rcurl
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response 26 of 28:
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Dec 12 15:55 UTC 1995 |
You are correct, Marcus, in the sense of owing an obligation of service.
I should have stated my premise in terms of *continuing to operate*.
In that sense, Grex has a deficit. If Grex had dues paid annually for
a year, at the beginning of the year we would receive the donations
necessary to operate for the full year. However since we accept
donations year-round, and operate from the income, if donations
ceased, we would have no money to operate. Your point, Marcus, has
brought to my attention a current large distinction between Grex and
other non-profits with which I have been involved. Grex has not
established any future obligations except rent, while other organizations
have planned for (and budgeted for) future activities such as regular
publications, conventions, and have mortgages and other debts. So the
distinction rests with the length of time an organization can continue to
function in the event of a cessation of donations.
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mdw
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response 27 of 28:
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Dec 13 01:57 UTC 1995 |
In a sense, too, Grex is also in a less risky business. An organization
that makes or spends all of its money at one big annual event is in fact
making a large gamble that it won't get snowed out, and that it has all
its expenses budgeted out. Since Grex's expenses & income are mostly
monthly, there is, in essence, 1/12 the risk, and if anything, we'd like
to smooth out the "annual" cycles in our income.
The major risk Grex has to deal with is in terms of equipment failure,
but we've attempted to hedge against that by using high quality low cost
serviceable hardware, purchasing spares where possible, & keeping much
of this off-site. Most of the failures I can think of would only stop
us a few hours, or at most, a few days. In the worst case disaster, we
might have to make a desperate appeal for funds to operate again, but
unless I'm quite mistaken, in such a disaster, we'd have no lack of
people willing to help out.
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