Re: [gentoo-nfp] Re: [gentoo-project] Merging Trustees and Council / Developers and Foundation

[Rich Freeman]

On Thu, Jan 5, 2017 at 10:18 PM, M. J. Everitt <m.j.everitt@×××.org> wrote:
> On 06/01/17 02:50, Rich Freeman wrote [excerpted]:
>> I completely support having foreign legal entities if they provide
>> some benefit and somebody is actually willing to do the work needed to
>> sustain them (and assuming we can afford it if it costs money).
>> However, for as hard as it is for us to stay on top of the US
>> paperwork, from what I understand the US is actually one of the easier
>> countries to incorporate in.
>>
>> When it comes to the financial side of things I really don't have a
>> super-strong personal opinion as to where we should be based.  I think
>> it should be wherever makes the most sense.  It probably shouldn't try
>> to chase wherever the latest board members happen to live.
>>
>> If we're going to bother having trademarks and copyrights, then I do
>> think that it makes sense to at least hold them in the US, though that
>> doesn't preclude holding them in other places as well.
>>
> From what I do know about UK practice, it costs nothing to set up a
> charity in the UK, and even the new CIO structure which another
> voluntary organisation I belong to has done. Also, under a certain
> annual sum, the accounting requirements are fairly minimal too, and can
> be prepared by hand; for a CIO I think this has to be signed-off by an
> accountant though. So the financial burden to Gentoo as a whole would be
> financially quite small if there happened to be. say. three or four
> people happy to sign up in the UK. Not that I'm saying this is a
> suggestion even, just an example for which I can quote rough figures.
>
> Regarding protection of assets, sure, having seen the chaos that Arduino
> vs Arduino caused (its an amusing if sad story...) if, again, the aims
> of the collective organisations are common, there should only be
> enhanced protection by extending it across the globe. I'm not sure what
> potential, for example, there might be in the Eastern 'block' .. perhaps
> alicef might be able to shed some light on that. But all ideas I think
> should be thrown on the table, and a serious discussion about the pros
> and cons could then be had. Where the pros outweight the cons, we can
> then look at planning and taking some action. I'm not saying that there
> won't be an administrative burden, but perhaps one that could be better
> born by those outside the US perhaps.
>
> If it becomes relevant and/or necessary, we can always set up a Project
> under the new structure to handle these kinds of things .. similar to
> what the Foundation currently accomplishes. It could then have a broad
> membership to take account of the different requirements it may cover. I
> can't speak for other distro's or organisations, but this could be quite
> a unique asset and "selling point" for Gentoo itself.
>

It is a lot to quote, but I'll still do it to say:
++

Ultimately interest in making it happen is likely to be the
rate-limiting step, but if there is interest you've basically outlined
the general way to go about it.

-- 
Rich