Funding question

[benchen70]

Hi guys, thanks for your reply.

I had some experience with councils, having helped in fundraising for
events and activities for schools and some non-profits. I am not too
familiar with the structure of the whole ubuntu community, but now
that I know that we are not an incorporated entity, that clears a few
things. My local council, the City Council of Yarra, has a list of
organisations and companies that are looking for targets of
endorsement, ie, they got cash to throw away, but not sure which
organisations to chuck the money at. What the council can do, is to
throw the list at me, (or us, or whoever is willing - excuse my
current taking ownership of this) and it would be up to me, to ring
them up, to check things out, and ask if any interest could be
generated. From what the City Council said these are companies trying
to look for a good cause to assist, which I suspect means they do want
to have a good social profile among the locals. These are not
necessarily large enterprises like Coca cola, they could be small
local businesses, some non-profit organisations, formed by a few
wealthier members, etc.

I don't know if anyone thinks this is a good idea for our particular
community. Obviously, with fundraising like this, they would be
looking for something with a measurable outcome. But I am simply, at
this stage, wondering whether this kind of activity would go against
the ubuntu community's goals and aspirations. No one would object to
more  money, but the problem is how to get that money. I would
appreciate some of your opinions.

And Dave Hall: You said "As for being "allowed" to fundraise in the
name of the loco - I have no
idea of what the deal is with that one. ". Sorry abut that I don't
think I was been clear. My question was that if there are specific
people allowed to do fundraising, eg, criteria of experience, degree,
position in the organisation, eg, only the committee members can seek
funding from council or commercial settings, and the rest not allowed
to touch financial side of things, etc. Are there rules like that
within the Ubuntu community?

Andrew, I understand the incorporated part, and I understand that
currently that is not how we are organised. I wonder though, what
would it be like to have an incorporation. I may not be fond of
paperwork, but I am a little proud to say that I am good with
paperwork. Having done a few fundraising and the paperwork that are
required, I think i don't mind doing that role of filling in the
paperwork, etc. In fact i kind of relish it. The challenge is to make
something stand out, so that the target reader can feel for us, and be
willing to give us some money. (Geez, I better stop, I sound more and
more like my old English teacher).

And thanks you for your suggestions Dave, and you too, Andrew. I will
keep your ideas in mind. Still I am making sure that these activities
will not "offend" (for lack of a better word) the rest of the ubuntu
community. As you probably can notice, I am pretty new to the
community, despite the fact that I have used Ubuntu for 3 years. You
probably never noticed my name before today. I don't want to jump in,
and find that I have made a serious misinterpretation of the way this
community operates. I love you guys (Thank you for bringing Ubuntu)
and I don't want to kick my own backside and eat the hand that fed me.

Regards,

benchen70
Benjamin Chen