Discussion - Member to Member Sales - Research Center
Discussion - Member to Member Sales - Research Center
On March 7, 2024, he posted the following message on the Stamp Community Family forum where he was a Moderator. I have edited Don's post slightly for formatting but not content.
"As some may already know, I had major surgery about 6 weeks ago. Since then, the metastatic activity has increased, the next few months are going to be very challenging and quite an uphill battle).
The reason for mentioning this is that for the last year I have been getting my affairs in order. This includes plans to ensure that Stamp Smarter is publicly and freely available for decades to come. With the support of some great friends, we have exploded many possible directions and solutions. Most of the solutions are costly, some of them fairly complex.
But with perseverance and saving enough money, I have established the Stamp Smarter Foundation. The Stamp Smarter Foundation Inc. is a 501c3 Non-Profit. There is one final hoop to jump through and an initial BOD meeting that needs to be held; these should occur in the next few weeks.
The Stamp Foundation mission statement is as follows.
Mission
The Foundation's purpose is to promote the educational aspects of philately, facilitate the collection, study, and dissemination of knowledge related to postage stamps, postal history, and all other philatelic activities.
Mission Details
1. The Foundation actively encourages educational initiatives related to philately. This includes maintaining a website designed to freely provide knowledge about postage stamps, postal history.
2. As part of its mission, the Foundation supports research and scholarly study in the realm of philately. It collaborates with experts, historians, and collectors to delve deeper into the historical context, design, and significance of stamps and postal covers.
3. The Foundation recognizes the importance of preserving philatelic artifacts for future generations. It advocates for the establishment and maintenance of archives, libraries, and digital repositories dedicated to stamps, covers, and related materials.
4. Recognizing that philately transcends borders, the Foundation collaborates with international organizations, museums, and institutions. It promotes cross-cultural understanding through philatelic exchanges and joint projects.
5. Upholding stewardship standards within the philatelic community is a core value. The Foundation encourages good conservation stewardship practices among collectors, dealers, and researchers.
And a big part of meeting these objectives is to achieve them through the Stamp Smarter website.
Stamp Smarter will remain the same as it is now and will remain a good place to preserve free philatelic knowledge for many years. I thank everyone who has contributed to your hobby. I also want to thank everyone for allowing me to moderate this community, it has served as a great distraction as I have travelled through 10 years of medical challenges.
Regards,
Don
"
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The following post is to provide some preliminary information about the Stamp Smarter Foundation as it exists today.
The Stamp Smarter Foundation, Inc. is incorporated in the State of North Carolina, as a 501(c)3 non-profit Educational business. We have received an IRS ruling that we are also a tax-exempt foundation, so that all donations may be considered tax-deductible to the donor. Donations can be made via the [PayPal Donate] button on the home page. For other methods of donation, contact me via PM through Stamporama.
I am a Director of the Foundation, and currently serve as the communications point for them.
The following is a summary I posted on the Stamp Community Family forum on March 26, 2024, which states our current status:
"The Stamp Smarter Foundation was established to continue Don's work. The suddenness of Don's death puts us at a disadvantage in that we had not had time to collect all of Don's "institutional knowledge" about the website and its many community projects.
Our immediate goal it to maintain the website in it's current form for the remainder of this year, but without any significant changes, while we try and get up to speed and understand all Don was doing. Don's skill as a programmer and web designer was unparalleled, and I doubt we can find his equivalent any time soon, but we will try. Anyone with substantial web experience is invited to contact me.
In the meantime, we ask that those of you who have community projects or on-going projects of some nature on Stamp Smarter, especially those where you had accounts and permission to access them to do two things for us:
Continue to work as you always have, and keep your projects growing
Contact me, through a PM to let me know who you are, contact information, and anything simple that you can tell me about the work you were doing with Don
For those who want to participate with existing community projects, but do not have a contributor account, please let us know who you are. We hope to be able to add new accounts shortly.
Other people who were contacts for individual projects or features on Stamp Smarter, even if there are no changes or updates necessary at this time, should contact me and let me know who you are and what you were doing.
I don't have access to Don's computer at the moment, but we are looking at his files to better understand how he dealt with projects.
While it won't be soon, we hope that we can eventually reach the point were we have the resources and technical skills to make needed changes to existing projects and perhaps start some new ones.
I will continue to make periodic posts here in this thread, and respond to posted questions. Our world is in a state of flux and getting organized will take time, but we want to continue Stamp Smarter as a tribute to Don, so please work with us.
Thank you all for your participation.
"
For other questions, please feel to contact me.
Mike Ludeman
Director,
Stamp Smarter Foundation, Inc.
Edited for grammar.
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Mike,
Thank you for posting here and including us in the ongoing effort to keep Stamp Smarter going. I do understand the difficult task you have in front of you. Many of us here have been users of Stamp Smarter for many different reasons. I for one am very grateful that you are keeping the site running.
Regards ... Tim
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A post about Don Denman's passing back in March, which appeared recently in another thread here on StampoRama, reminds me I that have been lax on keeping people up to date.
The Stamp Smarter Foundation is alive and well, but with our activity at a low level at the present time.
Several of our Board members live in western North Carolina, near Ashville, and while they have come through hurricane Helene with minimal damage to people and property, the general disaster there has everything related to the Foundation taking a back seat to simply moving forward by just getting lives back to normal.
We are looking carefully at what areas of the current website might need revision, we have made a few modifications within the website to eliminate security issues, and we need to identify a webmaster who can replace many of Don's skills.
Don maintained his relationships with his many supporters and content contributors to his various Community Projects quite private, and his passing occurred before we could even document who many of those individual were.
If any of the regular members of StampoRama were actively working with Don and Stamp Smarter on any of these projects, please get in touch with me via PM here, or via the CONTACT/CONNECT page at Stamp Smarter, so we can come up to date with what you were doing and how we can continue to improve Stamp Smarter.
We occasionally get inquiries at Stamp Smarter that fall outside our own areas of expertise, but which I would prefer to not try and resolve via a forum like StampoRama or the other forums where Don was active. If you were on Don's list of "experts" and would like to continue to support Stamp Smarter with your expertise, please let us know, again via the options mentioned previously. We will not call upon you often, but we can use your expertise.
Thank you all for your support of Stamp Smarter.
Mike Ludeman
Director, Technical Services
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The recent death of Don Denman, owner and Operator of the Stamp Smarter Philatelic Learning Center website, has left many of us with a sense of loss. Don was definitely concerned with the survival of his website, and was in the processing of making plans for its survival.
On March 7, 2024, he posted the following message on the Stamp Community Family forum where he was a Moderator. I have edited Don's post slightly for formatting but not content.
"As some may already know, I had major surgery about 6 weeks ago. Since then, the metastatic activity has increased, the next few months are going to be very challenging and quite an uphill battle).
The reason for mentioning this is that for the last year I have been getting my affairs in order. This includes plans to ensure that Stamp Smarter is publicly and freely available for decades to come. With the support of some great friends, we have exploded many possible directions and solutions. Most of the solutions are costly, some of them fairly complex.
But with perseverance and saving enough money, I have established the Stamp Smarter Foundation. The Stamp Smarter Foundation Inc. is a 501c3 Non-Profit. There is one final hoop to jump through and an initial BOD meeting that needs to be held; these should occur in the next few weeks.
The Stamp Foundation mission statement is as follows.
Mission
The Foundation's purpose is to promote the educational aspects of philately, facilitate the collection, study, and dissemination of knowledge related to postage stamps, postal history, and all other philatelic activities.
Mission Details
1. The Foundation actively encourages educational initiatives related to philately. This includes maintaining a website designed to freely provide knowledge about postage stamps, postal history.
2. As part of its mission, the Foundation supports research and scholarly study in the realm of philately. It collaborates with experts, historians, and collectors to delve deeper into the historical context, design, and significance of stamps and postal covers.
3. The Foundation recognizes the importance of preserving philatelic artifacts for future generations. It advocates for the establishment and maintenance of archives, libraries, and digital repositories dedicated to stamps, covers, and related materials.
4. Recognizing that philately transcends borders, the Foundation collaborates with international organizations, museums, and institutions. It promotes cross-cultural understanding through philatelic exchanges and joint projects.
5. Upholding stewardship standards within the philatelic community is a core value. The Foundation encourages good conservation stewardship practices among collectors, dealers, and researchers.
And a big part of meeting these objectives is to achieve them through the Stamp Smarter website.
Stamp Smarter will remain the same as it is now and will remain a good place to preserve free philatelic knowledge for many years. I thank everyone who has contributed to your hobby. I also want to thank everyone for allowing me to moderate this community, it has served as a great distraction as I have travelled through 10 years of medical challenges.
Regards,
Don
"
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re: Stamp Smarter Foundation
The following post is to provide some preliminary information about the Stamp Smarter Foundation as it exists today.
The Stamp Smarter Foundation, Inc. is incorporated in the State of North Carolina, as a 501(c)3 non-profit Educational business. We have received an IRS ruling that we are also a tax-exempt foundation, so that all donations may be considered tax-deductible to the donor. Donations can be made via the [PayPal Donate] button on the home page. For other methods of donation, contact me via PM through Stamporama.
I am a Director of the Foundation, and currently serve as the communications point for them.
The following is a summary I posted on the Stamp Community Family forum on March 26, 2024, which states our current status:
"The Stamp Smarter Foundation was established to continue Don's work. The suddenness of Don's death puts us at a disadvantage in that we had not had time to collect all of Don's "institutional knowledge" about the website and its many community projects.
Our immediate goal it to maintain the website in it's current form for the remainder of this year, but without any significant changes, while we try and get up to speed and understand all Don was doing. Don's skill as a programmer and web designer was unparalleled, and I doubt we can find his equivalent any time soon, but we will try. Anyone with substantial web experience is invited to contact me.
In the meantime, we ask that those of you who have community projects or on-going projects of some nature on Stamp Smarter, especially those where you had accounts and permission to access them to do two things for us:
Continue to work as you always have, and keep your projects growing
Contact me, through a PM to let me know who you are, contact information, and anything simple that you can tell me about the work you were doing with Don
For those who want to participate with existing community projects, but do not have a contributor account, please let us know who you are. We hope to be able to add new accounts shortly.
Other people who were contacts for individual projects or features on Stamp Smarter, even if there are no changes or updates necessary at this time, should contact me and let me know who you are and what you were doing.
I don't have access to Don's computer at the moment, but we are looking at his files to better understand how he dealt with projects.
While it won't be soon, we hope that we can eventually reach the point were we have the resources and technical skills to make needed changes to existing projects and perhaps start some new ones.
I will continue to make periodic posts here in this thread, and respond to posted questions. Our world is in a state of flux and getting organized will take time, but we want to continue Stamp Smarter as a tribute to Don, so please work with us.
Thank you all for your participation.
"
For other questions, please feel to contact me.
Mike Ludeman
Director,
Stamp Smarter Foundation, Inc.
Edited for grammar.
8 Members
like this post.
Login to Like.
re: Stamp Smarter Foundation
Mike,
Thank you for posting here and including us in the ongoing effort to keep Stamp Smarter going. I do understand the difficult task you have in front of you. Many of us here have been users of Stamp Smarter for many different reasons. I for one am very grateful that you are keeping the site running.
Regards ... Tim
6 Members
like this post.
Login to Like.
re: Stamp Smarter Foundation
A post about Don Denman's passing back in March, which appeared recently in another thread here on StampoRama, reminds me I that have been lax on keeping people up to date.
The Stamp Smarter Foundation is alive and well, but with our activity at a low level at the present time.
Several of our Board members live in western North Carolina, near Ashville, and while they have come through hurricane Helene with minimal damage to people and property, the general disaster there has everything related to the Foundation taking a back seat to simply moving forward by just getting lives back to normal.
We are looking carefully at what areas of the current website might need revision, we have made a few modifications within the website to eliminate security issues, and we need to identify a webmaster who can replace many of Don's skills.
Don maintained his relationships with his many supporters and content contributors to his various Community Projects quite private, and his passing occurred before we could even document who many of those individual were.
If any of the regular members of StampoRama were actively working with Don and Stamp Smarter on any of these projects, please get in touch with me via PM here, or via the CONTACT/CONNECT page at Stamp Smarter, so we can come up to date with what you were doing and how we can continue to improve Stamp Smarter.
We occasionally get inquiries at Stamp Smarter that fall outside our own areas of expertise, but which I would prefer to not try and resolve via a forum like StampoRama or the other forums where Don was active. If you were on Don's list of "experts" and would like to continue to support Stamp Smarter with your expertise, please let us know, again via the options mentioned previously. We will not call upon you often, but we can use your expertise.
Thank you all for your support of Stamp Smarter.
Mike Ludeman
Director, Technical Services
11 Members
like this post.
Login to Like.