[Board] OSGeo vs 501c3 status - inpur required

[Jachym Cepicky]

Board and others,

I'm thinking about this whole issue and it raised several questions in
my mind.

Correct me, if I'm wrong, but everything started back in 2006, when
(among others) US-based company (Autodesk) together with mainly US based
developers (MapServer) formed US-based foundation, which was called
after some discussions OSGeo. As such, it must fit somehow into US law.

Back in 2006, there were no OSGeo chapters. Now there are some, even
with formal structures as legal entities in their states. Situation has
changed a bit.

We should find a way, how to fulfil our goals [1], this discussion is
mainly about:

* To provide resources for foundation projects - eg. infrastructure,
funding, legal.
* To promote the use of open source software in the geospatial industry
(not just foundation software) - eg. PR, training, outreach.
* To operate an annual OSGeo Conference, possibly in cooperation with
related efforts (eg. EOGEO).

(I see no legal problem with other points, whatever status OSGeo should
have).

I'm certainly not the one, who would have clear idea about international
law but also (US) national law, regarding global non-profit foundations.
I'm also not the one, who would break things, which are working. But
when we face the limits of the current status of OSGeo global, maybe
there would be time to try another status? As Arnulf already pointed out
[2] in his blog UN is not that far off (I really do not think, that UN
as organization would have somehow more simple bureaucracy than US (not
speaking about EU), but maybe there would be a gap for OSGeo global?).

One of the most complicated tasks (from legal point of view) of OSGeo
would be "redistribution of money" - from sponsors (donors or how they
should be called) to projects (as Markus pointed out). This task is to
be solved, luckily, I do not see any rush in the moment. I see the role
here for local chapters, as well as coordination with LocationTech.

As result, to make things solved fast (because of the time pressure we
are right now, as Daniel already pointed out), I would vote at the
moment for "to try to qualify as 501c3 without the sponsorship program"
(to make things clean from the legal point of view) and try to find a
solution for our financial role (project sponsorship, organization of
FOSS4G and others) - either via legal local chapters, or via helping
organizations (LocationTech) or via forming a taxable subsidiary (I'm
not strictly against it, but "first things first"). Possibly change
status of OSGeo global and take it somehow out from US law system (but
as I said, I do not have clear idea about it), if it would be considered
as helpful.

Just for the record

Jachym


[1] http://www.osgeo.org/content/foundation/about.html
[2] http://arnulf.us/sevendipity/archives/56-Go-OSGeo,-go!.html

Dne 9.11.2012 21:44, Daniel Morissette napsal(a):
> Board,
> 
> Maybe my mail from yesterday was too long and you missed the question
> targeted at you. So just in case here it comes again, and please let me
> know what your preference is if you have one, or if you don't know then
> it's okay to say so, but at least acknowledge that you read this email.
> 
> Our deadline to respond to the IRS is next week. I'll try to get another
> extension from them, but we need to make a decision on which way we go
> soon in order to craft a response.
> 
> So the question we need to ask ourselves now is:
> 
> "Do we want to maintain the project sponsorship program and setup a
> taxable subsidiary for it, or do we drop the project sponsorship program
> completely?"
> 
> I think the taxable subsidiary is manageable, but to justify it, we'd
> need to put more efforts in the project sponsorship program since at
> this time it is mostly dormant. (OpenLayers and GRASS are interested but
> I've kept them on hold, and GDAL is... well, quiet)
> 
> 
> Unless I hear back from other board members with a strong position one
> way or the other, I am planning to continue trying to qualify as a 501c3
> foundation with a taxable subsidiary for the project sponsorship program
> and whatever other taxable activity we may have in the future.
> 
> 
> Daniel
> _______________________________________________
> Board mailing list
> Board at lists.osgeo.org
> http://lists.osgeo.org/mailman/listinfo/board

-- 
Jachym Cepicky
Help Service - Remote Sensing s.r.o.
jachym.cepicky at gmail.com
HS-RS: jachym at hsrs.cz http://bnhelp.cz
http://les-ejk.cz

-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: signature.asc
Type: application/pgp-signature
Size: 198 bytes
Desc: OpenPGP digital signature
URL: <http://lists.osgeo.org/pipermail/board/attachments/20121114/4b1a7321/attachment.sig>