[Board] Phone Call - NonProfit status

[Daniel Morissette]

Hi Jeff and Brian,

Moved this discussion to the board list.

We just completed the vote on a motion to switch our current application 
to either c4 or c6 after a sprint of activity of a couple of weeks on 
this, and I am about to proceed in that direction with David Atkin's 
help, which essentially means giving David the green light to proceed. 
Are you recommending that we stop this process and seek further advice 
before going ahead? We have an August 31 deadline to get back to the IRS 
with our decision and David seems confident that we could get c4 or c6 
fairly quickly so I'm willing to give that a chance.

BTW, based on the advice received from David (see his second letter), 
switching to c4 or c6 should allow us to maintain most of our current 
activities as well as our name. My understanding is that the only thing 
that we may need to drop is the project sponsorship program because 
paying developers to work on code is competing with private businesses 
(so this is not acceptable for any nonprofit), but our other activities 
including providing a venue for a code sprint for instance would be 
acceptable.

I thank Brian for his research efforts and do not want this be perceived 
as ignoring him (quite the contrary), and I am sure more advice could 
not hurt, but I do not personally have the time for this in the coming 
weeks, so unless someone else is willing to lead this new effort I think 
I am going to continue with the current plan.

I'll wait until tomorrow morning before proceeding with David to leave 
time for people to comment on this thread in case someone steps up to 
lead this second effort.

Daniel


On 13-08-21 3:15 PM, Jeff McKenna wrote:
> Hi Brian,
>
> Before we go any further with Richard, we should bring into this
> discussion Daniel (as OSGeo Treasurer) who has already been working with
> another lawyer in regards to our nonprofit status.  We should likely
> coordinate these talks.  Daniel is working with David Atkin, from the
> Centre of Nonprofit Law, in Oregon.
>
> Daniel: Brian feels that the San Francisco area as a hotbed of nonprofit
> activity should have access to knowledgeable lawyers specializing in
> this.  He was recommended this Richard person (who works with
> http://www.cvnl.org/)
>
> -jeff
>
>
>
> On 2013-08-21 4:05 PM, Brian Hamlin wrote:
>> Hi Jeff and Anne -
>>
>>    I  just had a short and vigorous phone call with Richard Kalish. The
>> first thing he asked was about any articles of incorporation in the
>> United States. The first step to being a non-profit is being a
>> "corporation", in some US State, and then you file the application to
>> the IRS. I did not have that answer for him.
>>
>>    Next, and I mean 30 seconds later, we spoke about the 501(c)4 status.
>> He started to explain some basic things about (c)4 c(3) and (c)6.
>> Before he got very far with that, I told him that I did finish an MBA
>> program years ago, and that I had a students understanding of the
>> difference between those designations. The real problem I said, was that
>> we OSGeo are being "corralled" into one designation or another based on
>> the needs of some bureaucrats, rather than based on our real
>> organization and what we want to do and how we want to grow. I said that
>> since I am in the Bay Area, I have unique access to non-profit
>> resources, like the San Francisco Foundation Center, and that I had done
>> a few projects as an apprentice to Henry Dakin, a funder.
>>
>>    I also explained that the leadership of OSGeo was chosen based on
>> technical merit and related to the specific work that they did, that
>> many of the Board Members are not even in the US, and basically no one
>> has experience with this tax and revenue questions. I said that OSGeo
>> has some money, perhaps $50,000, and that it gets allocated here and
>> there, but that there was not the same point of view about whether a
>> larger budget was needed or not. I said that OSGeo is a vigorous
>> organization and deeply skilled in what it does, which is software
>> development on the Internet.
>>
>>    I asked Richard Kalish if it was ok to send him a followup email, and
>> he said yes.
>>
>>    I believe that it is disrespectful and shows lack of experience to ask
>> Richard Kalish, or his professional network, to do much more for
>> "free."  As an attorney in good standing, and listed on the Foundation
>> Center site, Richard Kalish could certainly recommend another attorney
>> if he is not the right one to handle the OSGeo situation at this level.
>>
>>    Richard Kalish said that it is up to OSGeo to decide what it wants to
>> "do" and I repeat that because it is a non-trivial statement.
>>
>>    In my opinion, the combination of the IRS bureacracy, and the ill-will
>> of industry lobbyists, could produce a *ridiculous* result of stripping
>> OSGeo of any and all of its real capacity, with a long list of stupid
>> requirements and conditions, in return for puny privileges and available
>> courses of action.
>>
>>    I recommend we email Richard Kalish with an accurate description of
>> the state of the application, and any hard deadlines involved. At the
>> same time, prepare for the inevitable Board discussions with the new
>> Board. I dont even know offhand when the new Board starts.. It is
>> obviously important to know when new Board members can start on this,
>> and what deadlines have been imposed by the IRS to decide about the
>> 501(c)4 choice.
>>
>>    best regards from Berkeley, California
>>       -Brian
>>
>>
>
>


-- 
Daniel Morissette
http://www.mapgears.com/
Provider of Professional MapServer Support since 2000