a
 | 
						|
replacement. Please <a href="#donate-box" class="donate-now">donate
 | 
						|
generously</a> to help us do it!</p>
 | 
						|
 | 
						|
<a id="quotes"></a>
 | 
						|
<h3>Statements of Support For This Project from Others</h3>
 | 
						|
 | 
						|
<p><q>As a national fiscal sponsor with over 3,000 arts and cultural projects
 | 
						|
under our umbrella, Fractured Atlas is ecstatic about this effort's
 | 
						|
potential. After 15 years wrestling with Quickbooks and other inadequate
 | 
						|
options, the idea of an open source tool designed specifically for this niche
 | 
						|
of the field is beyond welcome. We wholeheartedly support the Conservancy's
 | 
						|
work on this front and look forward to seeing where it leads.</q> —
 | 
						|
<a href="https://www.fracturedatlas.org/site/bios/staff/1/Adam%20Forest_Huttler">Adam
 | 
						|
  Huttler</a>, Executive Director, <a href="https://www.fracturedatlas.org">Fractured Atlas</a></p>
 | 
						|
 | 
						|
<p><q><a href="http://QuestionCopyright.org">QuestionCopyright.org</a> is
 | 
						|
just one of many organizations that would benefit from a Free Software
 | 
						|
accounting system that is usable by non-technical people.  We
 | 
						|
enthusiastically support the Conservancy's campaign to create one, and look
 | 
						|
forward to using the result.</q>
 | 
						|
— <a href="http://questioncopyright.org/speakers/karl_fogel">Karl
 | 
						|
Fogel</a>, Executive Director,
 | 
						|
  <a href="http://QuestionCopyright.org">QuestionCopyright.org</a></p>
 | 
						|
 | 
						|
<p><q>As a fiscal sponsor organization with over 30 currently-associated Free
 | 
						|
Software projects, Software in the Public Interest shares the Conservancy's
 | 
						|
needs and interests in this area, and welcome the opportunity to collaborate
 | 
						|
on the development of a Free Software solution to our accounting needs.</q>
 | 
						|
— Bdale Garbee, President,  <a href="http://www.spi-inc.org/">Software
 | 
						|
    in the Public Interest</a></p>
 | 
						|
 | 
						|
<p><q>Open Source accounting software specifically tailored for non-profits
 | 
						|
    will fill a pretty large need.</q>
 | 
						|
    — <a href="http://wagner.nyu.edu/calabrese">Thad Calabrese</a>,
 | 
						|
    Assistant Professor of Public and Nonprofit Financial Management
 | 
						|
    at <a href="http://wagner.nyu.edu/">NYU Wagner</a>, and co-author
 | 
						|
    of <cite>Financial Management for Public, Health, and Not-for-Profit
 | 
						|
    Organizations, 4th Edition</cite>.</p>
 | 
						|
 | 
						|
<p><q>Creating free software specifically designed to address the needs of
 | 
						|
nonprofits is a laudable goal and one that Conservancy is extremely well
 | 
						|
positioned to achieve.</q>  — <a href="http://gnomg.org">Karen
 | 
						|
Sandler</a>, Executive
 | 
						|
Director, The <a href="http://www.gnome.org/foundation/">GNOME Foundation</a></p>
 | 
						|
 | 
						|
<p><q>The Open Source Initiative has shared the experiences of Software
 | 
						|
     Freedom Conservancy in navigating the financial management needs of
 | 
						|
     non-profit organisations and shares their concern. We have many NPOs as
 | 
						|
     members and we welcome this useful initiative by Conservancy.</q>
 | 
						|
     — Simon Phipps, President, <a href="http://opensource.org/node/658">Open Source
 | 
						|
     Initiative</a></p>
 | 
						|
 | 
						|
<p><q>The <a href="https://fsf.org/">Free Software Foundation</a> is committed to doing all of its work,
 | 
						|
both public-facing and internal, using only free software. We are thankful to
 | 
						|
the developers of SQL Ledger for providing the accounting software that has
 | 
						|
served us well for many years. As we have grown, so have the complexities of
 | 
						|
our finances.  Because of our own needs and our mission to help other
 | 
						|
organizations — both inside and outside of the technology sphere
 | 
						|
— run their operations on exclusively free software, we wholeheartedly
 | 
						|
support this Conservancy initiative.</q> — <a href="http://www.fsf.org/about/staff-and-board#johns">John Sullivan</a>, Executive
 | 
						|
Director, <a href="https://fsf.org">Free Software Foundation</a></p>
 | 
						|
 | 
						|
<p><q>Open source is a great way to solve new problems and make software that
 | 
						|
is more flexible and responsive to the needs of the people who use it. That's
 | 
						|
as true for the finance industry as it is on the web.</q>
 | 
						|
— <a href="http://blog.mozilla.org/press/bios/mark-surman/">Mark
 | 
						|
Surman</a>, Executive
 | 
						|
Director, <a href="https://www.mozilla.org/foundation/">Mozilla
 | 
						|
Foundation</a></p>
 | 
						|
 | 
						|
<p><q>As a young free software non-profit, OpenHatch is thrilled to see this
 | 
						|
effort; it would let us spend more of our time on programs and less on
 | 
						|
paperwork.  I have already personally <a href="#donate-box" class="donate-now">donated</a>.</q> — Asheesh Laroia,
 | 
						|
Executive Director, <a href="https://openhatch.org/">OpenHatch</a></p>
 | 
						|
 | 
						|
<h3>Some Important Details for this Fundraiser</h3>
 | 
						|
 | 
						|
<ul>
 | 
						|
<li>Donations made are general donations to the Software Freedom
 | 
						|
  Conservancy, Inc., a 501(c)(3) charity incorporated in New York.
 | 
						|
  Conservancy is committed to doing this work described herein, but cannot
 | 
						|
  promise to complete the work if the fundraising goal is not reached.  If
 | 
						|
  the fundraising goal is not reached, Conservancy will do its best to make
 | 
						|
  progress on the plan above with the resources available.  It's expected
 | 
						|
  that work will simply proceed, but more slowly and take more time, if the
 | 
						|
  fundraising goal is not reached.</li>
 | 
						|
 | 
						|
<li>The license for the project is not yet chosen, since Phase 0 might
 | 
						|
  prescribe contribution to particular upstream projects, and Conservancy is
 | 
						|
  committed to contributing to upstream projects under their chosen license,
 | 
						|
  where possible.  However, Conservancy promises that all software that is
 | 
						|
  written will be released under a license that is both approved by
 | 
						|
  the <a href="http://www.gnu.org/licenses/license-list.html#GPLCompatibleLicenses">FSF as a Free
 | 
						|
  Software license</a> <strong>and</strong> by the OSI as
 | 
						|
  an <a href="http://opensource.org/licenses">OSI-approved license</a>.  New
 | 
						|
  documentation that is written will be released under some license
 | 
						|
  compatible with <a href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/us/">CC BY-SA 3.0 USA</a>.</li>
 | 
						|
</ul>
 | 
						|
 | 
						|
<!-- end campaign text -->
 | 
						|
</div>
 | 
						|
 | 
						|
{% endblock %}
 |