About the SPONSORS channel (2019)

April 2020

This post is a bit long so I am going to archive it and start a new one.

January 2020

In order facilitate sponsors' payment for the monthly hosting or to raise the amount needed to incorporate as not for profit, I considered various options. Some come with considerable fees others are almost free. Once the soup is incorporated, more convenient options will become available.

Below are the methods that you can use to send me your contribution. Please note that I am not getting anything out of this and end up picking up the tab whenever there are discrepancies due to exchange rates or processing fees.

So, to sponsor a month of hosting or add to the “pot” here are the methods you may choose to use, with their pros and cons.

1- PayPal

Following to my previous update, I have set up a PayPal pool for the.fmsoup.org,

You may send your sponsorship using the following QR code

QR Code

Or follow this link

PROS: Easy. Instantaneous. You may pay using your credit card or PayPal account. Trace.

CONS: Expensive. PayPal charges fees and commission to send, has inflated exchange rates. At this time, it’s my personal PayPal account and I am not very found of the potential taxes complications this can cause me.

2- Apple Pay. Apparently iOS users can send money to each other through iMessages.

PROS: Sounds easy and fast. My wallet already has my cards set up.

CONS: Never done it so I do not know if there are fees or caveats or how it works with different currencies. My personal account so, like for PayPal, potential taxation issues.

The next two methods are those that we have been using until now.

3- Wire transfer or eTransfer. I send my IBAN Swift or AFA infos by pm to the sponsor who communicate those infos to his/her financial institution with the wire instructions.

PROS: Trace. Low fee (eTransfer) Acceptable exchange rates.
CONS: Fee up to $30 (Wire) A bit complicated to figure it out the first time. Takes between a few hours to 2-3 days to complete.

4- TransferWise to TransferWise transfer. My favorite. If you often send money internationally or plan to become a regular contributor, consider opening a TW account. You can use the following link (technically it’s a reward for both kind of link but we’re dealing too small amounts for it to kick in. I still provide it because it is the easiest way to set up an account) link

Note, my TW account is my business’ international accounts so, tax wise it is easier for me because I can balance payments to Discourse and amounts received for that purpose.

PROS: Payment received within an hour. A real regulated financial institution. No TW transaction fees. True exchange rates (TW commissions are almost imperceptible). Real bank accounts in countries for the currencies. Free to open and maintain accounts in as many currencies as you wish.

CONS: initial setup required.


November 16, 2019

As the community is growing, we will have to face certain charges to incorporate as a non profit. The reason why this is desirable is that we will get half price on the hosting fees, so upgrading to the bigger plan would cost $150 monthly instead of $300.

We are NOT upgrading at this time but getting ready for all paperwork and such. You are invited to pitch in this pot. Instructions will be provided in the next few days. Amount to raise: $400

August 23, 2019

During our general meeting, we chose to insure the financial support of the site via private support. Each month, a sponsor volunteers to pay the hosting fees of $100. Shortly before the end of the month prior to its turn, the Sponsor is provided my IBAN number to make the wire. My credit card gets billed every month.


HOSTING
Please respond below to choose your month and add yourself to the list of monthly sponsors.

List of sponsors

July 2019 - Torsten Bernhard
August 2019 - Cécile Savoie
September 2019 - Markus Schneider
October 2019 - Markus Schneider
November 2019 -Picatso
Logo - Cheesus
December 2019 - Andy Hibbs
January 2020 -Picatso
February 2020 - PointInSpace
March 2020 - EfficientBizz
April 2020 - MonkeybreadSoftware
May 2020 - Andy Hibbs
June 2020 -Torsten Bernhard
July 2020 -Torsten Bernhard
August 2020 - Markus Schneider
September 2020 - Markus Schneider
October 2020 -
November 2020 -
December 2020 -
January 2021 -
February 2021 -
March 2021 -


SPECIAL POT for registering fmsoup.org as a not-for-profit (target 500):
Pot value (2020/03/07): CAD 546

Pot contributors: David W. V., David R, Christian S., Benjamin F., Peter G.


3 Likes

@Picatso and @AndyHibbs let me know which month you wish to sponsor and I will add you to the list.

Hi Cecile, no preference. Let me know when would be best and we’ll make the transfer.

2 Likes

Hi Cecile,
I’ll take next available. Please let me know how to send the payment.

2 Likes

Sign us up for Feb, 2020. Thanks!

2 Likes

Could we get some kind of invoice if we sponsor?
Bookkeeping, you know…

1 Like

Once we get incorporated it will be possible. At the moment the invoices are in my name and I already asked if they could make the receipt to the name of the sponsor and it is not possible at the moment could you use the wire report as receipt?

You could send me a Paypal invoice and in there state the item we pay, your name & address as sender and our company name & address as receiver. Then we'd have a receipt for the payment at least.

@AndyHibbs. Is it ok if I put you down for April?

Hi Cecile

Gladly, no problem. Let me know when you would like the transfer carried out.

Kind regards

Andy

Sent 200 CAD. Does that help for 2 months?

Maybe we should introduce poker? I raise you...... :wink:

Please do so and add your sum:

Thank you Christian!

It covers about a month and half. I could put you down for one month and put the leftover towards the “pot”

Cecile, personally I’d try to build your pot and use it when offerings are slower to come. For instance, allocate us to April and keep the ‘pot’ for later, if someone offers May, then still keep the pot for later. The alternative would be for all of us to just donate to the pot and everything comes from that.

Whatever makes your life simpler.

Kind regards
Andy

Here’s a table of one month of hosting fees in various currencies:

USD $100
CAD $136
EUR €93

I can receive ANY currency in my TransferWise accounts.
I can only receive CAD (best to avoid quadruple conversion*) or USD in my PayPal account

*Quadruple conversions:
Origin currency -> USD in PayPal -> CAD in PayPal to withdraw and apply to CAD Visa -> pay USD Hosting fee to Discourse with Visa (Visa’s conversion rates USD to CAD.

You could change the PayPal pot to be in USD...

It’s supposed to accept either USD or CAD; weren’t you offered what currency you wish to send?

As a side note only US peeps should send USD. Whatever I receive ultimately has to be deposited in my CAD account from which I can reimburse my credit card. Discourse only accepts credit cards payments.

The path of least resistance is TransferWise in people’s own currency and I take care of the rest.

The objective of the pot is the registration of the soup as a not for profit corporation. Those administration fees (CAD) will be paid as soon as the pot reaches 500 CAD and we have had a General Meeting.

The “pot” value above is the sum of all monies received for that purpose regardless of the transfer method chosen by the sponsor.

The PayPal pool isn’t dedicated to the pot, it’s just a method.

What determines whether the money goes to the pot or a month’s hosting fees is the sponsor’s wish when he/she pledges his/her donation.

Thanks for the clarification Cecile

1 Like