Will we ever be able to donate to Thunderbird with a cryptocurrency?
You can actually send bitcoin to someone you trust who will donate its value in a fiat currency to the project but that is a kludgy solution to this problem. If the team asks and looks around, there are probably some expenses that can be paid for with crypto. An example is EasyDNS which can handle domain registration and the like. There are also many developers who would enjoy getting paid in crypto.
Also, everyone should be aware that the IRS says "Any person engaged in a trade or business, including a corporation, partnership, individual, estate, and trust, who makes reportable transactions during the calendar year, must file information returns to report those transactions to the IRS." What's important is that "trade or business" specifically means the performance of the functions of a public office (see https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/26/7701, (a)(26)), and that those who are not performing the functions of a public office but choose to file information returns are subject to penalties described at https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/26/7434 ("Civil damages for fraudulent filing of information returns"). Paying people in one of the fifty states of the U.S. with crypto is much simpler when you understand these things and assimilate them into your business.
Modified by dscotese
Chosen solution
dscotese said
Thunderbird's main page says "Thunderbird is currently transitioning to an independent organization." which suggests that there is already a separate link where folks can contribute to TB exclusively.
There are no plans to move Thunderbird donation process outside Moizilla. So https://donate.mozilla.org/en-US/thunderbird/ will continue.
I would guess bitcoin might not be a method if there is no means to designate "Thunderbird" as a target for the funds.
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The donations FAQ points to this link which does indeed accept donations in Bitcoin. I am not aware of support for donations in other cryptocurrencies. Did you have any in mind?
Also check this link for more information.
Modified by Fabián Rodríguez
The links provided in Thunderbird itself don't point to that one, but only to https://donate.mozilla.org/thunderbird/ which has credit card and Paypal buttons.
I'm glad Mozilla itself accepts Bitcoin, but it does not accept it anonymously, probably because the folks who set it up wanted to be a 501(c)(3) which probably requires that donations not be anonymous, or something like that.
Thunderbird's main page says "Thunderbird is currently transitioning to an independent organization." which suggests that there is already a separate link where folks can contribute to TB exclusively. Thanks for the info on donating Bitcoin to Mozilla though!
Chosen Solution
dscotese said
Thunderbird's main page says "Thunderbird is currently transitioning to an independent organization." which suggests that there is already a separate link where folks can contribute to TB exclusively.
There are no plans to move Thunderbird donation process outside Moizilla. So https://donate.mozilla.org/en-US/thunderbird/ will continue.
I would guess bitcoin might not be a method if there is no means to designate "Thunderbird" as a target for the funds.
I can ask a better question to address the issue Wayne pointed to, which appears to be the crux of the issue I brought up. However, it might be addressed here if I just point it out:
Will Mozilla allow donors to specify which project they intend their donation to support?
At [their site], Coinbase says "We also offer the ability to have donors provide their name and address before sending a payment. If you would like to enable this functionality on your payment button, you can do so by checking the “Customer Information” checkboxes (note that you’ll need to expand the “Show Advanced Options” dropdown for this to be displayed)."
So if Mozilla followed those instructions and edited the [donation page] to say "If you'd like to specify which project you're donating to, please enter that project's name as your name during the donation process," then the feature would be there. Kludgy, but there. I think you could also use Javascript to hide the kludginess since Coinbase doesn't appear to support the collection of anything other than the donor's name and address.