Tell HN: I’d like to sponsor your passion project
As part of a New Year’s resolution to provide more value to the universe, I’d like to sponsor you to work on your passion project full-time.
- $700 USD/week
- Expectation is to work on your project full-time, without any other employment or work-for-hire obligations
- Anywhere in the world is OK
- You retain all IP, ownership, etc.
- Can be open source or closed
Interested? Tell me a bit about yourself, your project, and your long-term goals. Email in profile, or post here.
47 comments
[ 2.7 ms ] story [ 83.9 ms ] threadBut it's more than acceptable in many parts of the world.
And yes, I wouldn't expect someone with a family in the Bay Area to be interested.
At least, a family to support. A family supporting them, maybe...
Since the OP doesn't want anything in return, it's possible that this could be considered a gift. If true, then the transfer would be tax (and social security) free in the US.
The OP is paying tax/SS on the money because the project is not a tax-exempt charitable org.
So, might be considered closer to 50k in equivalent salary.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gift_tax_in_the_United_States
There are two levels of exemption from the gift tax. First, gifts of up to the annual exclusion ($14,000 per recipient in 2015) incur no tax or filing requirement. By splitting their gifts, married couples can give up to twice this amount tax-free. Note that each giver and recipient pair has their own unique annual exclusion; a giver can give to any number of recipients and the exclusion is not affected by other gifts that recipient may have received from others.
Second, gifts in excess of the annual exclusion may still be tax-free up to the lifetime estate basic exclusion amount ($5,340,000 in 2014, $5,430,000 in 2015), although for estates over that amount such gifts might increase estate taxes. Taxpayers that expect to have a taxable estate may sometimes prefer to pay gift taxes as they occur, rather than saving them up as part of the estate.
For something to be a gift, the giver can have no consideration
https://www.irs.gov/Businesses/Small-Businesses-&-Self-Emplo...
What is considered a gift?
Any transfer to an individual, either directly or indirectly, where full consideration (measured in money or money's worth) is not received in return.
The OP wants you to work on your project -- it's not clear what happens if you don't do that. If the OP does not get the money back or any other consideration, I believe that an accountant and lawyer could structure this as a gift. The OP will have to file and it counts against their lifetime exemption, but there is no tax (I believe -- talk to an accountant)
I'm wondering what would happen if this got posted to /r/technology though. My initial thought was the epic vote count for something like this, but then I realized it might be outright banned.
The reason I thought it would be interesting was the variety of responses it would attract.
IMO this isn't something someone should take any initiative with; if OP wants to do this, it would be for him to do himself. I was just wondering.
That said, I'm fairly certain it involves some kind of "keep the ball afloat" algorithm, where more upvotes in a smaller time period gives it a higher internal score than a slower sequence of upvotes would. This post has been upvoted very slowly, and I theorise this is why it's on page >2.
His previous attempt: https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/the-year-long-open-source...
I stand by my recommendation. Few people do more for open source than Sven. (Bonus: I don't think he's usually employed.)
I've been spending a part of that "quite a bit more" paying people to work on Snowdrift.coop, if you'd like to join me in that.
Regardless, props on your decision! :)
That's not for me, but I like the idea.
$700/week is a lot in some countries, so I wish you to make our universe a better place :)
On the other hand at least some sort of technical screening must take place in order to make sure that a candidate is at least technically able to deliver a sort of MVP.
In regards the technical screening this can occur post the lottery draw. If the winner is not technically capable of being able to deliver a product then just draw again. This will avoid a lot of work for the OP.
My only other suggestion here is that entrants have to answer some sort of technical quiz or some other human only hurdle so that you don't get a million entries from someone with a script.
I would love to teach youths and women in a developing country about how to start a small scale business with at least USD100. I would want to reach out to at least 1,000 participants every month and take the project to every part of the country. And I would give them manuals, help them begin and stabilize.
If I could have your email address, I will send the details to you.
Thank you very much.
Ayi Etim.
Email:- ayietim1@gmail.com.
http://ayietim.wordpress.com
[0] http://www.awesomefoundation.org/
Are you offering any guarantees? Can anybody be worried about relying on this income only to be dropped like many NY resolutions in March?
Is your "value to the universe" linked to your own generosity, or the projects available?
1. This sounds and smells like 'bait'. The reason it isn't being upvoted is because people question the motive of the OP who hasn't explained why he wants to toss out $2500/month to someone else who retains all IP. Thus, naturally, people think the OP is just trying to get ideas for his own project(s). Or that he's just insane.
2. There are marketplaces for this kind of stuff already. Kickstarter, IndieGogo, etc. Leave us alone, quit trying to get HN points (why anyone cares about these, I'll never know) and go spend your own time hunting in those marketplaces and throw your money there.
In fact, I feel like this desire for tit-for-tat returns and legal frameworks for ownership and remuneration are some of the problem -- they destroy our innate generosity and humanity.
I'm fascinated by the gap between smart people who can execute and traditional systems of funding and employment. Some people get lost in that transition, and half the time it's because they have to tweak their project to meet these expectations of return. This makes the project "not theirs" in a way, and kills some intrinsic motivation.
And motivation is everything.
But I would feel very uncomfortable knowing that the person who pays me doesn't get something valuable back and doesn't really need what I'm working on (but rather "provides more value to the universe"). That is probably just me, though.