Buck joins the circusby GD
There's been some talk on the blog about financial accountability if
you're an individual taking donations for a specific horse, rather
than a recognised non-profit.
Accountability is pretty easy to meet on the informal level. First you
need to show how much you received in donations and then you need to
show how those funds were spent.
Accountability in funds received is easy. Ask each donor how they wish
to be recognised on your list of donations that you plan to post
publicly. If they do not wish to be identified by name or initials,
you can identify them as "anonymous" with their check number or last
four numbers of their PayPal receipt (without a lot more information
to go with it, that information is not enough to compromise anyone's
privacy). By publishing the list of donors, it provides proof of funds
received, particularly if the list is published in a forum where
people can respond with "oh, you forgot mine!"
Accountability for funds spent is also easy. Publish a list of
expenses, including vendor, date and price. Most people will be
satisfied with that but if you want to go an extra step, scan receipts
and place them on a website or offer to email them on request. If you
don't have a scanner, you can fiddle with your cell phone camera and
get pictures of them (light from the side is often more effective than
light from directly above in illuminating what is written on the
paper).
Every donor should receive an immediate acknowledgement of their
donation via email and a follow up thank you with a copy of the
scanned receipts (will usually fit onto one or two pages).
None of this requires much in the way of time or resources! It's very
simple to do but provides enough information that the situation is
clear to everyone involved.
