If the time comes, I've founded 501(c)3 organizations myself before and I can help.  My most recent one uses e-commerce to support other charities, so its not too dissimilar from what Bitcoin100 is doing (though BTC100 is much simpler).  I'll send you some resources on setting everything up, if you'd like, Rassah.  The longer you can keep it informal though, the better in my opinion.  

The turning point when you may want to consider setting up an official tax-exempt organization should be when charities start running into problems accepting the money you're donating because they can't account for it without jeopardizing their own tax-exempt status.  It depends a lot on the country that the non-profit lives in, but in many places including the U.S., charities have to prove that they are "publicly" supported.  Hence they need to document the persons they receive donations from and their respective amounts.  For small organizations, receiving the majority of their support from one particular person or entity can constitute "private" support which can change their designation to a private foundation.  Private foundations are taxed on donations and income similarly to for-profit corporations, albeit at a reduced rate.  

Most international organizations that want to do fundraising in the U.S. do end up getting a 501(c)3 in the U.S and establishing themselves as a public charity.  The IRS laws regarding sending money overseas to NPOs tightened up a lot after 9/11 so pursuing big donations from U.S. corporations and the like practically requires 501(c)3 exempt status.  Anyway, this is a pretty complex area of law in the U.S. so i'll leave it at that.  

By the way, I agree with you Rassah that this could get rather large.  That's what happens to good ideas, after all.

I've been wondering about how they got the warrant to seize bitcoins in this case:

http://www.dailydot.com/business/11-bitcoins-seized-government-dea/

Apparently they already have something compelling enough for a seizure?

I second what Twingo Said.  It's amazing the problems that can be solved by pointing a big fan at hardware.

If you're looking to get into mining, this is one of the basic things you need to know.  The hardware you buy to mine bitcoins will earn less and less everyday.  It's just part of the system.  You have to upgrade regularly to keep pace.

Are there any mobile bitcoin wallets that read NFC data yet? 

The most powerful marketing tool you have is a good story.  There nothing wrong with "outgrowing" a name when it means you were more successful than expected.  Here's a quick example of what I'm talking about.

"Bitcoin100 started off with humble beginnings.  We set out to raise what, at the time, seemed like a daunting amount of 100 Bitcoins.  As the project picked up steam though, we learned that the community behind bitcoins is much more generous than we would have ever imagined.  We've smashed our original goal of raising 100 BTC and to date, we've donated more than "X" dollars to charities in need.  There's no slow down in sight, either.  Bitcoin100 is a powerful evidence of how bitcoins are the currency for a new generation, a generation that wants to fundamentally change the world."

The goal is obviously to effectively communicate that bitcoin, and the Bitcoin100, is bigger than the technology that runs the protocol.  It's growing faster than even its core members (That's you Phinnaeus) can predict.  Everyday people are excited by big, growing movements and are liable to donate just to be a part of the Bitcoin100 movement if you can portray a sense of "organic" and "bigger than we ever expected".  

The "100" MEANS growth beyond our imagination.

Bitcoins are the shortest distance between two pockets.

Has anyone started collecting members for a class action lawsuit?  It seems like you could easily out some legal pressure on them, if that is what you're trying to do.

On the other hand, I think a lot of people still want their mining rigs, no?  I also don't think they have the money to refund everyone's orders.  Its not necessarily a good thing to have a court order come down saying "give them their money back" because its liable to induce bankruptcy.

Maybe if they were willing to upgrade everyone with pre-orders to the next generation mining rig, they might be able to take off some of the heat?

Spot on.  This is exactly where I've gone wrong to date in gifting bitcoins.  People accidentally lost them on their computers somewhere.  Oddly, that was part of the reason I created the physical bitcoins that i'm selling (like Casascius but with a proprietary counterfeit/theft protection).  If it looks valuable, people will take care of it. 

Incidentally, I have people that want my physical bitcoins even though they couldn't care less about what a bitcoin is, purely because they look valuable. 

Good design is a gateway to bitcoin adoption.  Well done.

Following up on Mr Davis, I had a long talk with the U.S. FinCEN about the definition of a "money services business" in regard to the physical bitcoins that I'm selling (like Casascius but with a proprietary system to prevent counterfeits/theft).  

They regulate any currency exchange and they view any company that accepts dollars and gives people bitcoins as a currency exchange.  I don't know about ATM specific laws, but the registration as a money services business seems to be what's holding people back.  It doesn't cost anything upfront but requires a TON of compliance procedures.   I'm still wading through it all, as my company is registered as an MSB.

Is there any way for us to plant bitcoin supporters in the audience so we can grumble with distrust at everything the CC companies say?  Professional promoters call this "papering the walls" but its been around since the days of Athenian democracy. 

There's noting like spontaneous cheers and applause to change people's hearts and minds.

This is exactly the kind of thing that will push bitcoin into mainstream usage.  I LOVE that you guys are leveraging each victory on other vendors and playing the competition up. 

This is a microcosm of the revolution.  I salute you!

It's tough to "turn off" data storage.  How long should they keep the data before deleting it?  What happens if I forget to manually pay the bill and lose something really important?

Having automatic payments setup for the services I subscribe to IS convenient for the buyer....no?

Exactly.  Plus its a good idea for a handful of people that know what they are doing to handle the promotional expenditure.  I will happily donate to Bitcoin100 altruistically.  On a completely separate front though, Bitcoins could really benefit from smart public relations efforts.  Bitcoin100 represents a great opportunity to gain sympathetic media attention.  

As I'm sure many of us do, I have a vested interested in bitcoin's success.  As such, contributing to people that are strategic and know what their doing when publicly promoting the currency is high on my to-do list.  It helps everyone who has invested their time and money in bitcoin.

On the other hand, advertising and promoting and interfacing with media is a skill.  Plenty of advertisements accomplish the exact opposite of what they were intending because they are put out by those who don't understand how to influence people.  If we want it to be done effectively, it makes sense to get money into the hands of professionals for the purposes of promoting things like Bitcoin100.  We need good stories to counteract the bad ones (like the ones that equate bitcoin with drugs and criminals and child porn and money laundering, etc.) and Bitcoin100 is a good story that needs to be done right.

I will also happily donate to a bitcoin100 promotional fund if that's how you guys want to do it.  I'll even put you guys in touch with the best ad buyers and PR gurus in the world.  Maybe we can get them to do some of this promotion for free.  My main purpose though was to chime in and say that there is nothing wrong with advertising (and working every other possible angle) to maximize donations, as long as you're aiming to do good.  

 

It's a pretty profitable business from what we can tell.  If I was MagicalTux, you would have to pry my cold dead hands off of the helm.  I'm sure they have investors that are pretty tenacious in the face of risk too, given their decision to invest in a currency that is still wading through regulatory muck worldwide.

Reoccuring payments are easier/more reliable with other payment protocols.  Bitcoin is great for payments initiated on the buyer-side, but not so great for seller-side initiated payments which are fundamental to subscription services.  We're making progress, but its not there yet.

Are there any confirmed back doors like this in the Mac OS?  Most web developers I have worked with that don't use linux with VM are members of the cult of apple products.  They love to tout the "security" of the Lac OS.  I'd love to poke them in the ribs with this.

Seems pretty unlikely, no?  I've talked to employees at Boeing who have no idea how a plane flies.  Maybe that's what's going on here?

I'm also a fan of your dance moves, Carlton. 

I think greed and power are the stronger motivators here.  Governments are made of legislators and legislators want to "steer the ship".  If we can give them some illusion of control, bitcoin will get a huge boost.

I've done a lot of technical writing, wrote a short book on bitcoins, and have contacts at Caltech and MIT who do peer review for tech journals and such.  I'd be open to helping out when it comes time to do the rewrite.  Sometimes a fresh pair of eyes can help tease out the stuff that might not be so easy to comprehend.