Funding - Specifically identifying allocations

[John W. Eaton]

On 27-Sep-2005, Robert A. Macy wrote:

| However, I ABSOLUTELY would not support funding based upon
| specific allocations.  You have no idea the amount of
| effort it takes to track such contributions.

By definition, contributions made to the Octave project via the UW
Foundation are unrestricted funding.  So if you donate money that way,
there can be no promise or contract that specifies how the funds will
be used.  OTOH, my understanding is that the UW also does not charge
overhead on those funds and even pays a small interest rate while they
are holding the money, so it is a good deal for small donations.

If you want to fund a specific project with deliverables and a
contract, then the lawyers get involved and the UW will charge
overhead (about 45% last I checked, so if you want the project to
recive $10,000, it will actually cost you around $14,500).

Also, the UW is not going to enter into a contract with deliverables
for small sums, so donations through the UW Foundation are the best
way to give modest amounts.

I can assure you that all money that goes into the UW Foundation
account for Octave has been used to offset the cost of the Octave
project at UW, which is essentially my salary as a UW Researcher plus
some computer equipment and a small amount for travel to meetings.
There is no large team of students and postdocs working on Octave,
having extravagant pizza and beer parties at the expense of donors.

So far, the total amount contributed for Octave through the UW
Foundation amounts to substantially less than 1% of the total spent
developing Octave.  But all contributions are appreciated, and a large
number of small contributions can have the same impact as a small
number of large contributions.

jwe



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