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Donating to the Pool Forum
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| This donation thing makes me sort of uncomfortable, so if it feels weird for you, join the group. But, my mods and others have insisted that this is a good idea, and some folks have already put their money where there mouth is, so here I am. There are several things you need to know, before you do anything. First, nothing you do here is tax deductible for you. Second, what you are doing really is giving me -- Ben Powell -- money with no strings. If you don't want to do that, I understand. Wait a week or so, I'll put up a variety of subscription options. That money will be business income to PF, and I'll try to work out how it's used. Third, I'm not offering to give you anything in return -- if I was, the money would be business income, and I'd have to give some of it to the IRS and others. But, if it's a gift*, I get to keep all of it, and the IRS doesn't get any of it, at least not on my end of things. I can't make any promises about what I'm going to do with the money, because I'm not sure what I can say and can't say. I'm not sure whether some of the things I might want to say would turn your gift into taxable income or not. I think I can tell you about my own personal plans a little, though. We're still in a very tight financial situation, and if I have to do so, I'll let go of PF, for good this time. I hope we can get enough money from donations and ads and subscriptions so that won't be necessary. Other than that, our financial goals are very modest. We don't mind old clothes, old cars or even an old house, though we would like to do some desperately needed repairs. I have enjoyed working on elaborate and luxurious swimming pools, but we don't want one ourselves. (We wouldn't mind having access to one, though!) Fortunately, my sons have done well enough in school so that college costs have been minimal for my oldest, and should be just as low for my youngest. Our ideal vacation -- when we have one -- is either camping or staying in a cabin owned by the Florida Park system, located in a nature preserve. We're working with a group of Burundian refugees resettled in Chattanooga, and we'd really like to be able to do stuff with them, without having to scrounge so much. But, I have to take care of business here, before I can hope to do even that. Beyond that, we have extremely modest financial goals. Some years ago, when I realized that some of the ideas I could pay off with big bucks (if only I was good at business, or was able to partner with someone who was) we made some personal commitments about how we'd live if we ever had that kind of money. Anyhow, to donate you can do one of two things. You can send me a check: Ben Powell Or you can click this button, and do the credit card thing with
PayPal.
* Under $10,000, that is. I don't think I really need to say that, but some surprising things have happened, so I will. |
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