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Hi Everyone, |
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I'd like to propose that people consider having a couple of paid Foundation |
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positions. Yes, I know what some of you are thinking. Blasphemy, right? |
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Well, if you want people to run the Foundation and stay on top of finances, |
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paperwork, etc, it takes a lot of time. If people devote a lot of time to |
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the Foundation, it takes time away from their day that they would otherwise |
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spend earning money. |
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|
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So without some modest compensation, trustees can only make a 'best effort' |
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and they can't really guarantee a certain amount of hours to trustee duties |
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per week. And we know from experience that that results in. That is just |
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reality and will exist in any not-for-profit... ultimately most people use |
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their time to make money, so if you want their ongoing assistance in the |
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form of time -- for free -- they will lose money from their generosity, and |
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this will be hard to sustain, regardless of the goodness of their |
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intentions. |
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|
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But isn't that illegal!??!?! |
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|
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Absolutely not! It is perfectly legal for a not-for-profit to pay salaries. |
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If you have ever donated to the Wikipedia Foundation (aka. Jimmy Wales |
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beg-a-thon), you are giving them funds so they can have offices in San |
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Francisco, computers, servers, desks, employees with regular salaries, |
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benefits, paid time off, health care, retirement, etc. Yes, quite lovely, |
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and nothing at the level we would offer our trustees -- I'm just making the |
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point that not-for-profits are not vows of poverty. The organization itself |
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isn't supposed to make a profit, but there can be expenses associated with |
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running the organization and pursuing its mission. |
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|
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Isn't that against the bylaws!?!? |
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|
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Yes, a provision was added to the bylaws after the creation of the |
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Foundation to prevent trustees from being financially compensated, with the |
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expectation that the trustees would hire paid officers to do a lot of the |
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heavy work of running the Foundation. In reality, the trustees don't even |
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have enough time to find the right people to help with the work, so this |
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isn't working well in practice. I would propose a modification to the |
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bylaws to allow a modest compensation for the President and Secretary, to |
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compensate for time. This amount could be equivalent to a fraction of a |
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typical full-time salary in the country of residence of the trustee, but is |
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at least *something* to compensate for loss of contracting/consulting |
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opportunities due to time devoted to taking care of Foundation business. |
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|
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Won't we use up the Foundation money?!! |
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|
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I would argue that the Foundation money is there to run the Foundation |
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properly. We have had ongoing issues with trustees being able to devote |
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necessary time to the Foundation. I would argue that this is not because |
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these people are jerks but because the reality of life is such that it is |
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hard to make a sustained large donation of time without financial |
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compensation unless you happen to be independently wealthy, and few of us |
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are. |
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|
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What about the future? |
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|
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In the early years of the Foundation, I think Gentoo developers were overly |
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concerned about Gentoo being "bought" or people "profiting from" Gentoo. In |
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reality, money used wisely and managed properly with appropriate |
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transparency and accountability allows things to get done, people to devote |
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time to thorny problems, organizations to be well-managed, etc. |
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|
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How much to pay them? |
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I would suggest something like 1/2 to 2/3rds of the mean wage of the |
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country the trustee lives in, with some kind of cap. That way it is not a |
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full-time salary, and quite a bit less than typical technology work, but |
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still something significant enough so it can help pay for maybe a solid 10 |
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hours per week of time spent running the Foundation. I believe this is |
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necessary to keep everything in good standing. Not all positions need to be |
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paid but I think we should have at least the President and Secretary have |
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modest compensation. And then the members can expect a higher level of |
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commitment from these positions, since it is no longer a purely volunteer |
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"when you can find time" position. |
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|
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Is this sustainable? |
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I would say, yes, very much so. And as the Foundation starts getting on top |
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of things and then actively looking at how to improve itself, there are |
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plenty of opportunities to actually turn the Foundation into a resource for |
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Gentoo rather than a liability. |
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|
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For example, many not-for-profits have people who are devoted to fund |
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raising for their foundation, and these people get paid a percentage of the |
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donations they solicit from companies -- no salary -- they get paid based |
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on how much money they bring in. So if a person were to arrange for |
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organizations to donate $500,000 in a given year, maybe they would get 10% |
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of this as their compensation. This way it costs the Foundation nothing to |
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launch fund raising and grant application efforts. There are people who are |
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quite good at this and do this as their profession. Then the Foundation |
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stops being an ongoing "issue" and starts to turn into a tremendous |
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resource to help Gentoo grow and expand. This can all be done ethically |
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while all the while maintaining not-for-profit status. |
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I would like everyone to think about this, especially if you have been |
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disappointed by the historical performance of the Gentoo trustees. I think |
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that we simply need to be realistic and understand the realities of modern |
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life. |
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Best, |
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|
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Daniel |