FLOSS OS and applications for Christian Organizations

In looking into setting up a foundation to take over e-Sword-users.org, one thing that repeatedly struck me, was that no Linux distro targeted the non-profit sector.

At least three quarters of the charitable organizations in England, do not meet the financial criteria that requires that they be registered with The Charitable Commission of England and Wales.  Not only is their gross annual revenue under five thousand pounds, but the trustees do not anticipate it exceeding that amount.


A 64 bit Linux or BSD distro that includes the following:

• Enterprise Resource Planing: OpenERP, ADempiere; 
• Accounting: WebERP, SMBLedger;
• Customer Relationship Management: vTiger_CRM;
• Content Management System: Drupal, MediaWiki;
• Telephone Communications: Asterisk;
• Audio Conferencing: ?;
• Video Conferencing: ? ;
• eMail archiving: Enkive;
• Backup System: Bacula, Ceder Backup,PyBackPack?;
• Office Suite Software: LibreOffice;
• Video Editing: OpenShot;
• Image Editing: The GIMP;
• Audio Editing: Audacity;
• Desktop Publishing: Scribus;
• Intraweb search engine: Hadoop / Nutch / Lucene / Solr / Tiki;
• Internet Web Search : Sphinx;
• Church Administration:  Churchinfo, ChurchDB;
• Outreach Management: Jethro Pastoral Ministry Manager;
• Worship Software: OpenLP;
• Data Mining: WEKA; Orange;

should be ideal for a church or other religiously orientated non-profit.

e-Sword-users.org Future

http://sword-and-scabbard.blogspot.com/2011/04/what-should-happen-to-e-sword-usersorg.html is a blog post that contains the results of both polls.

To the 223 people that did vote: Thank You.

• The poll at the eSword list was in favour of the site running as a one man operation. (34%)
• The poll at e-sword-users.org was in favour of forming a non-profit organization. (45%)

Because the polls had different wording, the results can not be accurately merged together.   However, adding the votes for "incorporate" from the eSword list poll, and the votes for "incorporate as a non-profit" from the e-Sword-users poll, gives us 89 votes.  (The 93 votes results when one includes votes for "incorporate as a for-profit" in that tally.)

Short term:

The website will stay up until 1 October.

I am exchanging emails with a professional accountant, who is mulling over the job requirements.

I will be sending out emails to web designers this week.

Project Schedule:

• Date to be announced:  Submit all legally required financial reports for 2008;
• Date to be announced:  Submit all legally required financial reports for 2009;
• Date to be announced:  Submit all legally required financial reports for 2010;
• Date to be announced:  Submit all legally required financial reports for 2011;

1 May: Mission Statement Completed;
1 May: Define Core Activities;
1 May: Define Beneficiaries;
1 June: Submit Draft Bylaws;
1 July: Complete Bylaws;
1 July: Submit Budget Proposal;
1 August: Submit Website Redesign;
1 September: Submit Fundraising plans;
1 January 2012: Incorporate as a Non-Profit Foundation;

Long Term:
An "arms length" for-profit corporation be established, to generate revenue for the non-profit, by engaging in commercial activities which would otherwise be unavailable to the non-profit.  This strategy does require a professional accountant, to ensure that all transactions are "at an arm's length".

Taxes

Over the past week, I've been reading publications issued by various tax authorities.  I hope that I misunderstood them.  This is one reason why I want a professional accountant on board.

Do we really have to file a Tax return in Australia, because we received donations from Australia? And a tax return in Canada, because we received donations from Canada?  I am not opposed to filing the required paperwork.  I am not opposed to publicly providing copies of the financials to the general public.  Indeed, one of the job requirements of the treasurer/accountant is to make weekly and monthly posts stating the income and outgo of the website.

Unless there is a software program that automatically spits out the paperwork required for each of the 192 countries that have seats in the UN, or the 194 (+ 1) countries recognized by the United States, or the 203 countries listed as such in Wikipedia, or the 248 countries on the ISO 3166 list, or the 320 countries on the Traveller's Century Club list, it is not physically possible for one individual to fill out the paperwork that each potential entity might require.

###

This was originally posted to my blog at e-Sword-users.org, in April 2011. (Google claims it was on, or before 23 April  2011.)

e-Sword Users Foundation: Core Activities

All:
The name of the foundation is e-Sword Users Foundation.
The mission statement is "To create and distribute digital tools and resources for studying the Bible".
The Aims and goals of the foundation are:

1. To obtain and produce the best of Bible Study resources for e-Sword, Pocket e-Sword, and other Bible Study Software;
2. To advance e-Sword as a serious contender for the best home Bible Study Tool;
3. To advance e-Sword as a serious contender for the best Bible Study Tool for Bible College Student and Theological Seminary Student;
4. Be an advocate and influence for e-Sword users on suggestions for changes that can be made for e-Sword;

It shall accomplish this by:

• Hosting legally distributable resources;
• Hosting legally re-distributable documentation;
• Hosting legally re-distributable auxiliary tools;
• Hosting web forums for support;
• Creating original resources;
• Convert existing content;
• Translate content into other languages;
• Create documentation;
• Translate documentation into other languages;
• Create auxillary tools;
• Create points of contact on social media sites;

This content was originally posted  2009

Revenue generation

The primary issue with raising revenue is doing so in a manner that is legal.
The secondary issue is generating that revenue.


Forty three states require a license, or other permission from the state, if an organization wants to solicit funds from the general public. The exceptions tend to be:

• Religious organizations;
• Bona fide educational institutions;
• Solicitations for a specific, named individual or specific, named family;

The Unified Registration Statement is a simplified form of the paperwork that is required to be filled out.

 The IRS wants to collect taxes on the revenue you, or your organization raises.  The exception is if the organization has non-profit status, and does not engage in commercial activity. 

"Commercial activity" tends to be defined on a case by case basis. As a general rule of thumb, revenue raised by a 501(c)3 from sources other than grants, voluntary donations, membership dues, or reimbursement for services rendered is "commercial activity".


Grants can be useful in setting up an organization, and providing "seed money".  Relying on them for long term survival is a fairly good way to ensure that the organization does not survive.

Voluntary contributions is how most non-profits sustain themselves.  The two major downsides of this model are:

• "Give us money" is the only mantra that outsiders hear;
• The majority of revenue comes from very few people.  (In the typical church, five people contribute more than 80% of the church budget.)

Membership dues can provide financial stability.  Most non-profits provide several levels of membership, with different benefits and privileges.
Historically, churches assessed annual pew dues. This is a form of membership dues.


Reimbursement for services provided. This is most commonly found in health and educational institutions.  The concept can be extended to other institutions.

Other things:

• Royalty payments for books, videos, images, or audio content, provided the distribution and sale of that content is done by third parties who operate at "an arm's length";
• Affiliate sales of items, provided the sales are an incidental part of the operations of the organization. For brick and mortar institutions, the theory is that the sales pay their own way, and are done as a service/convenience for members of the organization.  However, if they generate too much revenue, then it becomes a "commercial activity", and needs to be controlled and conducted by a third party that operates at "an arm's length" from the non-profit;

Unfortunately, I do not have complete financial data for e-Sword-users.org.
However, based on the records I do have:

• Grants: No revenue was generated this way;
• Membership dues: No revenue was generated this way;
• Voluntary contributions:  Roughly one third of the revenue was generated this way;
• Affiliate sales: Revenue came from three sources:
• Amazon: A nominal amount of revenue was generated this way;
• CBD: A nominal amount of revenue was generated this way;
• Ben's e-Sword Tool: Premium Edition: Roughly two thirds of the revenue was generated this way;

For a self-sustaining foundation, the following appear to be the most viable propositions:

• Grant: A one time grant to organize as a non-profit organization, and obtain 501(c)(3) status. This grant should be for roughly US$10,000;
• Voluntary Contributions: This would be a tip jar.
• Membership Dues: Various levels of membership:
• Affiliate Sales: On each page that describes a resource, there will be links to Amazon, Christian Book Distributors, and other appropriate vendors, to purchase the resource in another format. Once 501(c)(3) status has been obtained, GoodSearch is another possible affiliate;

• Web Forum: Various levels of membership:
• Basic membership: Free.  Can post messages, download resources, and upload content: No voting privileges or rights;
• Site membership: Can post messages, upload resources, download resources, have their own blog, voting privileges and rights;
• Honorary membership: Free: Same as site membership except for no voting privileges or rights;

• Conferences: Hold periodic training seminars, and conventions in different parts of the world. 
• Conventions:
• Regional: (These are examples)
• North Island;
• Pacific Northwest;
• Lake Country Region;
• Western Cape;
• Gold Coast;
• National: (These are examples)
• United States of America;
• New Zealand;
• Australia;
• Singapore;
• Scotland;
• Canary Islands;
• Training Seminars:
• Software specific:
• How to use the program;
• How to create resources for the program;
• Generic: 
• Bible Study Methods applied to Biblical Software;
• There are at least 250 different ways of studying the Bible;
• Prayer Warriors using Biblical Software;
• Bible Translation and Biblical Software;
• Original language Bible Study;

•  Resources: 
• Create resources for various Bible Study Software programs and eBook formats;
• Some resources will be sold;
• Some resources will be given away gratis;
• Original resources will be created;
• Content in the public domain will be converted;
• Some content will be translated;
• Some content will be used to create derivative works;

e-Sword-users.org UP

E-Sword-users.org came back up last week.

I started trying to copy the e-Sword-users.org website to my system when it came back up, in early April.  For various reasons, most of the tools I was using, failed to duplicate the website.

On 14 April, I started using ftp to e-Sword-users.org  from GoDaddy, to home server.

Problem # 1:   The website contains almost 100 GB of data.  I have less than 90GB of free disk space.  I will be burning DVDs, and deleting content, before everything has finished being downloaded;

Problem # 2:  On Thursday --- 14 April --- my Internet connection became even more bizarre, and uncooperative.  By Friday, it was completely down.  Replacing the modem on Saturday fixed it. Later on this week, more work will be done on that connection. Hopefully, that will stabilize it even more;

Problem # 3:  If the keyboard is not used for six hours, the computer shifts into hibernation mode.  Since I'm not using that computer for anything else, it is in hibernation mode for hours at a time.  At the current download speed, the entire site will be transferred to my server on 28 April;

Once everything is transferred to my home server, I will be backing it up to DVDs.  Then I will be removing at least 50 GB of data from the site.  Most of this is duplicate files that were uploaded by two or more people.

I expect that this process will be completed by 1 May.  At that point, I will start constructing a test website on my home network. (This will not be publicly accessible.)  This test website will be the basis of the new e-Sword-users.org website.


Unfortunately, I can not work on this full time.  :(

In order of priority, I will be working on:
* The e-Sword Users Foundation;
* e-Sword Documentation;
* The e-Sword-users Website;

What Should Happen to e-Sword-users.org

From http://e-sword-users.org/users/node/4934

Which of the following should happen to e-Sword-users.org

• Abandon the Website:                                                     6% (  8 votes) 
• Run it as a one person owned and operated website:  28% (40 votes) 
• Incorporate as a for-profit organization:                       3% (  4 votes) 
• Incorporate as a non-profit organization:                    45% (64 votes) 
• Find an organization to adopt it:                                  15% (22 votes) 
• Something else:                                                               3% (4 votes)

Total votes: 142 

From http://groups.yahoo.com/group/eSword/surveys?id=13073779

What should be done with e-Sword-users.org, and the domains it owns?

Abandon the site;	3 votes	3%
Run it as a one person owned and operated website;	28 votes	34%
Incorporate;	25 votes	30%
Find an organization to adopt it;	17 votes	20%
Something else;	8 votes	09%

Total votes: 81

Combined results:

• Abandon the Website:                                                     4.93%   (11 votes) 
• Run it as a one person owned and operated website:  30.49%   (68 votes) 
• Incorporate as a for-profit organization:                        1.79%  (  4 votes) 
• Incorporate as a non-profit organization:                    28.7%     (64 votes) 
• Incorporate:                                                                  11.21%   (25 votes)
• Find an organization to adopt it:                                  17.49%   (39 votes) 
• Something else:                                                               5.38%   (12 votes) 
• Combined Incorporate                                                  41.7%     (93 votes)

Total votes: 223
Votes cast as a percentage of possible votes: 0.8797% 
 
"Combined Incorporate" is the number of votes for "incorporate" from the eSword list poll, plus the number of votes for"incorporate as a non-profit" and "incorporate as a for-profit" in the e-Sword-users poll.

Due to the low number of votes, the results have no statistical significance, or reliability.

Polls: Last Day

The current polls close at midnight 5 April 2011.  I do not know which time zone is used.

From http://e-sword-users.org/users/node/4934/results :

Which of the following should happen to e-Sword-users.org

• Abandon the Website:                                                     7% (  4 votes);
• Run it as a one person owned and operated website:  31% (19 votes);
• Incorporate as a for-profit organization:                       5% (  3 votes);
• Incorporate as a non-profit organization:                    38% (23 votes);
• Find an organization to adopt it:                                  16% (10 votes);
• Something else:                                                               3% ( 2 votes;

Total votes:                                                                 61

Current number of users of e-Sword-users.org:   17949

Percentage of users that have voted:                    0.339851802 %

From http://groups.yahoo.com/group/eSword/surveys?id=13073779:

What should be done with e-Sword-users.org, and the domains it owns?

Abandon the site;	2 votes	3%
Run it as a one person owned and operated website;	20 votes	32%
Incorporate;	18 votes	29%
Find an organization to adopt it;	14 votes	22%
Something else;	8 votes	12%

 

Total Votes:                                                    62

Current Number of List Subscribers:            7348

Percentage of subscribers that have voted:  0.843767011%

Poll Results: 4 Days Later

Poll results on what should happen to e-Sword-users.org.

From http://e-sword-users.org/users/node/4934

Which of the following should happen to e-Sword-users.org

• Abandon the Website:                                14%  (3 votes) 
• Run it as a one person owned and operated website:  23% (5 votes) 
• Incorporate as a for-profit organization     5%  (1 vote) 
• Incorporate as a non-profit organization  36% (8 votes) 
• Find an organization to adopt it:               14%  (3 votes) 
• Something else:                                            9%  (2 votes)

Total votes: 22

From
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/eSword/surveys?id=13073779

What should be done with e-Sword-users.org, and the domains it owns?

Abandon the site:	2	03%
Run it as a one person owned and operated website:	20	32%
Incorporate:	18	29%
Find an organization to adopt it:	14	22%
Something else:	8	12%

 Total votes: 62.

In the eSword list, somebody commented that "running it as a one person owner and operated website", could very easily lead to a repeat of the current situation.

Whilst my preference is for a Foundation, I'll go along with the results of the polls.  

Technically, that would be a Charitable Trust, because I am seriously looking at what is required to set up a non-profit organization in New Zealand.

Poll Results: 48 hours later

The first set of poll results is from eSword@YahooGroups.

What should be done with e-Sword-users.org, and the domains it owns?

Abandon the site;	1	1%
Run it as a one person owned and operated website;	19	36%
Incorporate;	14	26%
Find an organization to adopt it;	11	21%
Something else;	7	13%

The second set of poll results is from e-Sword-users.org.  These results are from roughly 12 hours after the poll was created.

Which of the following should happen to e-Sword-Users.org?

• Abandon the Website                                                         17% (1 vote)
• Run it as a one person owned and operated website          0% (0 votes)
• Incorporate as a for-profit organization                           17% (1 vote)
• Incorporate as a non-profit organization                          50% (3 votes)
• Find an organization to adopt it                                        17% (1 vote)
• Something else                                                                     0% (0 votes)

Total votes: 6

 

Several people reported that they were unable to cast votes in the poll at e-Sword-users.org.

Wanted: Volunteer accountant and Volunteer Drupal programmer.

This afternoon, I paid for web hosting for e-Sword-users.org for one month. The current hosting expires 13 April 2011. The website is back up.

The following positions need to be filled immediately:

#1: Website Designer:
One volunteer to create and maintain e-Sword-users.org:

• Must know Drupal;
• Web portfolio must be available;

This is a volunteer position.

• Roughly 90 days to complete the site reconstruction; (This should cover all unforeseen delays.)
• Ongoing maintenance will be needed;

Subcomponents:

• Webforum;
• Text Blogs;
• Video Blogs;
• Binary file distribution;
• Sitewide RSS Feed;
• Multilingual;

The current site layout and design was a draft.  The expectation was that it would be reconstructed, after a better idea of what users wanted, and expected was obtained.  That reconstruction has not yet taken place. The primary task for this position will be to do that site reconstruction.

#2: Accountant

One volunteer to:

• Setup a budget for e-Sword-users.org;
• Make weekly reports about income and outgo for the week;
• Make monthly reports about projected income and outgo for the month;
• Locate suitable affiliate programs, and ensure that links to those programs are in place, and correctly linked;
• Determine what the expenses and income for this site for the last two and a half years has been. Ideally, a forensic audit of all financial data would be done;

If a legal corporation for e-Sword-users.org is created, both of these positions 

would automatically fall under the auspices of that organization.

If there are no suitable candidates for both of these positions by 9 April, then the website and project will be shut down on 13 April, and not be resurrected.

Poll Results: 24 hours later: What should be done with e-Sword-users.org, and the domains it owns?

After 24 hours, the poll results are:

Abandon the site;	0	0%
Run it as a one person owned and operated website;	13	41%
Incorporate;	9	29%
Find an organization to adopt it;	6	19%
Something else;	3	9%

What should be done with e-Sword-users.org, and the domains it owns?

I created a poll:
What should be done with e-Sword-users.org, and the domains it owns? on the eSword support list poll area at yahoogroups.

Options are:

• Abandon the site;
• Run it as a one person owned and operated website;
• Incorporate;
• Find an organization to adopt it;
• Something else;

You can change your vote until the moderator closes this poll.

Abandon the site means exactly that.  All resources and other content on the site will be lost.

Run it as a one person owned and operated website, means that a single individual will run it, paying the bills, updating the software, adding content, as they have the time and money to do so;

Incorporate means incorporating an organization run by the users, for the users, that operates the website and other projects related to the "current" e-Sword-users.org. This organization could be modelled on The Crosswire Bible Society, or The Document Foundation, or something else.

Find an organization to adopt it, means looking for an organization that is willing to pay the bills, provide manpower, and everything else that is required to keep the website, and its projects up and running;

Something else, means just that.  Another option that has not been listed. There might, indeed probably are other options that I haven't yet thought of.

Proposal: A Foundation for e-Sword users

After pondering the issue for the last several months, I have concluded that the users of e-Sword would be best served by a formal foundation.  An organization that was formally incorporated, and could transfer functions from one individual to another, with a minimum amount of interruption to the users.

_The Sword Project_ is one potential model for the proposed foundation.
_The Document Foundation_ is a second potential model for the proposed foundation.

To discuss this issue with other individuals, I created a list esu_foundation@yahoogroups.com, or http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/esu_foundation/

I would greatly welcome, and appreciate hearing the thoughts and proposals of other people, on the list: esu_foundation@yahoogroups.com.