I've been (trying) to follow the discussions about the Newton Fund idea
rolling around (Trying, because for the past few days I couldn't access NTLK
at my new job, but I've fixed that now). Since my name has been bandied
about, I think it was about time I put in my opinion, and I have two points to
make.
First off, I don't have the time to take on the huge administrative
responsibility of managing other people's money. Having seen how one
organization does it (I've sat on the University of Guelph's budget advisory
board) with donation funds, I can safely say that even for one account,
someone no less than an accountant has to handle the books. I won't even go
into setting up a non-profit organization and what is involved in that (I
volunteer part of my time as computer guru to the Guelph Campus Co-op, so I
know a bit about that too).
Second, there is the high probability of mismanagement or wasting of the
money. What if the fund gives money to someone and then they disappear?
Obviously a project evaluation policy would have to be written, then. It's
still possible that the projects funded would never reach fruition, and then
the money is wasted.
I think that it would be better to do something like what John is doing with
NewtSync, from a software site. For hardware, there's always the opportunity
for people to take pre-orders, or deposits. Of course there's risk, but
there's risk in having a fund as well.
-- Victor Rehorst - victor_at_newtontalk.net - chuma_at_chuma.org NewtonTalk list administrator - http://www.newtontalk.net Will help you with your list problems - as long as you're nice.-- This is the NewtonTalk list - http://www.newtontalk.net/ for all inquiries List FAQ/Etiquette/Terms: http://www.newtontalk.net/faq.html Official Newton FAQ: http://www.chuma.org/newton/faq/
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