2009/4/27 Dahsun <dahsun(a)yahoo.com>om>:
In reply to Andrew's comment as to wheher charitable status was a "worthwhile
investment of their time and energy"
Of course we are all volunteers, and this may sound rich coming from someone who chose a
barbecue in London over the AGM. But there are several reasons why we want charitable
status, the tax advantage of being able to reclaim income tax on donations is considerable
and IMHO justifies the hassle of Wikimedia having a formal UK operation.
But there's also a lot of extra credibility that you get from being a registered
charity - many doors are open to a registered charity that would otherwise be closed.
So I would hope that the new board would make the attaining of charitable status one of
their top objectives.
I agree. Even if it doesn't reduce our donations (which seems
extremely unlikely - people don't generally donate to non-charities)
then we still lose a significant amount of gift aid. Other
organisations are also going to be far more likely to partner with a
charity than a non-charity.