[hackerspaces] Fundraising for FLOSS non-profit accounting software
Edward L Platt
ed at elplatt.com
Thu May 2 18:41:02 CEST 2013
A group of hackerspace software engineers is a great idea! We could
certainly use the help on Seltzer CRM (hackerspace management web app,
including billing, but not double-entry bookkeeping).
What we shoud do *first* though is get a list of people willing to evaluate
existing applications and post screencast demos on the hackerspaces wiki.
-Ed
On Thu, May 2, 2013 at 12:35 PM, James Carlson <james at schoolfactory.org>wrote:
> The School Factory and Space Federation would gladly help sponsor this
> activity--it's such an important component! Access control, member
> management, and accounting are all the challenging things.
>
>
> On Thu, May 2, 2013 at 11:32 AM, Joshua Pritt <ramgarden at gmail.com> wrote:
>
>> Would it work better if we create a hackerspaces group of software
>> engineers (aka code monkeys, code poets, and source ninjas) to start up a
>> sourceforge/github/google/SVN repo project and create our own non-profit
>> accounting web app? Or should we all just put in a few hours here and
>> there from our spaces and do work on this Conservancy project?
>> I've always wanted to see how large of a software powerhouse we could
>> make out of all the coders from all the hackerspaces spending just a few
>> minutes or hours a week on a project.
>>
>> I imagine just creating a simple task list where each person takes a task
>> for themselves and divide and conquers it that way.
>>
>> I dunno, maybe it's not possible but I bet we could tackle almost any
>> software project with ease, especially something like a non-profit
>> accounting web app or even just plugins for GNUCash, etc.
>>
>> DISCUSS!
>>
>>
>> On Thu, May 2, 2013 at 11:11 AM, Kevin Conner <kevin.r.conner at gmail.com>wrote:
>>
>>> OpenERP is an option I've been using. It's not focused specifically on
>>> non-profit entities, but being open source I'm sure modules are available
>>> or could be made without having to start from scratch.
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> On Thu, May 2, 2013 at 8:32 AM, Pete Prodoehl <raster at gmail.com> wrote:
>>>
>>>>
>>>> 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>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/
>>>>>>
>>>>>> 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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>>>>>> Discuss at lists.hackerspaces.org <mailto:
>>>>>> Discuss at lists.hackerspaces.org>
>>>>>>
>>>>>> http://lists.hackerspaces.org/mailman/listinfo/discuss
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>> _______________________________________________
>>>>>> Discuss mailing list
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>>>>>>
>>>>>> http://lists.hackerspaces.org/mailman/listinfo/discuss
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>> _______________________________________________
>>>>>> Discuss mailing list
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>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>> _______________________________________________
>>>>> Discuss mailing list
>>>>> Discuss at lists.hackerspaces.org
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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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>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
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>>>>
>>>>
>>>
>>> _______________________________________________
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>>>
>>
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>>
>
> _______________________________________________
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> Discuss at lists.hackerspaces.org
> http://lists.hackerspaces.org/mailman/listinfo/discuss
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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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