The Institute for End User Computing, Inc., a 501(c)(3) Not-For-Profit Corporation, Forging the Future for End Users Like You!Most of our activities are conducted by volunteers and consist of scouring the research literature so we can proactively cross-pollenate ideas, fill in gaps with in-house R&D, and build alliances with other research groups that will lead to getting better and eaiser-to-use technology into your hands.
As a result, we can't measure our progress in terms of how many dollars we are spending per-person-served to help a fixed number of people. What matters most to us, and ultimately to you, is the flow of ideas which will benefit everyone.
But we do face a lot of fixed overhead that stems from our need to comply with government reguations — regulations that were designed to keep much larger charities that conform to that model from missappropriating donations.
We started out talking to a lot of frustrated end users and equally frustrated researchers. We saw that often the best solutions never made it into your hands because the best people were trapped playing games in pursuit of funding, having to continusly drop promissing lines of research as funding patterns shifted like the wind. Many of our colleagues expressed the dream of having an organization that could support them in what they wanted to do, a source of funding and support that would let them do what they knew was needed by focusing on the big picture.
We then built up a team and took that idea one step closer to reality by incorporating and winning IRS recongition as a Tax Exempt Public Charity. It took a very long time to lay this foundation with many bills comming due for the hard costs of legal and accounting expertise to do everything right from day one. These costs were paid for with internal debt that we need to pay down as quickly as possible, so our organization can finally stand on its own legs. This represents a lot of red ink on our balance sheet, but it also means that we aren't going away when some outside creditor comes looking for payment. The entire risk of failure is on our shoulders, so we are highly motivated to do a good job.
At this point, we are dramatically slowing our burn rate of capital and actively pursuing everything that doesn't require cash, so we can maintain a holding pattern while we gather support from End Users like you.
We are still loosing money, or more precisely, risking a greater financial loss if we can't attract donations since our professional service providers need to be payed up front - but this isn't a show stopper, since The Institute can be made finanically whole with your support.
Our next goal is to bring in enough revenue to cover all ongoing expenses. When we reach this milestone, The Institute will be able to cover its hard costs without increasing its founder funded debt. Ideally, we would like to get to this point by the end of this year.
The next objective will be to bring in more donations than our hard overhead, so we can pay down and eliminate our startup and operating deficit. This will mark The Institute's maturity and dramatically increase its credibility with institutional funding sources.
With our financial house in order, we will ramp up our fundraising activity and start to fund students at various University Labs to write code we can give away to you and build up a cash reserve to further increase our long term viability. At that point we can decide whether we can be more effective remaining a virtual organization or whether we need to lauch a capital campaign to maintain adminstrative offices and lab space.
"You're in the desert, you see a tortoise lying on its back, struggling, and you're not helping -- why is that?"
Since we are still running on a shoestring budget, we can't justify the overhead costs of using most online donation collection services. We could shunt you to a third party Donor Advised Fund (a class of nonprofit that collects and redisbributes donations to other nonprofits) to make a credit card donation (after which the fund would make us wait for enough donations to accumulate to justify their sending us a payment), but then we would have to wait, we would loose a portion of your donation to the other organization, and we wouldn't be able to log you as an individual donor.
So instead, we ask you to mail us a check, in any amount, but please be as generous as your financial circumstances permit. Then we will know who you are, you won't have to trust another entity, and we will get the full value of your donation as soon as the US Postal Service delivers it to us.
Make your check payable to: The Institute for End User Computing, Inc.
Write 'Donation' and your email address in the check's Memo field.
Post it to: The Institute for End User Computing, Inc.; Box 1717; Ossining, NY 10562
After we deposit it, we will mail you a hard copy receipt for your tax records, since donations by US Citizens are deductable to the extent provided by law.
Or if you see one of our Officers at a Conference, you can make a donation in person (Cash or Check), provided that we are duly registered to solicit funds in the jurisdiction where the meeting takes place. For this year's Hypertext and JCDL Conferences this is the case.
Whatever you choose to donate, your contribution is most deeply appreciated and will be used wisely.
Copyright 2008, The Institute for End User Computing, Inc.
We apologize for having to plaster this legal boilerplate across the bottom of every one of our pages, but you really should read it through at least once since it concerns your legal rights if you are considering donating to us or citing our work.
You see, we try very hard to comply with all applicable legal regulations and at present the law is unsettled with respect to charities raising funds online. There is one school of thought that argues "if a site has a 'Donate Now' button on all of its web pages, each individual web page is a charitable solicitation in its own right, requiring the prominent display of registration notices whose language is mandated by state law." Since this argument might turn out to have the force of law, we are going to play it safe and include the language for all of the states in which we are registered until such time as the states agree upon a more user friendly alternative form of notification, like a simple link to a single page of legalese.
Since we have to go this far, we are also including some useful and related information (about our Copyrights & Trademarks, our Tax Status, and Web Accessibility) that isn't required by law, just to keep everything law related in one place. In any case, this footer is the same on every page so you don't need to scroll down to it again.
Your gift is very much appreciated and fully deductible as a charitable contribution. A copy of our latest financial report may be obtained from our Online Archives, or by writing to The Institute for End User Computing, Inc., P.O. Box 1717, Ossining, NY 10562, or by sending email to: info@ieuc.org
If you are a resident of one of these states, you may obtain financial information directly from the state agency: FLORIDA — A COPY OF THE OFFICIAL REGISTRATION AND FINANCIAL INFORMATION MAY BE OBTAINED FROM THE DIVISION OF CONSUMER SERVICES BY CALLING TOLL-FREE, 1-800-435-7352 (800-HELP-FLA) WITHIN THE STATE. REGISTRATION DOES NOT IMPLY ENDORSEMENT, APPROVAL, OR RECOMMENDATION BY THE STATE. Florida Registration #CH-22009. MARYLAND — For the cost of copies and postage, Office of the Secretary of State, State House, Annapolis, MD 21401. MISSISSIPPI — The official registration and financial information of the Institute may be obtained from the Mississippi Secretary of State’s office by calling 1-888-236-6167. Registration by the Secretary of State does not imply endorsement. NEW JERSEY — INFORMATION FILED WITH THE ATTORNEY GENERAL CONCERNING THIS CHARITABLE SOLICITATION AND THE PERCENTAGE OF CONTRIBUTIONS RECEIVED BY THE CHARITY DURING THE LAST REPORTING PERIOD THAT WERE DEDICATED TO THE CHARITABLE PURPOSE MAY BE OBTAINED FROM THE ATTORNEY GENERAL OF THE STATE OF NEW JERSEY BY CALLING (973) 504-6215 AND IS AVAILABLE ON THE INTERNET AT www.njconsumeraffairs.gov/ocp.htm#charity. REGISTRATION WITH THE ATTORNEY GENERAL DOES NOT IMPLY ENDORSEMENT. NEW YORK — Office of the Attorney General, Department of Law, Charities Bureau, 120 Broadway, New York, NY 10271. PENNSYLVANIA — The official registration and financial information of the Institute may be obtained from the Pennsylvania Department of State by calling toll-free, within Pennsylvania, 1-800-732-0999. Registration does not imply endorsement. VIRGINIA — Virginia State Division of Consumer Affairs, Department of Agricultural and Consumer Services, PO Box 1163, Richmond, VA 23218. WASHINGTON — Charities Division, Office of the Secretary of State, State of Washington, Olympia, WA 98504-0422, 1-800-332-4483.
Other States: We have been explicitly exempted from registering with NORTH CAROLINA because our annual revenue did not reach their threshold for registeration. Other states either do not require any registration at all, have similar registration thresholds, or are jurisdictions into which the IEUC is not directing any solicitations. Naturally, we will register in these jurisdictions before making any direct solicitation of support from their residents or upon our receipt of a level of unsolicited support from their residents that rises to a threshold requiring such registration.
Registration with any of these state agencies does not imply endorsement, approval or recommendation by any state.
The Institute for End User Computing, Inc. is a 501(c)(3) exempt organization that was classified as a Public Charity at the end of its advanced ruling period.
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