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Donations
Donations to Software in the Public Interest, Inc.
Donations can take several forms:
Donations of money
Donations of equipment or services
Donations through vendors
Donations through employee giving programs
These donations can be made to SPI directly, or they can be marked for
use by a particular
member project
. It is preferred
that the donations be made to SPI, as they can then be used wherever the
need is greatest. Donations to SPI that are not marked for a particular
project will be distributed to the projects that are currently affiliated
with SPI as needed, and/or used for SPI's own expenses.
Donations of money
Software in the Public Interest, Inc. is a non-profit corporation under
the laws of New York State. Tax-exempt
status
under section 501(c)3 of the United States Internal Revenue Code was
granted on May 23, 1999.
To make a donation (in U.S. dollars only), write a check or
money order payable to
Software in the Public Interest, Inc.
Please do
not
make donations payable to SPI member projects, such as "Debian"
. To
donate to a member project, write the name in the memo field of the cheque,
as the reference in the electronic transfer, or mail the
SPI Treasurer
. Please ensure your check is payable to
Software in the Public Interest, Inc.
Mail your donation to the following address:
Software in the Public Interest, Inc.
1632 1st Ave #20327
New York, NY 10028
United States
Note:
The SPI mailing address may change from time to time.
Please do
not copy the address, but instead refer to this
page <
> to ensure that
donors will always see the most current information.
Note:
Check donations are processed in batches once per month.
Please reach out to the
SPI Treasurer
if your check donation has not
been deposited in approximately six weeks.
If you have a credit card you can donate via Click & Pledge:
Note:
Click & Pledge is unreachable from some countries. If
previous link returns a "403 Forbidden" error, please consider another
payment method.
Because information posted to SPI's website was used to defraud one of
our checking accounts years ago, we do not publish information about our
accounts sufficient for donors to initiate wire transfers. (Due in part to
our dissatisfaction with the security safeguards of that bank, SPI no
longer does business with them.) If you would like to donate to SPI or one
of our member projects via wire transfer, please contact the
SPI Treasurer
to make arrangements.
Donations via PayPal
Many SPI projects can receive donations directly via PayPal. There are
dedicated per-project PayPal donation buttons directly on the
project pages
of the SPI website.
If you want to donate to SPI's general fund, you can use this PayPal
button:
If you need more information about PayPal donations or about any form
of electronic donation please contact the
SPI Treasurer
Donations via Zelle
Donations can be done via Zelle to the treasurer@spi-inc.org email, make sure
to mark which project should receive the funds in the description field (Reason)
otherwise the donation will be collected to the SPI general fund, unless you
inform treasurer@spi-inc.org via follow-up email.
Donations in various countries
Canadian donors
: Thanks to our change of banks in
December 2004, SPI is pleased to announce that we can now accept donations
via checks drawn on Canadian banks (in Canadian dollars). Our bank
forwards these items to a
U.S. Federal Reserve
bank for processing. It may therefore take a little longer than SPI's usual
check processing time for you to see a withdrawal from your account. (We are
informed that the U.S. Federal Reserve cannot process all such items; if
this happens, the deposit will be reversed, and you will likely never see
the withdrawal -- please provide a contact e-mail address with your check
so that we can notify you if this happens with your donation.) SPI is
not
registered with the
CCRA
, in part
because our
organization lacks any legal presence in Canada. Your donation therefore
will likely not be tax-deductible for you unless one of a very few
exceptions apply. Regardless, we and our member organizations greatly
appreciate any donation you elect to make.
Donations of equipment and services
Given the small budget that most projects run on,
they mostly rely on the donation of equipment and services from
companies and universities to stay connected to the world.
If your company has any idle machines or spare equipment (hard
drives, SCSI controllers, network cards, etc) lying around,
please consider donating them to SPI. Contact the
SPI Treasurer
for details.
Donations made through vendors
Several vendors (of CDs, Books etc.) allow their customers
to make donations to SPI or an affiliated project when ordering
materials. In order to make these donations tax deductible,
several requirements must be observed:
The receipt that the vendor issues must contain a separate
item entitled "SPI Donation" (or something similar). This
receipt is needed to claim the deduction from the IRS.
The vendor must not claim this donation as income, since
it is income for SPI.
Donations made by vendors should be sent to SPI monthly,
if possible.
Donations made through employee giving programs
Some companies allow their employees to make donations to SPI or an
affiliated project as part of their annual charitable giving
campaigns.
Other information
Money that is donated will be distributed to the various
projects
and efforts that SPI is affiliated with, and
to pay for SPI's operating expenses. SPI has no paid staff, but
occasionally retains the services of professionals on a contractual basis
(accountants, bookkeepers, etc.) If you intend for the money you donate to
be used for a specific project or purpose, please note that in the memo
field of your check or money order, or in the body of your email message
for wire transfers. Please note that while SPI does communicate donors'
earmarks to member projects, and sets aside funds for each project's use,
the disposition of funds allocated to a given member project is the
prerogative of that project. Member projects are free to use the funds
allocated to them at their discretion, as long as such usage is consistent
with U.S. laws and regulations, and within the constraints of SPI's
certificate of incorporation
and
bylaws
Note that the identities of donors are kept confidential to
SPI, and only disclosed to members of SPI. Some additional
information, such as the donor's city and state of residence,
and amount and type (e.g., check or money order) of donation may
also be disclosed to members of SPI. Donors' full mailing
addresses are retained by the Treasurer but may be disclosed to
the SPI Board of Directors if circumstances require such
disclosure. SPI does not sell the names or addresses of its
donors to any party. SPI does not circulate the names or any
identifying information about donors except among its own
membership (which includes member projects). Members of SPI
are expected to keep such information confidential. All of that
said, these are statements of SPI policy only, and do not
constitute a guarantee or legal contract of any sort between
donors and SPI. If you have concerns about this policy, please
contact the
SPI Board of Directors
If you would like acknowledgement of receipt of your
donation via electronic mail, please note this fact in a letter
enclosed with your check or money order. Be sure to include
the email address at which you would like to receive
notification of receipt. Please allow 1-2 weeks for email
acknowledgement. Note that this period is above and beyond
delivery time for your donation via postal services. SPI
accepts no responsibility for temporary or permanent delivery
failures when electronically mailing acknowledgements of
donations; please ensure that the email address you provide is
reliable and in working order.
If you require a letter from SPI documenting your donation
for tax purposes, please note this fact in a letter enclosed
with your check or money order, and include a self-addressed,
stamped envelope. Please allow 3-4 weeks for paper mail
acknowledgement. Note that this period is above and beyond
delivery time for your donation, and for return mail delivery
time via postal services. SPI accepts no responsibility for
failure of postal services to deliver your tax information.
You may wish to request email acknowledgement in conjunction
with tax information letters (see above).
If you have special needs or questions, please feel free to
contact the
SPI Treasurer
; however,
please keep in mind that the duties of the SPI Treasurer are at
present undertaken by a volunteer, not by a paid employee of
SPI. Furthermore, communications with the SPI Treasurer may be shared
with the Board of Directors and/or membership.