[Foundation-l] Disclaimer on fundraising page

Fri Aug 26 20:39:40 UTC 2005

Axel Boldt wrote:

>I don't know why the disclaimer is there, but if for some legal reason
>we are not allowed to solicit for donations, then we are in deep
>trouble indeed, and this feeble disclaimer won't help a bit.
>  
>
In the United States, many states have requirements that you officially 
register with the state before you solicit donations as a non-profit 
organization.  Since Wikimedia is only registered in Florida, it's not 
permitted to solicit donations elsewhere (except in a few states without 
that requirement).  There might be requirements in other countries as well.

Historically this has meant things like being outside a mall, or mailing 
solicitations to people's houses; the court cases on whether having a 
website in state [X] that permits donations from state [Y] counts as 
soliciting in state [Y] seem inconclusive, at least the last time I 
searched for some.

But I agree, we are basically soliciting donations ("Please donate"), 
but saying that we're not, which is a little odd.  If we really don't 
want to be soliciting donations, we need to change our language so that 
we don't say things like "please donate" or "help us reach our 
fundraising goals".  Saying the equivalent of "Please give us money 
(this is not a request to give us money)" is a little bit silly.

-Mark