PayPal Set up for legal fees

[rufinia.livejournal.com]

icecreamempress has been kind enough to set up a paypal donation bucket for legal fees. The email is: friendsofdavissquarelj@gmail.com.

(I removed the button because Paypal is fussy about these things- see comments)

There is also a Go Fund Me bucket here: http://www.gofundme.com/2u9m6o


She has also offered to set up a PO Box at the Post Office, if people think it's a good idea. Thoughts? EDIT: We will be doing that.

Edit to add: I am meeting with Ron later today to hash out some details of how to manage this money, we will keep everyone updated. We thought it would be a good idea to start the fund now.

We haven't incurred legal fees yet, but it's pretty much a guarantee that we will, even with pro bono counsel. If a miracle occurs where we don't, we will be keeping track of who donated how much so we can refund.

Comments

[thetathx1138.livejournal.com]

I think it's a good idea, myself. Some people aren't comfortable with PayPal but do want to help Ron, and while I suspect any attempts to legally mess with the PayPal account would be rebuffed, it's certainly not outside the realm of possibility that Jonmon will try it. PO Boxes, not so much.

[ifotismeni]

normally I'd be fine with paypal but given what's been going on, I think I'd rather go with a PO box so I can send cash.

[jbsegal.livejournal.com]

Who will this money go to? There are a lot of defendants — more every day, it seems.

[jikamens.livejournal.com]

Have legal fees been incurred? I thought efforts were underway to find pro bono representation for the defendants. Has Ron or any of the other defendants explicitly asked for financial help at this point. I'm happy to contribute if he's asking, but it seems like it may be premature.

[csbermack.livejournal.com]

Is this fund "cash being handed to Ron"? Not that that is necessarily a bad thing, I am just wondering.

Has anyone started coordinating Does or is that going to wait until they start getting legally discovered?

[icecreamempress.livejournal.com]

My thoughts are that any money that comes in will be used for court fees, deposition costs (even with pro bono representation, those things add up) and attorney fees if any, for anyone dealing with legal action resulting from their participation in davis_square LiveJournal. Right now, that's Ron. It might eventually be other people as well, but it might not.

And that we would refund money if it turns out the fund wasn't necessary. Any anonymously-donated money would, if the fund isn't necessary, be donated to Cambridge and Somerville Legal Services. (If the fund is necessary and there is leftover money, I would probably want to donate it to Cambridge and Somerville Legal Services rather than try to calculate percentages for partial refunds.)

Also, since I'm administering this, I will be paying any costs I personally incur out of my own pocket to avoid conflict of interest. My goal here is to be 100% transparent.

I'll get the post office box up and running today, since it sounds like people would find that helpful.

[miss-chance.livejournal.com]

I am happy to financially assist Ron and Deb as the named defendants and others as necessary. I STRONGLY URGE YOU, however, NOT to use a PayPal Donate button, and to remove it before you lose your donations.

This is not based on some abstract like or dislike of PayPal, but on the basis that PayPal has repeated frozen assets for charity fundraisers. Without a valid 501c3 aperwork, you cannot use this feature.

See especially http://www.regretsy.com/2011/12/05/cats-1-kids-0/

[greyling.livejournal.com]

I just wanted to say - I really appreciate the work that Ron puts into moderating this group.

[icecreamempress.livejournal.com]

For people who would prefer to use WePay rather than PayPal, I've created a GoFundMe account here: http://www.gofundme.com/2u9m6o

[sprrwhwk.livejournal.com]

Donated

[anomie666.livejournal.com]

I've donated to the paypal page before it was taken down, is there any way to move the paypal donations over to the "go fund me" page? I like the new page because everyone can see how much has been raised.

Thanks!

[beowabbit]

Thanks so much to you and icecreamempress for all this work! I’m about to go donate via PayPal, since that’s what I already have set up. (I agree that since PayPal isn’t very transparent, it’s a good idea to move the money someplace else as early as possible. They’re very convenient, though!)

[crschmidt.livejournal.com]

Thanks for setting this up, I've donated to the WePay account since apparently my PayPal account doesn't want to let me send money (at least to the DavisSquare email?). Best of luck to all involved.