I've mulled this over a bit, and here is my proposal, if it is legally
feasible.
We have two kinds of members.
"Voting" members can vote for the board, stand for election on the board,
and the like. They have to pay a nominal fee (I'm thinking $1, but you get
the idea). These members may also have to fill other conditions (contribs to
WM projects? etc), as determined from time to time by the board (and maybe a
referendum of voting members).
Non voting members can either be project contributors or donors, or both,
but are people who don't want a voice in the operations of the board
My line of thought here is to introduce a low barrier to being involved.
Now, we would encourage _donations_ (suggested donation $25?) to become
either a voting or non-voting member, but the idea is to detach the
membership being coupled money (in a direct fashion).
Does anyone know if membership fees are tax deductible? (I'm not sure on
that).
I'd like to see donors encouraged to donate as much as they can, while
having members and contributors be able to belong and help out without
having a lot of headaches.
From reviewing, this looks like a bit of Delphine's
suggestions 1 & 2
combined, with a bit more added in.
We're brainstorming now, so if anyone has a feeling of how this might be
done, though it out there.
Thanks,
Gerald.