[Wikipedia-l] Interstate charitable solicitations

Mon Oct 6 22:41:52 UTC 2003

From: "Jimmy Wales" <jwales at bomis.com>

> Well, we're certainly likely to meet that test soon enough for many
> states.  As it stands, when Wikimedia Foundation gets donations via
> PayPal I have no idea at all where the people live, because Paypal
> doesn't give any personal information about the person.

That is a good point.

> > Eventually Wikimedia must register, but is doing so today
> > absolutely necessary? I doubt it, but if Wikimedia starts getting
> > donations from a specific state it should consider filing
> > in that State and eventually filing in all states that have
> > such a requirement (the Uniform Form will make it easier to
> > do, but there are still the filing fees which would be a burden
> > for Wikimedia right now until more people donate.
> 
> Yes, we have received just around $1,000 in donations so far.  I
> notice that most (but not all) of those states have exemptions for
> organizations that have raised less than $10,000-$25,000.

I think DC's limitation is $1,500. but some states require that you
file a form that asks to be exempted. In any case most states require
that the form be filed within a certain period of time after the fiscal
year ends only some states require filing before any solicitations
are made.

> Judging from the typical fees of $25-50, registration in all 50 states
> might cost as much as $1250-$2500.  That's a pretty absurd use of
> funds for an organization that might be bringing in $10,000 in a year,

That is true and an argument that comes up when discussing national
registration exemptions, it is an undue burden, this is also the rationale
behind granting an automatic $5,000 exemption by the IRS.

> At least with the uniform filing, we can cover those states pretty
> easily in terms of my time, which the above cost estimate of
> $1250-$2500 assumes to be zero, not exactly true.
>
This is yet another argument that is brought up when talking about
uniform or national registration for small volunteer organizations.
The transaction costs are very high in volunteer time which is
often limited.

Akex756