Xoops Council: 2008 XOOPS Financial Report.

Posted by: XoopsCouncilOn 2009/2/4 10:40:00 9994 reads
The current XOOPS leadership was from the very beginning very strong on financial transparency. Some of us addressed the need for financial transparency on quite few occasions with the previous leaders, for example, here, quoting Apache Foundation as an example of a Best Practice. Please note that till today, we still didn't receive any financial report for 2007 and 2008 from "Stichting XOOPS", our foundation based in Netherlands, and therefore this matter is being currently handled by our lawyer over there. We are hoping for an amicable solution and we'll keep you posted.

But if we are asking for something, then we should be able to walk the talk as well , so here is the 2008 XOOPS Financial Report .

As you can see from this report, DJ (phppp) and Mamba also put their money where their mouth is, especially DJ (phppp). They believe strongly in XOOPS and therefore they were willing to support XOOPS financially till it becomes self-sustainable, which we have achieved in the end of 2008.

Income:
Before starting our XOOPS Foundation this Fall, we were not able to generate legally any funds. And we didn't want any money to go to "Stichting XOOPS" in Netherlands, as it was practically hijacked away from XOOPS and we didn't have any access to it. After we registered the XOOPS Foundation as a non-profit organization in the USA, we have started in mid Nov. 2008 Advertisement on our Site, and by the end of the year we've generated $269.64. We've also received $95.00 in donations (Thank you!!!), on which we had to pay ($5.34) in PayPal fees, resulting in net donations result of $89.66. The total gross income was $364.64

Expenses:
We had to pay for our Dedicated Web Server, which was $150/month, and a Registration fee for the XOOPS Foundation ($125), which resulted in expenses of ($1,925.00). Together with the PayPal fees mentioned above, total expenses were ($1,930.34)

Combined, the net loss for 2008 was ($1,565.70)

Loans:
The server cost and registration fee were covered by interest-free loans from Jiang Taiwen (phppp) and Michael Beck (Mamba).

The resulting 2008 positive result of $409.30 will be used to start repaying the loans first to DJ, and then to Mamba.

DJ also provided XOOPS with loans for the server in 2007, for the amount of $220, for which he will be reimbursed later.

In April 2009, similar to Apache Foundation, we'll be providing the community with a copy of XOOPS Foundation Tax Return.

Going forward, our goal is to generate as much money as possible from Advertisement, XOOPS Gift Shop, and your donations, so we can pay for the server, pay back the loans, and then use the reminder for XOOPS promotion and development.

We would like to organize "XOOPS Summer of Code", similar to "Google Summer of Code", where we would give scholarships to XOOPS Developers to develop certain functionalities that our users are looking for.

As you can see, we are moving into 2009 with a positive cash flow, and we are convinced that this will stay now as permanent, but we'll be continue to look for other ways to increase our revenue and income.

In the meantime, please buy the XOOPS T-Shirts since the proceeds benefit XOOPS, and if you are happy with XOOPS and our progress, feel free to donate money to XOOPS Foundation.

Thank you all for your help, support, donations, patience, and faith in XOOPS.

May 2009 be the best year ever for XOOPS!!!