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OUTPOSTYour Republic
Working — measured, not vouched for — Nothing in this repository records it as unfinished. That is a measurement, not a person's word that it is good -- no one has signed for this page.

Giving

Giving is not open yet

Null because no date has been set, and a date cannot be set before the bank account exists and CO-1 is filed. The page prints the absence rather than a guess.

  • ✓ Outpost Civic Education is an Illinois not-for-profit corporation.

    File #75641389, effective 2026-08-01.

  • ✓ An EIN has been assigned.

    Assigned 2026-08-03.

  • — 501(c)(3) recognition has been applied for, and has not been granted.

    Form 1023-EZ is due within 27 months of incorporation and is retroactive to formation when granted. Until the determination letter arrives, no gift here is a deductible gift.

  • — There is no bank account in the Corporation's name yet.

    Bylaws 12.7 require every payment from the public to be received directly by the Corporation. Until that account exists there is nowhere for a gift to land that would not land on a person.

  • ✓ No money is taken here, and nothing on this page asks for any.

    There is no payment form, no processor, no checkout link and no amount anywhere on this page. Joining the list below is a request to be told when giving opens; it is not a pledge and it commits you to nothing.

Outpost Civic Education is an Illinois not-for-profit corporation applying for 501(c)(3) recognition; deductibility is not guaranteed until the IRS grants it.

Tell us you'd like to give when it opens.

A notification list. We will write to you once, when giving opens.

Not a solicitation, not a pledge, not a tier. No amount is asked for and none is recorded. Nothing is promised in return.

We ask for your name and your email address. We never ask here for an amount, a circle, a card, an address, an employer or occupation.

The circles

The product subscription tiers (entitlements_core). A gift is not a subscription and a subscription is not a gift; Track D's firewall keeps the two apart.

None of these can be joined yet, and no amount has been set for any of them.

  • Founding Supporter

    Anyone who gives at all in the first ninety days after giving opens.

    What it gives

    • Their name on the Founders' Wall, if they choose to show it.
    • The founder's letter.

    Amount — not set

  • The Circle

    A recurring gift of any size. There is no floor — 'any size' is the rule, not a softening of one.

    What it gives

    • The founder's letter.
    • The annual founders' briefing.

    Amount — not set

  • Steward

    A larger gift.

    What it gives

    • The founder's letter.
    • A seat at the founders' briefing.
    • A named hour with the founder each year.

    Amount — not set

  • Benefactor

    The largest gifts.

    What it gives

    • Everything above.
    • The founder comes to you — one of the session kinds already registered in teaching_core.

    Amount — not set

What no circle ever buys

  • No influence over the record. What the record says is what the sources say, and a gift does not move a line of it.
  • No say in what is published. Not what is written, not what is corrected, not what is taken down.
  • No access the public does not have. Every fact, every source, every correction and every educational surface is free to everybody, always.

Three states and no default: silence is not consent. An amount is never shown beside a name, in any state.

The Founders’ Wall

Nobody has given anything, because nothing here can take a gift yet. When that changes the wall shows only the names of people who asked to be shown, and never an amount beside one.

Ask the founder to speak with you.

  1. Say who you are and how to reach you.
  2. Say which kind of session you have in mind, from the kinds already published.
  3. Say roughly when, and what you are trying to find out.
  4. He answers by email. A person reads it; nothing here books itself.

What a session costs is not on this form and is not decided by it. Nobody is turned away for not being able to pay; that rule is teaching_core's and it is unchanged.

The request box is not open yet. The place that would hold your message does not exist — its SQL is drafted and waiting for the founder to apply it. Rather than take a message and drop it, this page says so. The kinds of session he already offers are at /learn-from-the-founder.

The platforms we checked

Published so the answer to “can we use this one” is written down once rather than researched again each time somebody asks. A verdict of “later” is never a plan — it names what has to be true first.

  • GoFundMe (personal campaign) — no

    The money goes to a person, not the Corporation, and starting one is a solicitation — which Illinois AG Form CO-1 has to precede.

  • GoFundMe for nonprofits / PayPal Giving Fund — later

    Needs the organisation listed by the IRS, which needs the determination letter.

  • Kickstarter — no

    It runs on a creator account, and its rewards are access fees rather than gifts — which are capped under IRC 509(a)(2) and would count against the public-support test.

  • Patreon — later, and then a decision

    Could carry Learn-from-the-founder memberships; support is uncapped only if the payor is recorded and the money settles to the Corporation. 8-12% in fees, not deductible, and it needs the bank account first.

  • Venmo (personal) — no

    Money landing in a person's account is one donor under 509(a)(2). A charity profile needs PayPal Giving Fund and 501(c)(3) status.

  • Ko-fi, Buy Me a Coffee — no

    Creator-account shaped, same problem as Kickstarter, and neither gives the donor records the policy requires.

  • Zeffy — first choice, when the bank exists

    Nonprofit-native, processor-hosted card fields (which is requirement 5 by itself), recurring gifts, recognition controls, and 0% platform fee. Needs the Corporation's bank account and EIN; confirm at signup whether a pending 501(c)(3) is accepted.

  • Givebutter — first choice, when the bank exists

    Same shape as Zeffy: nonprofit-native, processor-hosted fields, recurring, recognition controls.

  • Donorbox — first choice, when the bank exists

    Same shape again. The three are alternatives to each other, not a stack.

  • Every.org, Benevity, employer matching — later

    All three key off the IRS determination letter.

  • Fiscal sponsorship (HCB, Social Good Fund) — counsel question, probably no

    Only worth asking if the 1023-EZ is going to wait. It is a question for a lawyer, not a platform choice.

What is not built, and what it waits on

  • A real Give button (a Zeffy, Givebutter or Donorbox embed with processor-hosted fields) — waits on the Corporation's bank account; Illinois AG Form CO-1 filed; the merchant of record declared in public_support_core; the eleven DONOR_POLICY requirements built; the founder's amounts.
  • Amounts on the circles — waits on the founder.
  • Patreon memberships for Learn-from-the-founder — waits on the bank account; a decision after it exists.
  • Fiscal sponsorship — waits on counsel's answer; and only if the 1023-EZ is going to wait.
  • Employer matching, Every.org, GoFundMe Charity — waits on the IRS determination letter.

How this organisation is funded, and the rules it keeps about it, are at /standards.