Posted by Chris Charlton on September 17, 2008 at 4:38am
Yes, after hearing about it at the camp.
24% (6 votes)
I am already a member and proud of it!
56% (14 votes)
I will now that I heard about it.
16% (4 votes)
No, I am not a member.
4% (1 vote)
I have no plans to purchase a membership from the Drupal association.
0% (0 votes)
Total votes: 25
Comments
Howdy. So, I heard you said
Howdy. So, I heard you said something about badges and being a member of the Drupal association regarding the LA Drupal group. I didn't catch all of it, so could you recap what the situation is?
We have been a member for a while. I was never really clear about what that meant until that Acquia guy explained what the donations were used for. Glad he mentioned that.
Member badges are donations
There are two membership levels, individual and organization. When you pick up a membership (22 Euros or 72 Euros) you get the privilege to post the official membership badge on your web site to let the world know you're helping Drupal and are most likely a person/company who takes a more legit stance of supporting and using Drupal in our industry.
LA Drupal prides itself on having many "badged" members and our http://ladrupal.org website shows a list of companies a members who are badged right now. This is initial way we're showing our support for these great people/firms who in turn supported Drupal. I've been planning wonderful platforms of promotion to members who are badged in our region, because it's a great thing and it's the right way to say thank you.
Chris Charlton, Author & Drupal Community Leader, Enterprise Level Consultant
I teach you how to build Drupal Themes http://tinyurl.com/theme-drupal and provide add-on software at http://xtnd.us
I signed up online at
I signed up online at association.drupal.org during LA drupal camp to become an individual member. It think it was 22 euros. I assumed they would mail me a badge but now i realize they don't have my address. Anyway, no big deal.
web badges
If you were thinking they ship physical badges they don't; they're web badges. If you have not been validated be sure to read all the notes in the My Account pages, and fill out your entire profile (don't miss the tabs).
Chris Charlton, Author & Drupal Community Leader, Enterprise Level Consultant
I teach you how to build Drupal Themes http://tinyurl.com/theme-drupal and provide add-on software at http://xtnd.us
validation?
The my account pages on the ladrupal site or the main drupal.org site, or this drupal groups site?
And thanks for the info Chris.
no, on association.drupal.org
No, actually I meant on on association.drupal.org's MY ACCOUNT page.
Chris Charlton, Author & Drupal Community Leader, Enterprise Level Consultant
I teach you how to build Drupal Themes http://tinyurl.com/theme-drupal and provide add-on software at http://xtnd.us
sign up with the same address... or log in first.
There are many people who have had problems with this process. You can read some details about the problems at http://drupal.org/node/204175.
As long as your association membership payment was made with the same address that you use for your association.drupal.org account, then you'll get an extra tab on your account page. You can then fill in your details there.
Generating Badges
I was a little surprised that there wasn't any code generated to make it easy to embed the badge on your site. Perhaps this is because the association would rather have people download and host the badges on their own servers, but that seems like a bad decision. It's much more important to make it easy for people to display their badges once they've become a member. Anyway ... you can find the badges at http://drupal.org/image/tid/109. I chose to download all sizes of the organization badges and attach them to a blog posting in which I announced that I had become an official member of the Drupal Association. Then I just created a block with a the badge linking to my a.d.o. account page.
Color me confused
Well, I'm just confused. Should I log into association.drupal.org with my @drupal.org username, then purchase membership? Will that match my PayPal payment (from a different address) to my account?
Or do I need to create a new account -- on the registration page that says "The content of this site is only accessible to selected persons. If you don't have an invitation to sign-up, there is no point in doing so." -- with the same address as my PayPal account?
paypal account address doesn't matter
the best thing to do is like you said - sign in to a.d.o with your @drupal.org account and then go to the membership page.
I think it has become clear that the process needs some refinement. :-) Anyone know where these types of suggestions/issues should be submitted?
tax info of memberships and donations
Right now, unless you're in Belgium, the donations to Drupal are not tax-deductible. http://association.drupal.org/about/faq#tax-deduction
Chris Charlton, Author & Drupal Community Leader, Enterprise Level Consultant
I teach you how to build Drupal Themes http://tinyurl.com/theme-drupal and provide add-on software at http://xtnd.us
The Drupal Association may
The Drupal Association may not be a 501c(3) non-profit but that doesn't mean the membership fee cannot be deducted as an expense. It might qualify in a couple of different categories: Advertising/Marketing, Professional Association Fees, etc. Save your receipt and ask your accountant.
Unless of course you file a
Unless of course you file a schedule C or a separate return for your business, in which case the membership is a business expense and is subtracted from your gross income.
I am not a CPA, so talk to yours to cover your rear end.
--
Christoph Weber
Yes, as said of course check
Yes, as said of course check with your CPA - but the payment is a legitimate business expense,
as long as you are filing your return as a business entity. Either Schedule C, LLC, S or C Corp.
If you have a CPA who does not think that is a legitimate business expense, then you likely have
bigger problems:)
The IRS does not give grief about legit things like association dues, fees, expenses. However
you have to establish a legit business structure and be qualified to deduct those expenses -
if you are deemed to be more of a tinkerer or hobbyist, then everything is out the window.
hth.