[hackerspaces] Fundraising for FLOSS non-profit accounting software

[Edward L Platt]

We used to use GNUCash at i3 Detroit, but wound up switching to the
proprietary software that shall not be named.

The major limitations of GNUCash were:
* Not a web app - prevented dividing tasks among multiple pepole
(receipt/payment entry, reconciliation, billing, etc.).
* No way to track vendors/customers.  We wound up creating a sub-account
for each member, which was really unwieldy, especially since GNUCash didn't
alphabetize them, and wouldn't total them in our reports.
* Clunky interface.
* Learning curve too steep for volunteers.

Also here's a feature request that I've never been able to find in *any*
accounting software:
* See the statement date for which each transaction was reconciled.

If anyone starts an open source bookkeeping web app, I'd love to get on the
dev list.

-Ed


On Thu, May 2, 2013 at 9:46 AM, Doug Philips <doug at hackpittsburgh.org>wrote:

> I wonder if they have looked at ledger (http://www.ledger-cli.org/).
> They're on the cusp of releasing v3,
> but that'll be soon enough.
> -=Doug
>
>
>
> On 5/2/13 9:20 AM, Tim Butram wrote:
>
>> I don't think that GNUCash has all of the required features that they
>> need. From their list I don't think that GNUCash can do:
>>
>>   * Tracking and reporting of non-profit income types (related business
>> income, unrelated business taxable income, donations, etc.)
>>   * Basic annual audit preparation reporting
>>   * 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)
>>
>>
>> Unless these are just features are unknown to me. Either way, they were
>> not ruling out contributing to some project, so it could end up being that
>> GNUCash gets some more features.
>>
>> Tim Butram
>>
>>
>> On Wed, May 1, 2013 at 6:27 PM, Joshua Pritt <ramgarden at gmail.com<mailto:
>> ramgarden at gmail.com>> wrote:
>>
>>     I'll donate some of my free time to work on this software!  I have
>> had to help with issues with proprietary software such as Exceed! Basic.
>>     Is Conservancy trying to do the same thing as GNUCash?
>>
>>
>>     On Wed, May 1, 2013 at 5:15 PM, Danny O'Brien <danny at spesh.com<mailto:
>> danny at spesh.com>> wrote:
>>
>>         I thought this might be something that many here would see as a
>>         worthwhile project to donate money toward:
>>
>>         http://sfconservancy.org/**campaign/<http://sfconservancy.org/campaign/>
>>
>>              Conservancy has a plan to help all non-profit organizations
>> (NPOs)
>>              by creating an Open Source and Free Software accounting
>> system
>>              usable by non-technical bookkeepers, accountants, and
>> non-profit
>>              managers. You can help us do it by donating now.
>>
>>              To keep their books and produce annual government filings,
>> most NPOs
>>              rely on proprietary software, paying exorbitant licensing
>> fees. This
>>              is fundamentally at cross purposes with their underlying
>> missions of
>>              charity, equality, democracy, and sharing.
>>
>>              You can help Conservancy fix this problem by donating now.
>> We seek
>>              to raise $75,000 to employ a developer for one year to make
>>              substantial progress on this project.
>>
>>         Note that this first year will concentrate on US non-profit
>>         requirements, "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
>> mailing list
>>         for discussion of this project and encourages interested parties
>> from
>>         around the world to join the mailing list and contribute to the
>>         project!"
>>
>>         http://lists.sfconservancy.**org/mailman/listinfo/npo-**
>> accounting<http://lists.sfconservancy.org/mailman/listinfo/npo-accounting>
>>
>>         Donation sidebar is on the main page:
>>         http://sfconservancy.org/**campaign/<http://sfconservancy.org/campaign/>
>>
>>         d.
>>
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-- 
Edward L. Platt
http://elplatt.com
http://civic.mit.edu/users/elplatt
http://i3detroit.com
@EdwardLPlatt <http://twitter.com/EdwardLPlatt>
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