[Noisebridge-discuss] Donation process

[Jeffrey Malone]

Andy has summed it up correctly.

Please keep donations to things that are useful.  We're very happy to
receive donations of goods, but we unfortunately cannot afford to be a
place to simply drop off any old computer equipment (we have to pay
for it to be recycled just like anyone else).

It can often be best to ask ahead of time if people are interested in
the items.  This list, irc, weekly meetings, or simply talking to
those involved at Noisebridge to see if there is interest.  As long as
it's not a CRT, or a computer from 5 years ago, the chances there will
be interest are pretty good.

Whenever you donate something and want a tax receipt for it, you MUST
create an itemised list.  I will then issue a tax receipt containing
this list.
We do not estimate any values for the items received.  We simply
acknowledge that the item was received.  On your tax return, you then
deduct the "fair market value" of the item, at your discretion.  In an
audit, the IRS may ask that you prove the value deducted, which is
entirely separate from us.  As such, making the list descriptive is in
your interest (listing a "network switch" will be hard to prove the
value of, whereas listing a specific model number and such will be
best).

So, I hope I didn't discourage you from donating :)
We're very happy to get donations, as everything at the space has been
provided by supporters of Noisebridge, and has made it the usable
space it is.  Thanks in advance!

Jeffrey

Note to self:
Create a wiki page detailing this process.

On Thu, Jun 3, 2010 at 1:02 PM, Andy Isaacson <adi at hexapodia.org> wrote:
> On Thu, Jun 03, 2010 at 12:08:44PM -0700, Geoff Horne wrote:
>> On the ever contining discussion of donataion, what is the process for
>> receipts and general junk ??
>>
>> specifically :
>>
>>  - Is anyone getting email sent to secretary at noisebridge.net ?
>
> Yes, Seth should get that.
>
>>  - Can you donate 'anything' or is someone going to vet the giftage ?
>
> No, please don't donate your dirty socks.  (Or whatever.)  Donations
> should be useful to Noisebridge.  We don't have a formal process; if a
> random member feels that a donation is useful, and it won't greatly
> inconvenience the group as a whole, that's generally good enough.
>
>>  - Since gifts are tax deductable, how does the gifter get a receipt ?
>
> Send an email to secretary@ and treasurer@ -- and if you really feel
> like it, CC board at lists.noisebridge.net (which is publicly archived) --
> describing the donation and the circumstances of the donation ("I
> delivered 3 Wumpus terminals to 2169 Mission St on December 31, 1969").
>
> Make sure the secretary and treasurer have the legal name and address of
> the donor, but don't send those to board at lists unless you're OK with
> them being publicly archived.
>
> If you're working with a specific member who's interested in the
> donation, CC them and mention this fact in the email.
>
> The treasurer / secretary will provide a receipt letter at some point.
> We're all volunteers, so it may take a while.
>
>> I'm staring at a pile of computer equipment here that I think NB could
>> use and I could benefit from the tax write off.
>
> Great!  If there's a member who would like to receive the donation,
> let's get this ball rolling. :)  If you don't have anybody in mind, pick
> whatever forum you're most comfortable with --
>  - monday Circuit Hacking
>  - tuesday membership meeting
>  - the mailing list
>  - the IRC channel
> and start a discussion to garner interest.
>
> -andy
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