[bkuhn]

I think you'll find that it's very difficult to set up other payment options with 100% Free Software. If Conservancy were willing to use proprietary software on our website for payment options, we could probably implement others somewhat easily.

PayPal is annoying, but at least it integrates easily and doesn't require you to install proprietary Javascript or the like on your own website (like stripe.com does).

Bitcoin is possible to do with 100% Free Software, but it's very difficult to set up.

I think most people don't realize how much work goes into these things. Most non-profit organizations have a huge staff that can set up things like this. Conservancy doesn't.

[daveloyall]

Bradley Kuhn? :)

    $ sudo apt-get install bitcoind
    $ mkdir ~/.bitcoin
    $  echo rpcpassword=password! > ~/.bitcoin/bitcoin.conf
    $ chmod 600 ~/.bitcoin/bitcoin.conf
    $ bitcoind -testnet &
    $ bitcoind -testnet getnewaddress SomeStringCalledAccount

Note the -testnet bit. I don't actually have any idea how bitcoin works. The commands above created a lot of binary files under ~/.bitcoin/testnet3 and spit out a magic-looking string: mr2c2XZwe55xYPqVUkQ8sroi6X674UXJmb ... which I think people could use right now to send me test money on the test net.

Anyone: Does my bitcoind even need to be running for them to do that?

[bkuhn]

I don't see in there all the accounting configurations you'd need to integrate that with Conservancy's accounting system, nor all the legal research to figure out how it impacts Conservancy's Form 990 filings, nor all the workflow code to make sure transactions are auto-imported, identified with people who want to be identified, so they can be sent their t-shirts.

Too often, people think "it's easy for me to set something up for myself to use, it must be just as easy for a non-profit it do it". It just isn't.

And yes, I'm Bradley Kuhn.

[daveloyall]

I understand that during your interaction with fans of the free software movement, you must receive significantly more "free advice" than free work or donations. I apologize on behalf of my personality type! :)

Naive question: could one of your core members accept bitcoin on behalf of the Conservancy and manually convert the balance into a paper check or wire transfer periodically?

I expect that the very public nature of bitcoin transactions would discourage embezzlement. A little script added to https://gitorious.org/conservancy/website could display the transaction log.

"Sorry, t-shirts and recognition aren't available for bitcoin donations at this time."

shrug That's how I'd do it. </free advice> :)