Comment Open Source Accounting Agency (Score 2) 301
I have tried for years to find a funding source for Axiom, an open source computer algebra project.
I checked with the NSF, DARPA, and several companies.
If I were at a University there would be no problem. I could submit a grant proposal, they send the money to the Provost, he sends it to me, and HE ACCOUNTS FOR IT. The snag in trying to fund open source appears, in every case, that there needs to be trusted accounting. So, the problem is simple. We need a firm whose job it is to receive, disburse, and ACCOUNT FOR, grants and donations.
That seems simple enough. Set up a small shop (1 person?) who is paid to manage funds, handle taxes, handle banking, handle receipts and invoices. How hard can this be, right?
IBM contributes to open source through a Linux foundation. I contacted the Linux foundation about setting up an accountant or two to handle the accounting. They never replied. I contacted several people I know at IBM to "donate accounting services" or fund an open source accounting person. They said it was not possible.
The money would be useful to pay for things like servers (currently costing me about $3000 per year out of my pocket), or fund a conference, or fund developers to attend the usual conferences. It would not be to pay developers.
Anyway, I have tried to fund this project for nearly 12 years and have yet to be successful. If you can figure out a way to handle the accounting, I'm all ears. Send your ideas to daly at axiom-developer.org
Tim Daly
If I were at a University there would be no problem. I could submit a grant proposal, they send the money to the Provost, he sends it to me, and HE ACCOUNTS FOR IT. The snag in trying to fund open source appears, in every case, that there needs to be trusted accounting. So, the problem is simple. We need a firm whose job it is to receive, disburse, and ACCOUNT FOR, grants and donations.
That seems simple enough. Set up a small shop (1 person?) who is paid to manage funds, handle taxes, handle banking, handle receipts and invoices. How hard can this be, right?
IBM contributes to open source through a Linux foundation. I contacted the Linux foundation about setting up an accountant or two to handle the accounting. They never replied. I contacted several people I know at IBM to "donate accounting services" or fund an open source accounting person. They said it was not possible.
The money would be useful to pay for things like servers (currently costing me about $3000 per year out of my pocket), or fund a conference, or fund developers to attend the usual conferences. It would not be to pay developers.
Anyway, I have tried to fund this project for nearly 12 years and have yet to be successful. If you can figure out a way to handle the accounting, I'm all ears. Send your ideas to daly at axiom-developer.org
Tim Daly
