[Osmf-talk] Consultation on fundraising strategy

[steveaOSM]

On Mar 16, 2023, at 5:26 PM, john whelan <jwhelan0112 at gmail.com> wrote:
> Are we set up as a charity in any country?  Normally I would expect to get a deduction on my tax bill if I donate to a charity but only if it is a Canadian registered charity.

I encourage a "go broad, go global, go into as many countries / jurisdictions as 'natural growth' deems practical" approach.  Where the "ground is fertile" (for donations to seed the Foundation and / or its long-term endowment), those countries should have all the legal machinations to make that seamless and easy for the donations to flow.  Similar to OSM's "local chapter" facilities (and maybe even building upon the same or similar structures and people), as more and more countries become part of this process, the more the donations (and any potential long-term endowment OSMF might structure into existence) will grow.

I realize a lot of this might sound or seem pie-in-the-sky to some, but it doesn't to me.  In fact, if such visioning doesn't exist or hasn't been done already in our almost-two-decades-old organization, I'd be quite surprised.