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----- Forwarded message from David Ascher <DavidA@×××××××××××.com> ----- |
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From: David Ascher <DavidA@×××××××××××.com> |
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Date: Wed, 01 Dec 2004 10:24:17 -0800 |
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To: Grant Goodyear <g2boojum@g.o> |
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Cc: gentoo-trustees@l.g.o |
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User-Agent: Mozilla Thunderbird 0.9 (Windows/20041103) |
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Subject: Re: [PSF-Board] Requesting permission to use parts of bylaws for |
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Gentoo |
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|
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Grant Goodyear wrote: |
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>David Ascher wrote: [Wed Oct 20 2004, 01:18:03PM CDT] |
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> |
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>>You might want to talk to us about the bylaws before you 'blindly' adopt |
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>>them, however. We made some changes from the ASF bylaws for specific |
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>>reasons, and those reasons may or may not apply to you. |
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> |
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> |
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>Thanks again. The Gentoo trustees just had a phone conference to talk |
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>about the bylaws, and one topic that came up was the idea of "sponsor |
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>members". Why are sponsor members a good idea for Python (that is, what |
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>problem does it solve)? Also, would you point us to some of the other |
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>changes that you made, and the rationales behind them? |
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|
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My memory isn't as good as it should be, and if you want I can get other |
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people involved. |
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|
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The PSF was created because of concerns around the IP situation for |
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Python -- there were a stack of licenses, multiple owners for multiple |
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bits, no good legal infrastructure in place, etc. |
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|
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Sponsor members served a dual purpose at least in my mind: |
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|
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1) to provide a way for corporations with a stake in Python to be |
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represented in the organization (which is otherwise Apache-style |
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meritocratic and individual-based) |
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|
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2) to provide funding for the legal expenses we knew we'd face, both to |
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seek IRS 501(c)3 status, to clarify the license, ownership, assignment |
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process, etc. Part of this is to build up a legal defense fund should |
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we need it. |
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|
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In practice, the fact that we had monies available has made it possible |
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for the PSF to run the PyCon conference (by paying for the insurance, |
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paying for the up-front costs, etc.), which in turn has made a profit |
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every year. |
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|
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This year we're also planning on spending some of our money (we have |
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over $100k in the bank) on grants to support Python projects. |
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|
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IIRC, the only other substantial changes we made to the bylaws were |
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trying to modernize the rules w.r.t. the ability to have things like IRC |
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board meetings (I can't recall if we had to change the bylaws for that |
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or just pass resolutions at in-person meetings). |
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|
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I think the sponsor members was a good idea for Python, and AFAIK most |
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members agree. They have to be approved by the membership (I think a |
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majority), and we've refused some sponsor member applications (who were |
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just trying to get a spot for their logo on python.org/psf!), and AFAIK |
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sponsor members are fine w/ the process as well. |
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|
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The biggest downside of the sponsor member concept is that it emphasizes |
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IRS regulations that you wouldn't otherwise have to worry about. It's a |
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long and tortuous topic, but basically a non-profit has to obey "public |
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support" rules that ensure that its funding doesn't come from too few |
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organizations (otherwise it would be seen as a tax shelter). Sponsor |
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members, because they give $2k every year, could hurt our public support |
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test w/ the IRS if we didn't get enough money from other folks. If |
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you have a broad enough support base (which we do), it could be a |
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problem if charity status is important to you. |
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|
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I don't know enough about Gentoo and the gentoo foundation's goals to |
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know whether to recommend the same changes in your case. Feel free to |
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tell me more if you want. |
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|
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-- David |
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|
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----- End forwarded message ----- |
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|
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-- |
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Grant Goodyear |
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Gentoo Developer |
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g2boojum@g.o |
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http://www.gentoo.org/~g2boojum |
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GPG Fingerprint: D706 9802 1663 DEF5 81B0 9573 A6DC 7152 E0F6 5B76 |