[OSGeo-Discuss] Fwd: Update on non-profit status plan after board meeting

[Daniel Morissette]

OSGeo members,

FYI there is an important discussion on the board list these days to 
decide on the best way forward to resolve the non-profit status of OSGeo 
with the IRS.

Interested members are invited to review the board mailing list archives 
for all the details, and to comment on the board list. (Please, let's 
keep this on the board list and avoid cross-posting to both lists)

Here is a link to the archives:
http://lists.osgeo.org/pipermail/board/2013-August/thread.html

Daniel (OSGeo Treasurer)


-------- Original Message --------
Subject: Update on non-profit status plan after board meeting
Date: Thu, 15 Aug 2013 00:21:49 -0400
From: Daniel Morissette <dmorissette at mapgears.com>
To: OSGeo-Board <board at lists.osgeo.org>

Board, and all OSGeo members,

Here is a quick update on the 501(c)(3/6/4) status discussion at the
board meeting that just ended. Please see for reference the responses
received from our attorney earlier today that were forwarded to this list.

The consensus among the board members present at the meeting is that:

1- We are going to stop seeking 501(c)(c3) status given the
complications that this implies (running two orgs, etc.) and since the
charitable donations from individuals have never been and never will be
a significant part of our revenues

2- Once we give up on 501(c)(3), we can switch our current non-profit
application to either 501(c)(4) or c501(c)(6) and operate with a single
organization and maintain most (all?) of our current activities. Our
attorney is confident that this status would be grented to us
retroactively to the date of our original c3 application.

3- About deciding between c4 or c6: they seem to provide the same
benefits to OSGeo in the end, so we'll let our attorney advise on which
one he thinks is better.

We will keep the floor open for discussions on this important question
for the next 2 days, to leave time to everyone to read our attorney's
responses (see other threads) and to bring up questions and comments.

After the end of those 2 days, if we still agree on the above plan then
I will make a formal motion on this list to confirm the decision and
then I will proceed to execute the plan with David, our attorney.

Note to all board members: please keep an eye on the list on the next
few days to ensure that we can come up to a decision quickly.

Thanks

Daniel (OSGeo Treasurer)