Re: [gentoo-nfp] Re: [gentoo-project] Questions for Gentoo Council nominees: Gentoo Foundation - Treasurer Response!

[desultory]

On 07/05/19 11:00, Rich Freeman wrote:
> On Fri, Jul 5, 2019 at 3:45 AM Aaron Bauman <bman@g.o> wrote:
>>
>> On Wed, Jul 03, 2019 at 09:08:14AM -0400, Rich Freeman wrote:
>>> On Wed, Jul 3, 2019 at 8:56 AM Michał Górny <mgorny@g.o> wrote:
>>>>
>>>> Are you aware if the fee is going to be the same if we
>>>> go for proper non-profit?
>>>
>>> Do you mean 501c3 by "proper non-profit?"  Or some other tax-exempt status?
>>>
>>> I think most around here have abandoned all hope of ever running our
>>> own 501c3.  A number don't even think we should try, and a 501c3 is
>>> hard enough to get approved if you have a professional board all
>>> towing the party line.  If you get people making public statements
>>> like we ought to be a trade association (which is non-exempt) it would
>>> be even harder.
>>>
>>
>> This is not true. A 501c3 is not some mysterious unicorn that no one can obtain.
>
> I never claimed it was.
>
Then why, pray tell, did you frame it as though 501c(3) status is some
kind of mystical unicorn and we are fresh out of maidens with an
equestrian bent?

>> Plenty of organizations gain tax-exempt status with the IRS by simply filing and
>> following the law.
>
> Absolutely true.
>
>> We will be just fine if we decide to maintain a 501c3.
>
> Not true at all.  Lots of organizations would have no problems
> becoming a 501c3.  Gentoo is not those organizations.
>
Again, please, substantive data, not handwaving.

> If you want to be a 501c3 you need to spend several years working
> towards that status.  You need to present yourself as fitting into the
> categories that the status pertains to.  You need to file your taxes
> on time and so on.
>
Then why, pray tell, do you think the current Trustees voted to  hire a
CPA to work on the back taxes?

> I can't tell you how many times I've seen Trustees post on this list
> or on IRC saying that they don't think that we should even be a 501c3
> and should be a non-exempt status like 501c6/etc.  What is the chance
> that we'll be able to refrain from having board members do that for 5
> years or so?  Heck, I'm skeptical that we'll ever manage to file our
> taxes on time 5 years in a row, though I at least see that as being
> conceivable.
>
Stating a personal opinions is not somehow compelling the IRS to agree
with them, even as a board member of an organization stating personal
opinions about that organization. The filings of the organization,
unless demonstrably false, would have distinctly more sway over the
official opinions of the IRS.

> And then we have our history of non-compliance.  That will only make
> things harder even if everybody does everything right.
>
> So, yes, all things being equal some hypothetical organization that
> does what Gentoo does could probably become a 501c3.  However, Gentoo
> isn't some hypothetical organization and all things are not equal.
> We're an organization with many conflicting views on how it ought to
> be operated, with members who aren't all that interested in running a
> non-profit, and with relatively limited interest in fundraising/etc.
>
> Now, I wouldn't be opposed to just letting people who want to try to
> create their own 501c3 play around with it for another decade or two,
> except that in the meantime I think we're avoiding putting effort into
> other approaches that are more likely to work out, like joining an
> umbrella.
>
Given your lack of opposition to creating a 501c(3) to "play around with
it for another decade or two", if it were to last that long, why,
exactly do you posit that an umbrella organization would necessarily be
"more likely to work out"? Given your hypothetical, the 501c(3) stood up
to "play around with " would seem to have been, or at least at some
point become, rather stable.