[Board] [Marketing] IRS 501c3 Requirement: renaming Marketing Committee to Outreach Committee

[Seven]

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Am 2012-11-29 23:19, schrieb Alex Mandel:
> I think it makes sense to do it.

I second this. We have had several name changes in this committee and
to be honest, we are not really marketeers and we do not really aspire
to be. We are advocates and that list is probably the best proof of
how we work. One previous name was "Promotion and Visibility
Committee", quite a mouthful and we'd probably not want the
"Promotion" bit anymore.

"Outreach" sounds good to me and would get my support.

Cameron,
I also offer to help redirecting, renaming and changing what is needed
in web site and wiki, have done it before and even now there are still
old references, so a clean-up wont hurt anyway.

Cheers,
Arnulf

> Background, our application for non-profit status in the US is
> held up at the moment by the IRS who isn't sure if we qualify.
> 501c3 orgs have to be in the public interest and clearly
> demonstrate that. To get 501c3 as opposed to some other 501c# would
> mean that donations from the US would be tax deductible and we'd be
> able to apply for many grants that require such a tax status.
> 
> The IRS can be quite picky about what they perceive to be 
> commercial and in order to demonstrate that our mission is in the 
> public interest and not commercial, changing the committee name 
> makes sense.
> 
> I can't decide if it's a good idea to mention we hand out 
> OSGeo-Live for free and give talks on the topic to encourage more 
> users of geospatial tools in general.
> 
> At this point I'm sure it's just a guess by our attorney, but it is
> their job to figure this out.
> 
> I'll just note, when considering naming in regards to the IRS you 
> have think about the US interpretation of the word, no other 
> context matters.
> 
> Thanks, Alex
> 
> PS: Any alternate names to choose from?
> 
> On 11/29/2012 03:01 PM, Cameron Shorter wrote:
>> Daniel, I'm open to the suggestion, but only if we can see 
>> reasonable value in it, as name changing is a bit messy. It
>> means that web pages and archives point to old URLs which
>> becomes confusing for someone searching for prior information.
>> 
>> Can you please provide some background explaining that this is 
>> more than just a minor hunch that we are basing a name change on.
>> Maybe: * Who is suggesting it? * Is there any real or anecdotal
>> evidence they can point to?
>> 
>> On 30/11/2012 7:33 AM, Daniel Morissette wrote:
>>> Board, Marketing Committee,
>>> 
>>> One of the things that came out of my discussions with our 
>>> attorney around the OSGeo vs IRS 501c3 questions is renaming 
>>> the "Marketing Committee" to "Outreach Committee" or another 
>>> name along those lines which would be better perceived in a 
>>> non-profit context (i.e. less commercial).
>>> 
>>> Would there be any problem with this name change? This is one 
>>> thing that we would like to propose in our response to the
>>> IRS. See the answer to question #1 at
>>> 
>>> http://wiki.osgeo.org/wiki/501c3_Application:_Questions_from_IRS,_September_2012
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> 
Daniel
>>> _______________________________________________ Board mailing 
>>> list Board at lists.osgeo.org 
>>> http://lists.osgeo.org/mailman/listinfo/board
>> 
>> 
> 
> _______________________________________________ Marketing mailing 
> list Marketing at lists.osgeo.org 
> http://lists.osgeo.org/mailman/listinfo/marketing
> 


- -- 
http://arnulf.us
Exploring Space, Time and Mind
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