discuss: Thread: Free google ads for TLDP?

Maybe with the non-profit EIN TLDP will qualify
for free google ads?

Google Grants - Free Advertising for Open Source Non-profits
http://google-code-updates.blogspot.com/2007/04/google-grants-free-advertising-for-open.html

Karl ####@####.####
Free Software:  "You don't pay back, you pay forward."
                  -- Robert A. Heinlein

On 4/4/07, Karl O. Pinc ####@####.#### wrote:
> Maybe with the non-profit EIN TLDP will qualify
> for free google ads?

I think the number of visitors is not the problem with TLDP. We get
tons of visits. It is the quality of the content. Just my $0.0002

saqib
http://www.full-disk-encryption.net

On 04/04/2007 10:36:49 PM, Ali, Saqib wrote:

> I think the number of visitors is not the problem with TLDP. We get
> tons of visits. It is the quality of the content. Just my $0.0002

Then TLDP should advertise for editors and authors.  :-)

Karl ####@####.####
Free Software:  "You don't pay back, you pay forward."
                  -- Robert A. Heinlein

> Then TLDP should advertise for editors and authors.  :-)

good idea.

also last night i was thinking maybe we can ask for donations for TLDP
on Google Ads. With the donation we can compensate the authors and
editors for their contributions. Nothing motivates like money......

saqib
http://www.full-disk-encryption.net

Quoting Karl O. Pinc ####@####.####

> Maybe with the non-profit EIN TLDP will qualify
> for free google ads?
> 
> Google Grants - Free Advertising for Open Source Non-profits
> http://google-code-updates.blogspot.com/2007/04/google-grants-free-advertising-for-open.html

To answer your question, unfortunately, absolutely _no_.  Google is
extending its offer only to IRS-recognised _charity_ corporations / funds
/ community chests / foundations.

http://www.google.com/grants/details.html specifies:

   Organizations must have current 501(c)(3) status, as assigned by the
   Internal Revenue Service to be considered for a Google Grant.


Here are some comments about Internal Revenue Code section 501(c)(3) I
posted to the PenLUG mailing list about a similar situation.  (I've also
added some comments about such matters to the Linux User Group HOWTO,
referenced below, because I keep seeing Linux hobbyist groups tripping
over incorporation / tax / non-profit / insurance / liability issues and
making embarrassing and expensive blunders.)

(The primary intended purpose of getting an EIN = Employer
Identification Number is to uniquely identify a business to the IRS and
other US Federal agencies for purposes of the business owing and paying
payroll and other business taxes.  There is no such thing as a
"non-profit EIN", and having an EIN in no way demonstrates that one is
non-profit at all, let alone a 501(c)(3) charity.)



 From rick Sat Mar 24 07:06:15 2007
 Date: Sat, 24 Mar 2007 07:06:15 -0700
 To: ####@####.####
 Subject: Re: [PenLUG] Candidate PenLug meeting room, El Camino Real x Hwy 92 in San Mateo, Silicon     Valley Community Foundation                                                                           
                                                                                                       
Quoting Bill Ward ####@####.####
                                                                                                       
> This would be perfect but we're not a 501(c)(3) organization.  svlug and
> sbay.org looked into doing that, and it proved pretty much impossible to                             
> achieve.

Fortunately, Silicon Valley Community Foundation doesn't seem, going by
that text on the Web site, to require that groups have IRS recognition
as tax-exempt charities (which is what a 501(c)(3) determination letter
is).  It just wants applicants to be "non-profits".  PenLUG's pretty
obviously a non-profit.  So, I would encourage talking to them.

Of possible interest is the "Common Misconceptions" section (coverage of
IRS and other USA legal matters) in the Linux User Group HOWTO, at
http://en.tldp.org/HOWTO/User-Group-HOWTO-7.html#ss7.1




 Date: Sat, 24 Mar 2007 07:15:42 -0700
 From: Rick Moen ####@####.####
 To: ####@####.####
 Subject: Re: [PenLUG] Candidate PenLug meeting room, El Camino Real x Hwy 92 in San Mateo, Silicon     Valley Community Foundation                                                                           
                                                                                                       
I wrote:                                                                                               

> Fortunately, Silicon Valley Community Foundation doesn't seem, going by
> that text on the Web site, to require that groups have IRS recognition                               
> as tax-exempt charities (which is what a 501(c)(3) determination letter
> is).  It just wants applicants to be "non-profits".

Eh, I posted too soon, and relied just on Lee's quotation.  Having just                                
checked the actual Web page, I see exactly what Bill's talking about:

  The foundation's conference facilities are available to 501(c)(3)                                    
  nonprofit organizations from San Mateo and Santa Clara counties, local                               
  public agencies and branches of national organizations. All groups                                   
  must provide a certificate of insurance naming Silicon Valley                                        
  Community Foundation as an additional insured party.                                                 

So, you'd indeed need to be an IRS-recognised charity _and_ also be
shelling out a thosand dollars or so per year in liability insurance
premiums.  So, no-go.  Looks like this one is a big-money charity
outfit, open to participation by other big-money charity groups
only.  ("The result is the fourth largest community foundation in the
nation with more than $1.5 billion in assets and more than 1,400
philanthropic funds."  http://www.siliconvalleycf.org/about.html)


 From rick Mon Mar 26 00:48:00 2007
 Date: Mon, 26 Mar 2007 00:48:00 -0700
 To: ####@####.####
 Subject: Re: [PenLUG] Candidate PenLug meeting room, El Camino Real x Hwy 92 in San Mateo, Silicon     Valley Community Foundation                                                                           
                                                                                                       
Quoting Bill Kendrick ####@####.####                                                                 
                                                                                                       
> Would they accept 501(c)7's?  LUGOD got that back in its first year of                               
> existance.                                                                                           
                                                                                                       
(Just to clue people in:  501(c)(7) is the Internal Revenue Code                                       
category for social & recreation non-profit groups.  As a reminder,                                    
501(c)(3), by contrast, is a much more restrictive IRC category for                                    
_charities_.[0])                                                                                       
                                                                                                       
One of the reason tax-exempt charities like to do services only for                                    
other tax-exempt charities is to protect their character as a charity in                               
case IRS comes looking at same.  To quote IRS's guidelines:[1]                                         
                                                                                                       
  The organizing documents must limit the organization's purposes to                                   
  exempt purposes set forth in section 501(c)(3) and must not expressly                                
  empower it to engage, other than as an insubstantial part of its                                     
  activities, in activities that are not in furtherance of one or more                                 
  of those purposes.                                                                                   
                                                                                                       
So, typically a 501(c)(3) charity wants to have _very_ little of its                                   
activities be outside its specified charitable purpose -- to make very                                 
sure those exceptions remain an "insubstantial part".                                                  
                                                                                                       
Also, note the societal character of groups like Silicon Valley                                        
Community Foundation:  They're (in part) vehicles for rich individuals                                 
and corporations to feel good about themselves, being ennobled by                                      
philanthropy / social services.  Society people in nice clothes get to                                 
be photographed doing good for the deserving poor, etc.                                                
                                                                                                       
                                                                                                       
[0] It would be a bit pedantic to add that the category also includes                                  
groups for religion, education, science, literary matters, public safety,                              
some national and international sports, prevention of cruelty to children                              
and animals groups, relief of the poor / distressed / underprivileged,                                 
erection / maintenance of public buildings / monuments / works,                                        
lessening the burdens of goverment, lessening neighbourhood tensions,                                  
elimination of prejudice and discrimination, defence of human and civil                                
rights guaranteed by law, and combatting community deterioration and                                   
juvenile delinquency -- those that are corporations, community chests,                                 
funds, or foundations -- but someone might interject that if I don't                                   
preempt the point.  ;->                                           

[1] http://www.irs.gov/charities/charitable/article/0,,id=96099,00.html
There's more in IRS Publication 557, "Tax Exempt Status for Your
Organization".