Gentoo Foundation Funding and Expenditures

1.  Funding needs and expenditures

What do we need money for?

Gentoo has been fortunate to survive on the goodwill of others who donate time and resources to the development of the distribution. There are some areas where that is not enough, and Gentoo can benefit from a shot in the arm in terms of money. Raising and distributing such money is one of the jobs of the Gentoo Foundation. The following are meant to be examples of the types of monetary needs Gentoo has or may have in the future. As the distribution evolves, so will this list of needs.

• Legal fees: Certain legal actions will require money to file, such as the upcoming IRS 501(c)(6) filing, and any possible moves to protect the trademarks and copyrights of Gentoo. The Foundation is fortunate to have a legal firm assisting them pro bono, yet when that firm incurs any costs on behalf of the Gentoo Foundation, those costs will be passed on to be paid by the Foundation

• Promotion: There are some things that can be done to promote Gentoo Linux in areas that word of mouth and press releases do not reach. This often takes money. Some examples include trade show giveaways and informational material, magazine advertisements, etc.

• Infrastructure: The development and everyday operations of Gentoo Linux rely on many hosting providers and vendors who offer resources for free. Some times these resources may be second hand hardware that breaks and needs replacement parts that need to be purchased. There may also be needs that arise for which a donated system can not be found, and thus money would need to be spent. Upgrades (such as additional server RAM) are also included.

• Developer rewards: This is not currently done (there is no money), but in the future developer rewards, bonuses, bounties, etc. may be a possibility to spark development.

• Developer improvement: This could include training and education for our developers, such as technical books and manuals.

• Developer appreciation: Schwag for our devs.. Ideally, if the Foundation could swing it, every dev would be wearing a Gentoo shirt, and not by their own dime if they are actively contributing to the development of Gentoo Linux. (this could be considered "Developer rewards")

Foundation spending

No money will be spent by any member of the Gentoo Foundation (Trustees included) without prior approval from the Board of Trustees. To avoid redundant requests, budgets may be assigned. For example, a group working a Gentoo booth at a trade show needs money to purchase flyers and giveaways. That group can write a proposal to the Foundation for funding, with the proposal indicating what they would like to buy and how much it will cost. Instead of having to approve a purchase of additional misc. office supplies for a trade show display, a predetermined amount of money could be assigned to the trade show group. Say, in this case, $50 was requested in the proposal, but $75 is budgeted to cover any expenses that come up. This method will not always be followed.

All purchases, no matter how big or small, will be tracked and receipts will be kept. This needs to happen not only for tax purposes, but also so the Foundation can be held accountable to its donors and members. These receipts can be sent to the Foundation treasurer (or acting treasurer).

To request funds from the Foundation, please see and follow the doc on requesting funds.

Foundation budget

Currently the Foundation has no annual budget. With a clean slate and an empty bank account it is hard to project both the financial needs as well as income for the year. Expect a budget to be created and posted here for next year.

2.  Fundraising projects and income

Ideas for ways to raise funds for the Gentoo Foundation

Again, the following are ideas that may change with time (and is not a complete list).

• Donations: These can come from the website donation link (Paypal), from trade shows, or through the Gentoo store. If you will be collecting funds on behalf of Gentoo for any reason, please see and follow the doc on collecting funds.

• Grants: Writing and submitting grants for project money from any number of sources (vendors, government, organizations, etc.)

• Store: A portion of the proceeds from the store.gentoo.org sales are advertised as supporting Gentoo. Such funds are directed to the Gentoo Foundation.

• Projects: If there is a project that is valuable as a product or service, then the Foundation may explore ways to sell or encourage donations for said project.

Banking

The Gentoo Foundation is currently in the process of finding a new bank due to the fact that our now former bank, NetBank, closed on September 28, 2007.

Money may also be temporarily held in the Paypal account until enough money has been donated to warrant a transfer into the bank account.

Quarterly Financial Reports

3rd Quarter, 2005
4th Quarter, 2005
1st Quarter, 2006
2nd Quarter, 2006
3rd Quarter, 2006
4th Quarter, 2006
1st Quarter, 2007
2nd Quarter, 2007
3rd Quarter, 2007
4th Quarter, 2007
1st Quarter, 2008
2nd Quarter, 2008
3rd Quarter, 2008
4th Quarter, 2008
1st Quarter, 2009
2nd Quarter, 2009
3rd Quarter, 2009
4th Quarter, 2009
1st Quarter, 2010

"Thank you"s

2005 Paypal Contributors 2006 Paypal Contributors 2007 Paypal Contributors 2008 Paypal Contributors

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