Q900 Who pays the expenses of creating and operating the Winlink 2000 system?

A900 Winlink 2000 (WL2K) is (and always has been) all volunteer. No one is compensated for their contributions of time which now [2007] totals well over 20 man-years. We try to offset at least some of the costs of running servers, registering internet addresses and domains, licensing software etc with donations.

In 2006 we set up a not-for-profit public service corporation to handle the finances and contributions from the distributions of CDs and also as a vehicle to accept donations of equipment and services (e.g. retired commercial servers etc). This corporation is called the Amateur Radio Safety Foundation Inc. (ARSFI) see http://www.arsfi.org/ The directors of the ARSFI are the founders and developers of WL2K and no director receives any compensation. We are in the process of obtaining Public Charity status 501(c )3 for this corporation but that is a time consuming process and it is not guaranteed we will be granted this status. The ARSFI is the mechanism we use to pay for the expenses of WL2K and to purchase what licenses, hardware and new development tools and software are required. It is also a mechanism to provide training for Emcomm groups and distribute information about WL2K and Amateur Radio Emergency services in general.

Interested parties or those wishing to contribute to the operation of WL2K can do so in one of a few ways. These mechanisms can all be reached via the ARSFI web site above.

• Join the ARSFI ($10/year). Your membership gives you a vote into how the
  organization is run and what it does. The contribution goes to the ARSFI and some of that is used to support Winlink 2000.

• Make a cash donation through the ARSFI. Both Pay Pal and Secure Credit Card
  mechanism are available on the ARSFI.org web site. We request that personal donations be limited to $100.

• Purchase one of the CDs which we make available throughout the year to various
  boater, RV, and EMComm groups. These have convenient up-to-date software and other
  useful information. A nominal $15 donation is suggested to cover duplicating and mailing costs. If you would like a CD configured to target a particular group or service please contact one of the directors and provide us information on what your target audience is.

• Make a donation of equipment or services to the ARSFI. This can be in the form of retired but otherwise useable servers, radio equipment, software, facilities or services (e.g. legal, accounting, engineering, programming or documentation help) To make a donation of equipment of services please contact one of the directors of ARSFI.
• Donations of cash or check are also appreciated and should be sent to:

  ARSF Inc.
  c/o Rick Muething, KN6KB
  6143 Anchor Lane
  Rockledge, Florida USA 32955

  Make checks payable to ARSF Inc. or Amateur Radio Safety Foundation Inc.

Your support of Winlink and the ARSFI is much appreciated.

Rick Muething, KN6KB
Director, Treasurer Amateur Radio Safety Foundation
Winlink 2000 Development Team