<div dir="ltr">I lean to Daniel's interpretation too, that a c6 might be the best fit. But either one sounds promising.</div><div class="gmail_extra"><br><br><div class="gmail_quote">On Wed, Aug 14, 2013 at 8:38 PM, Daniel Morissette <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:dmorissette@mapgears.com" target="_blank">dmorissette@mapgears.com</a>></span> wrote:<br>
<blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex">Personally I read it the reverse way as you:<br>
<br>
First the c4 is in theory for public benefit and outr problem is that our activities provide too much private benefit (David raised that contradiction in his letter)... so c4 wouyld work for us only because it also tends to be used as a catch-all by the IRS.<br>
<br>
I'd lean towards c6 because I read somewhere that c6 "are characterized by a common business interest, which the organization typically promotes", I'd tend to take business in a wide sense here (I don't think the IRS is worried about hobbyists) and consider that all OSGeo members are "open source GIS professionals" at one level or another, that's their "business", whether they are doing it as a hobby, in academia, for business, for a non-profit, or as part of their day to day non-GIS job, I'd treat them all as FOSS GIS professionals, and OSGeo is there to look after their common "open source GIS professional" interest.<br>
<br>
But in the end at this point I don't care about the semantics as long as we get approved for one or the other and for good reasons so that we don't lose our status in an audit in a few years, so I'll go with whatever the majority thinks makes the most sense within the limits of the advice of our attorney.<br>
<br>
Daniel<div class="HOEnZb"><div class="h5"><br>
<br>
<br>
On 13-08-14 10:21 PM, Jeff McKenna wrote:<br>
<blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex">
Thanks Daniel. I agree it is more clear now.<br>
<br>
My opinion: Just from reading around today it would seem that c6 would<br>
not apply to OSGeo because I don't believe we fit the Industry<br>
Association definition, as in that case (his words) "people and<br>
companies involved are primarily there for shared commercial and<br>
business purposes" is not always true in our case. For that reason I<br>
believe we should be applying for c4, as a foundation that 'promotes<br>
social welfare' (as opposed to solely focusing on business interests).<br>
<br>
-jeff<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
On 2013-08-14 10:46 PM, Daniel Morissette wrote:<br>
<blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex">
Board,<br>
<br>
Here is (attached PDF) a copy of the written responses of our attorney<br>
to the follow-up questions and discussions that I had sent him after<br>
receiving his first letter/report earlier this week. You'll notice that<br>
we had also forwarded to him the info about OpenNTF getting 501(c)4<br>
status that Jeff shared on this list earlier today, so this info is<br>
discussed in his responses as well.<br>
<br>
I invite you to read through it before the board meeting (in 1.5hrs) if<br>
you can. What I read there is very reassuring and tends to confirm that<br>
switching our current application to 501(c)6 or 501(c)4 might be the way<br>
to go for OSGeo.<br>
<br>
See you all on IRC<br>
<br>
Daniel<br>
<br>
<br>
</blockquote>
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<br></div></div><span class="HOEnZb"><font color="#888888">
-- <br>
Daniel Morissette<br>
<a href="http://www.mapgears.com/" target="_blank">http://www.mapgears.com/</a><br>
Provider of Professional MapServer Support since 2000</font></span><div class="HOEnZb"><div class="h5"><br>
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