<p>Meanwhile, even if an organization is not a fiscal sponsor, non-profit

  accounting is <em>just different</em> than for-profit accounting, particularly in

  the USA.  For example, for-profit-oriented systems often make problematic

  assumptions about the workflow of accounting tasks (often because NPOs

  rely primarily on donations, rather than fee-for-service or widget-selling

  income).  Also, non-profit income is categorized differently than

  for-profit income, and the reporting requirements vary wildly from their

  for-profit equivalents.</p>

<p>Conservancy's existing system is working adequately, but requires daily

  the relatively more expensive time of a highly technical person to do the

  job of bookkeeping.  Also, the system cannot easily be adapted in its

  current form for another NPO, unless they also have a

  skilled technical employee to act as bookkeeper.  This project aims to build

  on what Conservancy has learned and produce a non-profit accounting system

  that corrects these flaws.</p>

<p>Finally, Conservancy's mission (as stated

on <a href="http://sfconservancy.org/docs/conservancy_Form-1023.pdf">our Form

1023 with the USA IRS</a>) includes producing Open Source and Free Software.

Thus, this project is a great way to pursue Conservancy's mission and address a

specific need that so many NPOs (including us) have.  If no one steps up to create Free Software to replace the widely used

proprietary software, NPOs in aggregate will pay <em>much more</em> money for

proprietary licensing than Conservancy will ever spend in developing a

replacement. Please <a href="#donate-box" class="donate-now">donate

generously</a> to help us do it!</p>

<a id="quotes"></a>

<h3>Statements of Support For This Project from Others</h3>

<p><q>As a national fiscal sponsor with over 3,000 arts and cultural projects

under our umbrella, Fractured Atlas is ecstatic about this effort's

potential. After 15 years wrestling with Quickbooks and other inadequate

options, the idea of an open source tool designed specifically for this niche

of the field is beyond welcome. We wholeheartedly support the Conservancy's

work on this front and look forward to seeing where it leads.</q> &mdash;

<a href="https://www.fracturedatlas.org/site/bios/staff/1/Adam%20Forest_Huttler">Adam

  Huttler</a>, Chief Executive Officer, <a href="https://www.fracturedatlas.org">Fractured Atlas</a></p>

<p><q><a href="http://QuestionCopyright.org">QuestionCopyright.org</a> is

just one of many organizations that would benefit from a Free Software

accounting system that is usable by non-technical people.  We

enthusiastically support the Conservancy's campaign to create one, and look

forward to using the result.</q>

&mdash; <a href="http://questioncopyright.org/speakers/karl_fogel">Karl

Fogel</a>, Executive Director,

  <a href="http://QuestionCopyright.org">QuestionCopyright.org</a></p>

    in the Public Interest</a></p>

<p><q>Open Source accounting software specifically tailored for non-profits

    will fill a pretty large need.</q>

    &mdash; <a href="http://wagner.nyu.edu/calabrese">Thad Calabrese</a>,

    Assistant Professor of Public and Nonprofit Financial Management

    at <a href="http://wagner.nyu.edu/">NYU Wagner</a>, and co-author

    of <cite>Financial Management for Public, Health, and Not-for-Profit

    Organizations, 4th Edition</cite>.</p>

<p><q>The Open Source Initiative has shared the experiences of Software

     Freedom Conservancy in navigating the financial management needs of

     non-profit organisations and shares their concern. We have many NPOs as

     members and we welcome this useful initiative by Conservancy.</q>

     &mdash; Simon Phipps, (former) President, <a href="http://opensource.org/node/658">Open Source

     Initiative</a></p>

<p><q>The <a href="https://fsf.org/">Free Software Foundation</a> is committed to doing all of its work,

both public-facing and internal, using only free software. We are thankful to

the developers of SQL Ledger for providing the accounting software that has

served us well for many years. As we have grown, so have the complexities of

our finances.  Because of our own needs and our mission to help other

organizations — both inside and outside of the technology sphere

— run their operations on exclusively free software, we wholeheartedly

support this Conservancy initiative.</q> &mdash; <a href="http://www.fsf.org/about/staff-and-board#johns">John Sullivan</a>, Executive

Director, <a href="https://fsf.org">Free Software Foundation</a></p>

<p><q>Open source is a great way to solve new problems and make software that

is more flexible and responsive to the needs of the people who use it. That's

as true for the finance industry as it is on the web.</q>

&mdash; <a href="http://blog.mozilla.org/press/bios/mark-surman/">Mark

Surman</a>, Executive

Director, <a href="https://www.mozilla.org/foundation/">Mozilla

Foundation</a></p>

<p><q>As a young free software non-profit, OpenHatch is thrilled to see this

effort; it would let us spend more of our time on programs and less on

paperwork.  I have already personally <a href="#donate-box" class="donate-now">donated</a>.</q> &mdash; Asheesh Laroia,

Founder, <a href="https://openhatch.org/">OpenHatch</a></p>

<!-- closes div.content-with-donate-sidebar -->

</div>

{% endblock %}