[Linux-aus] For discussion: proposals for membership changes

[Peter Miller]

On Wed, 2011-04-27 at 11:13 +1000, Mary Gardiner wrote:
> Council has a couple of proposals about membership we're going to float for
> discussion [...]

> If anyone has ideas about a structure for donations [...] do share
> them

I tend to feel like a squeeky wheel every time I say this, but here
goes...

1. I would prefer to see a $0 membership fee, permanently, in the
constitution.

However, I think that LA could offer some services for a fee,
exclusively to members.  For example:

2. your.name at opensource.org.au email address redirection, say $20 per
year (which should mostly be profit)
2a. your.name at linux.org.au

3. yourname.opensource.org.au DNS delegation, say $50 per year (again,
mostly profit)
3a. yourname.linux.org.au

4. other stuff I haven't thought of, but along the same lines

Naturally, the use you would make of such things needs to be at least
vaguely compatible with LA goals and objectives.  I'm not sure that
linus-torvalds-is-a-satanist.linux.org.au should be delegated, for
example.


The down side is that these are services, not a donation.  I got burnt
one year buying vastly over-priced colouring books from WWF, only to
discover they were not tax deductable -- goods or services in return for
(far too much) money is not a donation.  However, as an IT professional,
stuff like ISP fees, domain registration fees, etc, are all tax
deductable.

Hypothetically, if 100 members chose to pay for both services, that is a
piddling $7000 per year. Piddling compared to the LCA income, that is.
These services would, however, serve (however modestly) to diversify
LA's financial base. 

-- 
Regards
Peter Miller <pmiller at opensource.org.au>
/\/\*        http://miller.emu.id.au/pmiller/

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