Re: European bank account for donations

[Bastien Nocera <hadess hadess net>]

Hello Alexander,

Em Fri, 2012-03-09 às 11:15 +0100, Alexander van Loon escreveu:
> Hello,
<snip>
> Not only does my Dutch bank require an IBAN-number for foreign bank
> transfers – which the fundraiser page does not provide – the cost for a
> transfer to the USA is prohibitive.
> 
> My bank charges € 5 for transfers to countries not belonging to the EEA
> [2] and if I pay for the costs of the receiving bank in the USA another
> € 9 is added. By contrast, my bank (and I assume many other banks in the
> Netherlands and the EU) charges no fee for bank transfers within the
> EEA.
> 
> So in short, could the GNOME Foundation provide a bank account at a bank
> in the EEA so that most Europeans can donate without any additional cost
> (I'm sure PayPal also takes a cut)?

I'm sure somebody will be able to get into more details about this
problem, but I'll sum it up.

The GNOME Foundation is a US not-for-profit entity. We do not have any
legal existence in the EU or the EEA, and thus cannot hold a bank
account in the EU. This has caused problems in the past, for organising
GUADEC for example, when trying to limit the amount of cost for
transfers, and currency exchange commissions.

Last year, I looked through the possible options for opening Euro
accounts for the Foundation through international banks like Barclay's,
HSBC, and others. I could find nothing that would be appropriate for the
Foundation.

If anybody knows of bank account in Euros that could be held by a US
entity, do let us know.

Cheers