The Foundation has been created!

The Photographer's Foundation Limited is a company registered in England as a not-for-profit company limited by guarantee. The registration number is 14795583. It is now the legal entity that owns and operates this site. When we have got a bank account and a payment gateway, membership of the company, and hence a direct say in the decisions of the site and the company's other ventures, will be open.

The advantage of not being a one-man band.

Not unintentional.
I suppose Amazon is 'the Empire'.

We created the second Foundation along with this one. Any others are third, etc.

You don't have to - company membership isn't limited to people in the UK, and for any other assistance, that's what the Internet is for.

Only if you want to run the whole thing by warping our minds.

I thought about both. It's the foundation for the photographer was the thought.

Bank account (tomorrow) then payment gateway. Whether PayPal is available depends on the gateway. Of course the gateway could be PayPal.

Every payment processor charges, including for cheques.

Mostly banks are charging for any kind of cheque, because they want to do it all electronically. They'll usually charge extra for international cheques.

One of the points of a not-for-profit company limited by guarantee is that it can't be 'bought out'. It belongs to the members, no shareholders. The only way it can transfer is that the members decide by a majority to close the company and transfer its assets somewhere else, and since they can't make a profit doing that and the transfer has to be to the benefit of the members, there is no point, unless it's a merger to a more secure home or suchlike. And if they are paid personally by the 'buyer' to vote that way, that's an illegal conspiracy.

It's the usual way in England that clubs, societies, foundations and other associations for the common good of a community are formed.

...and Alan.
The real point was motivation. I didn't do what I did to become another Bezos or Musk. Something needed to be done and I saw myself as being in a position to do it. So did Alan - so we joined forces.

It was intentional, not a mistake. 'The photographer' is a generic photographer - this is intended to be a site for 'the photographer' - singular. It doesn't suggest ownership by a particular photographer.

when things have settled a bit here.
we might write a little "How it all began".
Have a screen shot about our first chat in dpreview.
Will make a good laugh sometime with an ale or two.

It will be a UK bank account. I'm looking at payment gateways at the moment. Paypal is quite attractive in some way, less so than others, but also quite expensive. Not sure which way we'll go, but any of them will allow direct credit or debit card payments. We also haven't decided what will be the donation levels that bring membership - which won't be compulsory with a donation, I know some people wish just to donate without coming involved.

The tax man says that if we offer facilities in return for donations they stop being donations and we have to pay tax on them.

Yes, it would be VAT we have to pay, and that's 20% off all donations. It made it a no brainer - partners don't get perks.

Unless you can register the foundation as a charity. Then you can claim gift aid on any donations.

Alan

Maybe a little sticker saying 'Brave Boy' (or Girl).

It's hard to justify as a charity, and that brings other complications.

In deed they are, the Foundation is a not for profit company, but that's not the same thing as a charity.

From www.gov.uk/government/publications/what-makes-a-charity-cc4

In England and Wales, a charity is an organisation that is:

established for charitable purposes only, and
subject to the High Court’s charity law jurisdiction
Purposes are what your charity is set up to achieve - they are explained in your governing document. To be charitable, your charity’s purposes must:

fall within the descriptions of purposes
be for the public benefit
As to what the 'public benefit' means, you can read up here

The legal opinion on what public benefit means is:
“To ascertain whether a gift constitutes a valid charitable trust so as to escape being void on the ground of perpetuity, a first inquiry must be whether it is public - whether it is for the benefit of the community or of an appreciably important class of the community. The inhabitants of a parish or town, or any particular class of such inhabitants, may, for instance, be the objects of such a gift, but private individuals, or a fluctuating body of private individuals, cannot.”

I suspect that our members would be 'a fluctuating body of private individuals'.

No pay wall. In what sense do you mean 'volunteer contributions'?

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