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Buy a Damian
Yet Another Society
is attempting to organize a campaign to support Damian Conway
and his family for a the year 2001 to work on just Perl. Modules,
speaking engagements, and whatever else he can. Essentially,
the Perl community, through YAS, would be "buying out" the good
doctor's obligations at Monash University in Australia,
along with raising money for travel and expenses.
The estimated cost of all this is USD 55,000. For more information, including email correspondence between Conway and Kevin Lenzo, check out http://www.yetanother.org/damian/.
The Fine Print: The following comments are owned by whoever posted them. We are not responsible for them in any way.
and they send the money where?
(Score:1)( Last Journal: 2002.02.25 17:47 )
Also, you should offer your annual report on the web site to boost confidence in fiscal responsibility.
I'll send a check for $1000.00 US if you get the ball rolling by next Thursday.
Re:and they send the money where?
(Score:1)( http://pudge.net/ | Last Journal: 2006.09.11 3:27 )
This would be easy except for the "fast" deadline
(Score:1)( http://web.missouri.edu/~kingjw/ )
And I have no doubt that had it been floated back in, oh, say July that it would have had an excellent chance of success. But if he needs to have the money by basically yesterday and there isn't any mechanism quite in place to make this work yet, then...it could be tough. I mean, I'm not sure there is a corporate sponsor out there who can cover this in a hurry, and 2,000 $30 donations would just take too long unless you can just type credit card numbers into a secure website or something.
This is pretty frustrating
Re:and they send the money where?
(Score:1)That's an astonishingly generous offer, Elaine. Thank-you.
I thought perhaps I should take the opportunity to explain the nature of -- and reason for -- the rush.
YAS has not been able to accept donations for this project until its tax status was confirmed. But my department at Monash University has now gone into the planning phase for next year, and needs to know within the next week or two whether they'll have my teaching/admin services for 2001 (which they most decidedly won't if the Perl community wants me).
So my department needs a clear indication of what I'm doing next year, which means YAS needs a clear indication of whether the community thinks "buying me out" is a worthwhile thing, and something they would actually fund (I'm not nearly egoistical enough to simply assume that the weird stuff I do is worth real money :-)
That's what's required by next week: pledges of support. Actual cash could come (a little) later.
Meanwhile, I've already been overwhelmed by the support that people have privately expressed for this. Whether or not the project comes together, I am deeply honoured and grateful that so many people seem to believe I would be worth "buying".
Re:and they send the money where?
(Score:1)( http://www.mccarroll.org.uk/~gem/ )
Yet again Kurt has worked his ass off for YAS to get this CGI ready,
Greg
Re:This would be easy except for the "fast" deadli
(Score:1)( http://www.mccarroll.org.uk/~gem/ )
And as well you will be able to type credit card donations into a web page
Greg
Re:and they send the money where?
(Score:1)( Last Journal: 2002.02.25 17:47 )
I'm certain the enthusiasm is there, but if one has to work at finding out how and where their interest my be funneled interest may wane and be lost. The non-profit status pending isn't as important as being able to accept gifts/pledges, send thank you notes with receipts, and keep careful accounting for an annual report. As long as the receipt is clear, you may still use it on your tax return in good faith.
A week really isn't much time. I'd hate to see such a grand opportunity lost.
Re:and they send the money where?
(Score:1)( http://www.mccarroll.org.uk/~gem/ )
A more formal press release will be released along with a nice set of webpages in the next 24 hours.
Re:and they send the money where?
(Score:1)( Last Journal: 2002.02.25 17:47 )
Also, you might suggest to the *major* contributor that you hinted at earlier, that they make their contribution a matching challenge gift, e.g. they pledge $25k if the community can drum up $25k on their own.
Corporate support is nice but I'd really like to see the community do this without relying on the big spenders for the sake of being able to triumph without goliath.
Re:and they send the money where?
(Score:1)( http://pudge.net/ | Last Journal: 2006.09.11 3:27 )
Re:and they send the money where?
(Score:1)( http://www.mccarroll.org.uk/~gem/ )
The matching challenge is effectively what they are doing, however given the timescales involved this company will be doing it in one lump.
I'll be doing a press-ish release today and adding some more details. Including the mystery sponsor's name!
Re:and they send the money where?
(Score:1)( Last Journal: 2002.02.25 17:47 )
And a matching gift is an all or nothing deal. If you raise the amount set by the challenge, then you get it and if you fail, you don't. This sounds more like an outright gift that you are already counting on.
Reason for restriction
(Score:1)( http://thepope.org )
As you can guess, if we ended up raising just shy of the necessary amount, YAS could be stuck with a couple thousand dollars in fees and no money to cover it. Suddenly, Kevin and I would be stuck footing a substantial bill out of our own pocket....
In light of the discontent this has caused, however, I have talked with Greg McCarroll and we may have a reasonable solution. We will give refunds on your contribution less 5%. That way, you still get most of your money back, but YAS is not bankrupted. In other words, we'll split the risk of things falling apart. Also, anyone paying by check can get a full refund if the check is for more that $500.
We put the $500 restriction in place so that people won't all use checks, resulting in me having to write out and mail hundres of checks. For checks less that $500, we will apply the same 5% refund fee.
Hopefully this is an acceptable comprimise.
Re:This would be easy except for the "fast" deadli
(Score:1)Re:Reason for restriction
(Score:1)