How do I legally setup donations for a Lego donations build?

[alienwar9]

I'm planning on building a large scale Lego model to: auction off for charity, or donate to charity.

I need to raise the funds and the pieces to build it however, and I was wondering how I could legally setup an online donation system that allows people to send money and/or Lego pieces. I'd be putting up a few thousand to start it (hopefully I can save enough to get a good chunk started).

The charity foundation I was thinking could be of Eurobricks' choice.

I also wanted to know if it would be better for me to auction off the model and give the proceeds to charity, or somehow give the model to an organization so that they can generate donations with it.

If I were to auction it off, I was also wondering if I could use some of the proceeds to start another model and continue the process, making and auctioning models for charity. (This would only be if the first model is successful enough). The model itself would cost $15,000 or more to build, so would it even be reasonable to auction off? Would companies, or people looking to donate a lot of money be willing to pay that much to take a giant Lego model? (thinking people with lots of money and nothing to do with it, or extreme AFOLS )

If I were to give the model to an organization, how would that work? Who would accept something like an enormous 11 x 13 ft model? Would I have to travel with the model if they display it for fund raising?

Finally, what would be the best way to setup the donation system for the pieces/money? Where could I have the pieces shipped to (I would have to make the address public, so would a P.O. box be better? Would it be big enough to fit large groups of pieces)?

I know it is a lot of questions, but I want to make sure I do this right. Anyone with good legal knowledge please help.

Thanks,

-Alienwar9

Model details and pictures up soon!

Edited February 25, 2010 by alienwar9

[Big Cam]

Well I'm not on Staff at EB but I'm pretty sure you'd need to run this by them first, especially if you plan to take money from members. I know it's going to be for charity, but in the end your still using the forum to obtain funds. I'd PM Jipay or Siegfried.

[tedbeard]

I think you may be putting the cart before the horse here.

Before I would ever send any cash or brick to a charity project I would need to see a couple of important things long before I care what mechanism/accounting details you are using.

1) Track record: where can we see previous projects you have completed? We need to know you can design and build on a large scale.

2) Specify the charity: it makes a difference what the charity is both for the design of the project and for potential donors to decide if they wish to support it. You need to have that decided before you start soliciting donations.

3) Timeline: when would the finished project be delivered to the charity or sold on their behalf? A realistic plan will encourage supporters. An unrealistic guess will scare people away.

Looking forward to some answers- which, btw, will probably help solve your original problem. :)

[alienwar9]

Well, unfortunately for me this is one of the first projects I'm doing. I know, I'm a bit out of my league and dreaming big here, but that's why I'm putting a ton of R&D time into building styles, designs, techniques etc. As for proof of my capability I'm working on that. I'm hoping to get my model plans and design up soon (within the week) and I'm building a "layout" in LDD (or MLCAD or SR3D depending on which decides to work) and a few detailed "testers" to show what I'm shooting for in terms of final look.

The layout is pretty much finished. It took me a good month to do the "pre-production" planning, and a good 2-3 weeks (including 18 hour non-stop sessions) to build the layout in LDD.

As for the charity, I have a few that I personally support and want to donate to, but realistically I think I would have to pin down a charity that would get the most support from the most people, because of the fact that it is such a large model.

There is one issue with the project, and I think you prove it in a way when you say, "it makes a difference what the charity is both for the design of the project" as the design of the project does not fit the ideals or purpose of most charities. It's just a model.

that fact also makes it seem more fitting to put the model up for auction rather than donating the actual model to charity, which I've thought about, but never really got to any good conclusion with.

As for the timeline, I would be hoping to get the project done within a 2 year time span, but it would all depend on how fast the donations would come in, since the project relies solely on donations to be built once my few thousand dollars and limited assortment of pieces runs dry.

I'd be spending a lot of time actually on the project, so the speed of my work wouldn't be too much of a limiting factor. Most of the design I'm hoping will be done with programs so that I can efficiently build the model.

I'll be sure to run this by the staff. I'm also thinking of spreading the project across multiple communities, but I'm a loyal follower and love Eurobricks so I thought you guys could be the leading influence and heart of the project.

As a final note, just to be clear, I am not as of yet asking for any donations. This is purely an inquiry into the possibilities that I have.

Thank you for the help so far!

Edited February 28, 2010 by alienwar9

[Twickin']

If this new product existed I wouldn't ditch LEGO since the new product wouldn't have

the good old feel of the awesome bricks! I would still buy the product but LEGO would

always be my number one favorite!

Edited February 28, 2010 by Twickin'

[alienwar9]

I had one other idea that came to mind. It has some issues with it, along with some benefits. The idea would be to have the whole thing set-up as a raffle. There are a few ways this could work.

One way would be to have between the first $1 and first $10 go toward the project, and a place in the raffle. The winner would win the model, and it would either be a random draw, or a "piece guess". The rest of the money would go towards either presenting the model at fundraising events, or to the charity of the winner's choice. The model could be displayed at different events, or on behalf of the charity, and then after a certain period (as a quick idea, 1-2 years) be awarded to the winner.

Another way this could work is that the winner gets to donate the model to a charity of their choice. All the extra donations would also go to this charity.

A possibility with the second way is where the extra donations would flow over into the next project, and another winner would get to donate that model to a charity of their choice.

Finally, with any piece donation, the pieces would be used in building the model, and any extra pieces not used would either be sent back or used in the next model, depending on what the sender requests.

As a little extra, I was thinking that people could also donate "added art"; where people could send in small creations that would fit within the model, creating a collective work. This would not be a "section" build, but rather things like figs, decorations, vehicles, etc (depending on the model). I would have to ok any piece before it is sent to make sure it fits within the scope and style of the model however.

I was also thinking about the charity question. Some of the ones I had in mind decently fit the "everybody" mentality, in which they are global entities, and perform work of a broad topic base effecting many people. Since this is a global website, with members from all over the world, I thought it would be best to support a foundation that works to help people all over the world. I've done some research into a few other foundations that fit this criteria, but I would still like some input into what foundations would be supported within the community.

But like I said earlier, if it would be a raffle system, the winner could choose the charity. I would have to make sure the charity is a legitimate one. And one issue with this is that the charity the winner chooses could be one another person who donated doesn't support.

But that is why I'm here to figure out how this will work.

Thanks for all the help and input!

[the_green_avenger]

I had one other idea that came to mind. It has some issues with it, along with some benefits. The idea would be to have the whole thing set-up as a raffle. There are a few ways this could work.

One way would be to have between the first $1 and first $10 go toward the project, and a place in the raffle. The winner would win the model, and it would either be a random draw, or a "piece guess". The rest of the money would go towards either presenting the model at fundraising events, or to the charity of the winner's choice. The model could be displayed at different events, or on behalf of the charity, and then after a certain period (as a quick idea, 1-2 years) be awarded to the winner.

Another way this could work is that the winner gets to donate the model to a charity of their choice. All the extra donations would also go to this charity.

A possibility with the second way is where the extra donations would flow over into the next project, and another winner would get to donate that model to a charity of their choice.

Finally, with any piece donation, the pieces would be used in building the model, and any extra pieces not used would either be sent back or used in the next model, depending on what the sender requests.

As a little extra, I was thinking that people could also donate "added art"; where people could send in small creations that would fit within the model, creating a collective work. This would not be a "section" build, but rather things like figs, decorations, vehicles, etc (depending on the model). I would have to ok any piece before it is sent to make sure it fits within the scope and style of the model however.

I was also thinking about the charity question. Some of the ones I had in mind decently fit the "everybody" mentality, in which they are global entities, and perform work of a broad topic base effecting many people. Since this is a global website, with members from all over the world, I thought it would be best to support a foundation that works to help people all over the world. I've done some research into a few other foundations that fit this criteria, but I would still like some input into what foundations would be supported within the community.

But like I said earlier, if it would be a raffle system, the winner could choose the charity. I would have to make sure the charity is a legitimate one. And one issue with this is that the charity the winner chooses could be one another person who donated doesn't support.

But that is why I'm here to figure out how this will work.

Thanks for all the help and input!

A raffle based on donations would probably work the best, but before you go any further, WHAT EXACTLY ARE YOU BUILDING?!?!?!?!?

Edited February 28, 2010 by the_green_avenger

[alienwar9]

A raffle based on donations would probably work the best, but before you go any further, WHAT EXACTLY ARE YOU BUILDING?!?!?!?!?

Working on the post at the moment! Should be up (I think in the city forum) in 2 days.

Edited March 1, 2010 by alienwar9

[Legononymous]

I think your best bet would be to build small MOCs periodically. You'd make more in the long run as more people could afford to bid on them and your start up cost would be a lot less. I've seem some awesome MOCS that I would LOVE to have. You'd be able to do more and your average Joe could afford to bid on them.

[Eilif]

I think your best bet would be to build small MOCs periodically. You'd make more in the long run as more people could afford to bid on them and your start up cost would be a lot less. I've seem some awesome MOCS that I would LOVE to have. You'd be able to do more and your average Joe could afford to bid on them.

I would second the above suggestion. As someone who uses LEGO for community service, I applaud your desire to use the brick for the greater good, but there are alot of challenges involved. A few.

1) Unless you are incorporating brick in a new way, or going for a colage-style creation, taking donations of LEGO brick is a hard way to get the pieces you need to build something cohesive. I would estimate that if you solicit for donations of brick, less than a third of the brick you will recieve will be usefull for your project. Don't even think about sending unused brick back to it's donors, that's a huge headache.

2) You are unlikely to raise enough funds from an auction to pay for both a significant donation to a charity, and pay for your next project. LEGO is a very expensive medium to build with, and it's hard to get your $ back when you sell, much less make any donations.

3) If you are accepting donations of $, you will likely have to commit to a certain charity in advance if you hope to get donations.

4) Very few organizations have space to display a huge model, and even fewer have the ability to transport it. The building, storing, displaying and selling of the item will be largely up to you. You might be able to display it temporarily at your charity of choice, but not likely for very long.

5) How old are you? This is a huge issue. If you're underage, alot of folks might be willing to donate used LEGO to "help the kid do something great" however, unless you have the direct sponsorship of an organization, school, or church, you're unlikely to get any $ donations at all.

6) Raffle tickets are one option, but since raffling an item off means that you won't be able to auction it, you've got to sell enough raffle tickets to cover the cost of donation and creation. an 11'x13' creation is several thousand dollars worth of LEGO. Can you sell a thousand raffle tickets at $10 each or 2 thousand at 5 bucks each?

7) If the plan doesn't work out, you are liable for returning folks money and bricks, or having alot of angry and potentially litigious ex-supporters on your case.

Now the good news.

Accepting cash is easy. For my after school LEGO program, I just setup a paypal address and solicited donations. You don't have to have a 501c3 charity status, you just have to be honest and clearly let folks know what you are up to and let them know exactly what the cash will be used for. The hard part is getting people to give.

Your best bet is to set your sights a bit lower. Build with your own funds, or accept donations of LEGO locally. You might also accept donations of LEGO with the caveat that pieces donated will either be part of the model, or will be sold to fund pieces for the model. Get a moderate project together, build it, and then auction it off. The Build-To-Sell LEGO biz is hard to break into, but a moderate project will get you acustomed to the process so your next build can be even bigger.

Hope I didn't rain on your parade too much. There's alot of hurdles, but if you're really committed to doing this, a few smaller projects on the way to doing the "big one" should be a small price to pay for actually getting the big one done.

Complete your eurobricks profile so we know who you are, and show us some pics of your plans and we'll be able to give you more concrete advice. If there's any questions you think I can answer about LEGO and Charity work, feel free to PM me.

[alienwar9]

Hi,

Thanks for the help!

To comment on your points:

1) I was thinking that I could specify the types and colors of bricks that I would be accepting. Once I make my "first" post with the details of the model (still working on it. I tend to write a lot and give tons of detail) you might get a better idea of just how wide a range of pieces I'm looking for. But still, I'd limit the types of bricks to ones I know I'm going to use or think I might use. I'd make an easy list for people to look through for what they could send. Good point about sending bricks back. I could sell unused bricks for more bricks if needed, like you said.

2) I was hoping that if I had really good donations I could use a small amount just for "start-up" costs for the next models. This might include the structural or base pieces, any non-Lego hardware needed to build, etc. Since I'd have a lot of that already from the first model, the cost would go down anyway. But this would only be if I'd get a lot of donations. Otherwise I was just going to try and save up enough money myself for every next project.

3) Yes I would! That is why I am asking the community which ones they support and seeing if I can match them with the charities I have in mind. I want to make sure that I don't end up supporting a charity that no one else supports (and since I support a few, there are options).

4) That's why I was also thinking of just displaying it myself on behalf of the charity. Thank you for the information on that! Now I know! I also thought I could bring it to a few Lego events and see if people would donate there.

5) Eh, that is an issue. I'm not a kid, so no donations in that respect. But with the whole sponsorship thing, exactly how would that work? Would they be sponsoring my project, which in turn is going towards a charity? How hard is it to get sponsors like this? I've got a pretty rich high-school right next door to me, but I don't know the laws on them sponsoring people and such. Also, if I were to go there and display, how would that work out? Especially in the legal respect. I really don't want to get into trouble trying to collect for charity and such.

6) Well, I was planning on expanding the raffle to beyond just Eurobricks. I was also hoping that some people might even buy multiple raffle tickets. I wanted to include as many Lego communities as I could, and also any community I could find and reach. That would include a few schools, colleges, some churches, and some businesses. Also, I live by 3 Lego stores, so I could go there (though i don't know how that would work either). I would have to find the right amount to charge for a raffle ticket though. But I would hope that a few thousand people out of the many Lego communities would want to buy a raffle ticket and not only get a chance to win a giant model, but also help support a charity.

Though I don't have much experience in that sort of thing, so I'd have to ask you how many people would go for something like that.

7) That is always a risk in this sort of thing, but a risk I am more than willing to take. But that is also why I am here, to make sure I limit that risk to the smallest amount possible.

Thanks for the advice! Yeah, I probably should fill out my profile a little bit more, woops

Oh by the way, I couldn't help but notice that you are from Chicago. So am I! (yup, filling out my profile)

I was thinking Brickworld wouldn't be a bad place to go for this.

Back to work on my long post!

Edited March 2, 2010 by alienwar9

[MacK]

To be honest I think you have your heart in the right place, but you're shooting a bit too high.

As Legononymous suggested you'd be better off just building several smaller models and then selling them periodically. You do seem really dependant on donations, but I doubt that there would be enough people out there willing to donate so much Lego and money to you. I think you also may be over estimating the amount of people that would buy raffle tickets. You need a few thousand to actually make a bit of a difference, but unless you can get on the front page of all of those site plus some other general websites or newspapers you'll probably end up short. Also do you have any idea as to how your're going to ship such a large creation?

Now I'm not saying don't go for it at all, but try to start small. Build up a bit of a reputation as an excellent Lego builder, sell a bunch of smaller models for $100 or less. Then once you have a little more of a fan base and experience you can up the scale a little bit more. You have to take into account that there are very few people who have several thousand dollars lying around, but there are many people that can afford to give a hundred or so.

I guess what I'm trying to say is: Don't build big for the sake of building big, no one's going to want to dish out a huge amount of cash for a medicore diorama no matter how big, build small and build quality instead.

Sorry for the rather long post just thought I'd get my two cents in. What ever you end up doing though I wish you the best of luck in it!

[the_green_avenger]

3) Yes I would! That is why I am asking the community which ones they support and seeing if I can match them with the charities I have in mind. I want to make sure that I don't end up supporting a charity that no one else supports (and since I support a few, there are options).

My Favorite Charity (If you accually carry out with this project)

To be honest I think you have your heart in the right place, but you're shooting a bit too high.

As Legononymous suggested you'd be better off just building several smaller models and then selling them periodically. You do seem really dependant on donations, but I doubt that there would be enough people out there willing to donate so much Lego and money to you. I think you also may be over estimating the amount of people that would buy raffle tickets. You need a few thousand to actually make a bit of a difference, but unless you can get on the front page of all of those site plus some other general websites or newspapers you'll probably end up short. Also do you have any idea as to how your're going to ship such a large creation?

Now I'm not saying don't go for it at all, but try to start small. Build up a bit of a reputation as an excellent Lego builder, sell a bunch of smaller models for $100 or less. Then once you have a little more of a fan base and experience you can up the scale a little bit more. You have to take into account that there are very few people who have several thousand dollars lying around, but there are many people that can afford to give a hundred or so.

I guess what I'm trying to say is: Don't build big for the sake of building big, no one's going to want to dish out a huge amount of cash for a medicore diorama no matter how big, build small and build quality instead.

Sorry for the rather long post just thought I'd get my two cents in. What ever you end up doing though I wish you the best of luck in it!

Agreed comepletely.

Your first LARGE project shouldn't be 11'x13' Probably something more like 5'x6', if not less. (which would also make shipping far easier, though building in sections also works for REALLY big stuff...)

I can't say much else unless I know what you plan on building...

P.S. Your title has the word legal in it, and I cannot find anything illegal about accepting lego donations (unless you had an agreement to return thier bricks, and didn't)

[Eilif]

Hi,

Thanks for the help!

To comment on your points:

1) I was thinking that I could specify the types and colors of bricks that I would be accepting. Once I make my "first" post with the details of the model (still working on it. I tend to write a lot and give tons of detail) you might get a better idea of just how wide a range of pieces I'm looking for. But still, I'd limit the types of bricks to ones I know I'm going to use or think I might use. I'd make an easy list for people to look through for what they could send. Good point about sending bricks back. I could sell unused bricks for more bricks if needed, like you said.

You could specify, but very few folks are going to sort out LEGO for donation.

2) I was hoping that if I had really good donations I could use a small amount just for "start-up" costs for the next models. This might include the structural or base pieces, any non-Lego hardware needed to build, etc. Since I'd have a lot of that already from the first model, the cost would go down anyway. But this would only be if I'd get a lot of donations. Otherwise I was just going to try and save up enough money myself for every next project.

Saving up money yourself, and raffling off the final product is probably your best bet.

3) Yes I would! That is why I am asking the community which ones they support and seeing if I can match them with the charities I have in mind. I want to make sure that I don't end up supporting a charity that no one else supports (and since I support a few, there are options).

Good idea.

4) That's why I was also thinking of just displaying it myself on behalf of the charity. Thank you for the information on that! Now I know! I also thought I could bring it to a few Lego events and see if people would donate there.

If you are displaying it on behalf of the charity, you may want to contact the charity first to see if they mind you using their name. They probably won't, but you don't want any bad blood. The real danger is if you use their name to ask for donations and either the project isn't finished or it doesn't sell for enough to make a donation. That's the kind of thing that will reflect badly on the charity, and they won't want that.

The only way a charity is likely to let you use their name is if the product is already finished and ready to auction or raffle off.

5) Eh, that is an issue. I'm not a kid, so no donations in that respect. But with the whole sponsorship thing, exactly how would that work? Would they be sponsoring my project, which in turn is going towards a charity? How hard is it to get sponsors like this? I've got a pretty rich high-school right next door to me, but I don't know the laws on them sponsoring people and such. Also, if I were to go there and display, how would that work out? Especially in the legal respect. I really don't want to get into trouble trying to collect for charity and such.

See #4 for what I mean by sponsorship. If you can secure the necessary brick ahead of time, you may be able to make the construciton of the project an event of sorts, and perhaps a charity would host it for you. But of course there again, you'd have to buy the brick yourself ahead of time.

6) Well, I was planning on expanding the raffle to beyond just Eurobricks. I was also hoping that some people might even buy multiple raffle tickets. I wanted to include as many Lego communities as I could, and also any community I could find and reach. That would include a few schools, colleges, some churches, and some businesses. Also, I live by 3 Lego stores, so I could go there (though i don't know how that would work either). I would have to find the right amount to charge for a raffle ticket though. But I would hope that a few thousand people out of the many Lego communities would want to buy a raffle ticket and not only get a chance to win a giant model, but also help support a charity.

Though I don't have much experience in that sort of thing, so I'd have to ask you how many people would go for something like that.

Again, if the model is already built, you may have better luck with an auction, or raffle. Remember, though that if you don't sell enough raffle tickets or auction the model for enough $ to cover your expenses and make a donation at least as big as your expenses, you are going to be the subject of alot of criticism and anger. Typically people want to know that 85% or more of their money is going to direct aid, and less than 15% is going for organizational overhead. Thus, if a model costs $5,000 to create, you had better be able to raffle/auction it for $10,000, and that'd still only give you 50% direct aid.

As an example, I do a 10 session educational program with LEGO for third grade boys here in inner-city Chicago. We accept donations of about $55 per student. We are volunteers, and 95% of the money goes right back into LEGO that we buy and give to the boys at the end of the program, and the rest goes into classroom supplies and brochure printing. That comes out to nearly 100% direct aid, but even with a display at brickworld, a fair number of good contacts and a nearly 80 member email list we still struggle to acquire the 600 bucks a session that is required to do the program for 10 boys a semester.

I know this comes across as a major bummer, and I'm not saying it can't be done. I'm saying it's hard and starting small and building is usually the most responsible thing to do, especially when you're dealing with other people's $, donations and trust.

7) That is always a risk in this sort of thing, but a risk I am more than willing to take. But that is also why I am here, to make sure I limit that risk to the smallest amount possible.

Thanks for the advice! Yeah, I probably should fill out my profile a little bit more, woops

If you want to minimize risk, the first thing you need to do is run a piececount estimation and figure out how much this is going to cost. The sad fact is that you are unlikely to be able to secure brick or cash donations to get anywhere near the size an 11x13 creation, so you are looking at a large initial out-of-pocket expense.

Oh by the way, I couldn't help but notice that you are from Chicago. So am I! (yup, filling out my profile)

I was thinking Brickworld wouldn't be a bad place to go for this.

Back to work on my long post!

Cool! Since your in the area, check out our local LEGO club www.niltc.org

In conclusion, I should restate that in my humble opinion, your wisest course of action is really to try a smaller project first. Dreaming big is great, but the numbers are very much stacked against you. If, however, you have the ability to self finance and you want to go ahead, best of luck, and feel free to stop back in here if there's any questions we can help you with.

[davee123]

Yeah, I have to agree with the sentiment that you're going about this the wrong way.

To be totally honest, and I apologize if this sounds harsh-- it sounds to me like there's this particular model that you want to build, and the only way you can build it is if you get money from people to build it. You don't care about keeping the model, so you're happy to give the excess money and the model to charity, but what's most important to you is that you can build this super-huge thing. Maybe it's because you want to have something for a resume or college application, or maybe it's for some other purpose. But the impression overall is that this project is more about what YOU want than what would be good for the charity. Anyway, sorry if that sounds rude, but that's the impression I get.

Most models that are built for charity serve two purposes. They're often put forward by companies-- so they're a form of publicity and advertising as well as for the charity itself. LEGO did that (for instance) by building Fenway Park and the "Green Monster" in conjunction with the Red Sox, each of which were put on auction for charity. But the models and auctions themselves served to advertise the Red Sox. Otherwise, why not just take the money that was used on bricks and Master Builders' time, and put that money towards the charity?

The real first step is to find a sponsor. Find a local event, company, charity, or otherwise that's interested in the project. They don't have to front all the cash, but they can easily give you both credibility and a start on money. If it's an event, it also gives you a venue to display your creation, as well as further exposure (the event's attendees) for more donations.

Otherwise, if you go on the path you're going on now, I think the response will largely be skepticism.

Legally? You may have to look into taxable donations. Donations beyond a certain amount may need to be tracked, since if you're making a private donation, that means that you, as a private entity, took in some amount of money, which may be taxable otherwise. Hence, if you've got exclusive control over the donations, that may technically be regarded as income. You should check with an attorney or accountant to see whether or not you'd need to set up a separate entity to accept such funds (like an LLC or non-profit group). Again, having a corporate sponsor REALLY would make this a lot easier.

Anyway, I do think your heart is in the right place-- I just think you're probably going about this in the wrong way.

DaveE

[alienwar9]

Thanks for all the help and responses! I'm currently at work on the other post so it might take me a bit to give a response more specifically.

Thank you!

[Siegfried]

Well, it's all been said but it's probably about time the staff made an official response. We've been discussing this for the past few days and we unanimously agree that EB would rather not be involved. We're not completely against the idea of a donation build, but in this case we don't feel that the situation is the best. Ideally for us to think this concept could work we'd prefer;

• It was led by someone (or better still a group) that has experience in building large models. (E.g. Norro, KeithLUG)
  
• More than one builder was involved in case of sickness, boredom, or some other reason that prevented the MOC being completed. I think for each $1000 donated you need at least one person on the team. Each member would need to be 100% clear about who they are and where they live... and preferably live close together.
  
• The design was chosen by the team with community consultation and with the eventual buyer in mind. In the case of targeting a charity, I also think it'd be better if it was one you felt passionate about.
  
• The model was partially finished before any donations were asked for. This demonstrates commitment as well as giving everyone an idea of how long it will take to complete. A time frame of one year or less is preferable.
  

In regard to the actual proposal so far, I have to say that the complete lack of large scale experience, 2 year time frame and an apparent intention to be the sole driving force behind the model give me extreme doubts of it's eventual completion.

Sorry if our rejection causes any offense.

You can discuss and plan it here all you want though, but if you start to ask for or take donations you'll need to go somewhere else. I heavily recommend you heed the advice of Eilif in particular.

[alienwar9]

Understood!

I completely agree with you there. I've been thinking about it, and although I may feel competent at building this, I definitely see how it would end up becoming overwhelming or fall apart. Though my heart is a little broken, I understand your points.

However, I would like to ask questions as to my further options going along with your points.

• If I were to get someone with more experience to head the project, and allow me to be the lead designer, could that work? I am going to post my designs, plans, etc and from there maybe someone would be interested enough. I live in the Chicago area, so I know there are a decent amount of AFOLs here. I'd just need to find someone interested and willing to take up the project.
  
• Eilif posted a link to a Chicago community that does events, and I looked through and saw that they build similar stuff for their displays. I don't know yet, but I could ask around and see if I could recruit enough people from there also. But if I could get enough people...
  
• Like I said, I will be posting my initial designs, but from there I was hoping anyway that the community could help in designing. Now with a team, I'm pretty sure redesigns and possibly complete overhauls would happen, but I'm more than willing to put my project in good hands. I would still like to have a say in the project The only problem I would see is with designing it with eventual buyer in mind. With an auction I would find that hard to do. As for the charity, I meant to ask because I was afraid I wouldn't get enough supporters for a charity if I picked the one I support the most. But I definitely understand what you mean. In that respect however, I would still want to make sure at least the team supports the charity, but from this point I will stick to the one I really feel a need to help.
  
• That is a very good point. I was planning on initially building the model with my own money and then relying on donations. But I didn't think to have it partially finished before I would ask for donations. I suppose with a team at work on it, maybe some other members might want to help with the initial cost also, but I won't expect it. With a team, the time frame could be reasonable at under a year. I was just setting a time frame if I were to build it alone.
  

I also ask that you view my post once it is finished before responding, as it might give a better understanding of what I am trying to build.

But if I were to continue the project in accordance with the points above and any other rules or ideas you may have, I am asking if you would reconsider allowing this on EB.

As for an additional note, not that it matters but, I have a personal reason for wanting to do this so fast without going through the learning curve of smaller projects, but it's extremely personal for me, and I think most would just look at me skeptically anyway. I am not trying to say anything there, it is just something that is very hard for me personally to work with, and so I would not want to ask anyone else to think about it.

[Siegfried]

I also ask that you view my post once it is finished before responding, as it might give a better understanding of what I am trying to build.

Will do.

[alienwar9]

Yeah, I have to agree with the sentiment that you're going about this the wrong way.

To be totally honest, and I apologize if this sounds harsh-- it sounds to me like there's this particular model that you want to build, and the only way you can build it is if you get money from people to build it. You don't care about keeping the model, so you're happy to give the excess money and the model to charity, but what's most important to you is that you can build this super-huge thing. Maybe it's because you want to have something for a resume or college application, or maybe it's for some other purpose. But the impression overall is that this project is more about what YOU want than what would be good for the charity. Anyway, sorry if that sounds rude, but that's the impression I get.

Most models that are built for charity serve two purposes. They're often put forward by companies-- so they're a form of publicity and advertising as well as for the charity itself. LEGO did that (for instance) by building Fenway Park and the "Green Monster" in conjunction with the Red Sox, each of which were put on auction for charity. But the models and auctions themselves served to advertise the Red Sox. Otherwise, why not just take the money that was used on bricks and Master Builders' time, and put that money towards the charity?

The real first step is to find a sponsor. Find a local event, company, charity, or otherwise that's interested in the project. They don't have to front all the cash, but they can easily give you both credibility and a start on money. If it's an event, it also gives you a venue to display your creation, as well as further exposure (the event's attendees) for more donations.

Otherwise, if you go on the path you're going on now, I think the response will largely be skepticism.

Legally? You may have to look into taxable donations. Donations beyond a certain amount may need to be tracked, since if you're making a private donation, that means that you, as a private entity, took in some amount of money, which may be taxable otherwise. Hence, if you've got exclusive control over the donations, that may technically be regarded as income. You should check with an attorney or accountant to see whether or not you'd need to set up a separate entity to accept such funds (like an LLC or non-profit group). Again, having a corporate sponsor REALLY would make this a lot easier.

Anyway, I do think your heart is in the right place-- I just think you're probably going about this in the wrong way.

DaveE

Yeah, I thought about that too. To be honest, it's a little bit of both. I really want to build a large model, and I also really wanted to do something in the world to help people. I sort of felt I wasted so much of my life thinking of what I would do in the future and not of what I was doing currently. It was sort of a depressing moment, but I thought, maybe if I could kick start my efforts, it would in some part make up for the rest, and in another way get me on the right path. At the same time I was just beginning to plan this model, and I thought, what if I could combine my two efforts and do something I'm good at to help people.

As for the sponsorship / private entity choice, I've looked into that a bit myself, and decided that the work, fees, and effort put into creating a non-profit would be too high a price, and that getting a sponsor is a much easier and more reasonable route. The only issue there is FINDING a sponsor. But, I have some spare time (of course I do if I want to build something like this), so I will ask around. (along with asking around for people who would be willing the head the project and join the project.)

Thanks for your comments and help so much!

[alienwar9]

AHHHH!! Ran out of time again. Sorry guys, my first post won't be up until tomorrow (for me). There was a lot more content I saw I needed to put into the posts, not to mention edit them for the changes after the last few posts here. Also, the programs I was testing to see if I could get better pictures with ended up taking to long to work, so I ended up going back to LDD (and it takes a while to get that where I need it to be).

All that, and I needed to eat I promise though that when I get home tomorrow, I will not stop working to get that post up! (even if it costs me a bunch of sleep).

Funny thing though, after all this, just today I completely reworked the layout and design in my head, so what I post tomorrow isn't going to be my layout. I just thought, after all this wait, I have to show something for all my talk.

Anyway, sorry for the wait.

[the_green_avenger]

my first post won't be up until tomorrow

It is tommorrow...

So where's the post?

[alienwar9]

oh my! It's already tomorrow! Sorry. I just got done resizing the images. I just need to add a few "drawn in" notes, write the descriptions for the pictures, and I'm done. There are 61 pictures, so it has taken me a while to take them, fix them, size them, etc.

Should be out in maybe a couple hours.

Working as fast as I can!

[alienwar9]

Well, its 3 in the morning, and I just finished writing the post. I have been working non-stop on it since 6pm (with the exception of dinner). I still have to photo-edit to make some marking notes on the pictures. That is the only thing left, and then I can FINALLY post this beast. It came out to 5 pages on word for the main hub post, and 8 pages for the current build that I am planning.

I'm getting dizzy however, so I think I'm gonna take my much needed sleep. But this is how it usually works for me. I try too hard, end up being a little late, but come in with way more than I thought I would.

Bright and early I'm gonna finish those pictures and get it all posted. Sorry again for the delay. I just want to be as thorough as possible so that you have the best understanding possible.

Thanks for waiting!!!!

[alienwar9]

FINALLY!!!!

The project hub post is here

And the first project, a model city, is here

Hope you guys like it!