[hackerspaces] Fundraising for FLOSS non-profit accounting software

Pete Prodoehl raster at gmail.com
Thu May 2 17:32:32 CEST 2013


We've got software we use for billing our members, as we as keeping 
track of rentable storage space.

     https://code.google.com/u/jason.gessner/p/mkemakerspace-tools/

Right now I think Milwaukee Makerspace is the only one using it, though 
I believe jason g. (lead developer) has talked with some people at 
Pumping Station: One and Workshop 88 about it.


Pete


On 5/2/13 10:07 AM, Edward L Platt wrote:
> 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 
> <mailto: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>
>         <mailto: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>
>         <mailto: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/
>
>                      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
>
>                 Donation sidebar is on the main page:
>         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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