• We have a lot of fun celebrating pride every year and we collect a ton of money to do it.
  
• Every year we designate a charity that has an in-world presence who seems to be responsive to Second Pride and is directly involved in issues important to LGBTIQ people everywhere.
  
• Every year we give all our money away to the designated charity over and above our expenses, which we keep as low as possible, yet, out of the incredible generosity and support we receive every year, we spend enough to accomplish all of our goals for Second Pride during any given current year.

1. Linden Lab benefits from a very good "Volunteer Program" formed by Second Life Mentors etc... Do you think that in the case of Second Pride it is also possible to keep a volunteer based group or rather find another way?
2. Take both possibilities (yes/no to 1st question) and develop on what you think it would do as an impact to the general opinion of SP by Second Life residents. And how you could suggest in between methods to benefit both the reputation and the financing of the staff for their SP related expenses.

1. Unfortunately with only a slight understanding of Second Life Mentors and the Volunteer Program you mention, I can't be sure my understanding of your question is accurate. I am slightly familiar with Burning Life, which I take to be a volunteer effort devoid of monetization.
   
   Short term, I simply assume Second Pride remains an essentially volunteer social effort comparable in appearance to Pride events located all over the world. Were it to immediately change to a paid non-profit effort, I think its meaning would change somewhat, perhaps for the worse, and it could be of less compelling interest. Frankly, I think if it were paid, it would be roughly comparable to another club. The immediate vision advanced in the Open Letter does not appear to be inconsistent with a volunteer effort if this basic notion is retained. I think the new vision is worth considerable, wide-ranging informal discussion to seek out pitfalls like this and a few others early on, because I think it is fair to say this forum is just too intimidating for that.
   
   
2. I take this to mean under the new vision, ok, we have a job to do here. Let's say we buy 4 sims and set up a health center (hopefully about health, not disease). We can't make this happen as a volunteer effort any more with gazillion dollars in tier due each month and compensating people who know what they're doing as well. Short term, a budget would have to be based on cost projections with argument for benefits. If implemented, it wouldn't take all that long to test the total concept under fire and see if indeed this approach is a winner that reaches far beyond our previous modest volunteer efforts and delivers services, other charitable benefits and cold hard cash beyond our wildest dreams.
   
   If we kept the volunteer vision, we might be looking at continuing much as we started, essentially a colorful parade, booths and stages that carry powerful social messages to/from LGBTIQ people everywhere, but of course we'd still grow a lot. Under strict interpretation, it might be that we could found and name as designated charity the health center, but we would not run it ourselves because of fixed costs.

So is there consensus here? That as the organization grows, there may be some programs that require on-going support and funding, and this does not work when each Pride year begins with a zero balance?

FYI, in RL a charity is said to be low on overhead when more than 65% of its expenses go directly into the stated cause. For Amnesty International, 18% go into overhead (fundraising expenses and admin expenses) which is considered quite good. Their ending net assets for 2008 were $21,632,793 and total assets were roughly $34 million, or over 60% of the funds they raised in 2008 ($56.7 million).

• Regrettably it is illogical to say we have reached consensus for incremental budgeting for on-going program, when indeed there is still considerable debate about this.
  
  Obviously this poses immediate practical concerns for you, and I am doing everything I can to adjust to your way of thinking, but I am not there yet.
  
  
• These are very significant figures, as it offers hints as to the feasibility of the new vision if adopted. If elected, I can easily see myself doing this kind of research and coming up with similar figures for planning purposes, but at present it is fair to say we are simply not quite committed to being precisely the same kind of organization as our designated charity, but instead, we have more in common with Burning Life, which we'll become more familiar with by way of the fine efforts of Events Management.