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On Wed, Jan 25, 2017 at 3:30 PM, Alec Warner <antarus@g.o> wrote: |
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> |
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> If the Foundation was to be more active (raise more money, have complex |
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> interactions, employees, etc.) then being an umbrella is risky because there |
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> can be a lot of friction from that sort of structure. However very few |
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> individuals seem to want a more active Foundation and I see many in the |
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> developer community oppose such activities. So I don't see an active |
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> Foundation as likely. |
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> |
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There are pros and cons to either model. IMO the Umbrella org |
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approach could make sense in a model where this side of the distro is |
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more active, because it lets people interested in doing things like |
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fundraising and such focus more on that stuff (and spending the money) |
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and less on ledgers and taxes. At least, up until a point - at some |
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point the independent Foundation makes more sense (especially if |
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you're talking actual employees and such). |
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So, maybe viewed another way, here is a hierarchy of levels of sophistication: |
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Level 0 - keep the lights on (minimal filings, follow the law, pay the |
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hosting bills, accept paypal donations). |
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I think an umbrella org can basically relieve anybody from doing |
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anything more than sending them invoices and money. |
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Level 1 - a dose of activism (crowdfunding for feature requests, |
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bounties, some events/promotions, etc, but no employees or really |
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expensive obligations beyond basic infra; all obligations are taken on |
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as funds are available). |
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I think an umbrella org is also ideal here because it lets us focus |
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more on the high-value stuff and less on keeping the lights on. |
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Level 2 - a serious concern (think Apache/Mozilla/etc; staff that does |
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Gentoo stuff at least part time; ongoing obligations and operating |
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costs that are significant). |
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I think an umbrella org will fail hard here. At this point we need a |
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Foundation that is probably as big as all of SPI and such. We need |
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people full-time just making sure that the cash flow is there to pay |
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all the bills. |
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I think the reality is that today we struggle with Level 0 with dreams |
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of doing Level 1. If we were ever to get to Level 2 (which seems |
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unlikely to me) we could always form a 501c3 and have the assets |
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transferred back to it, probably with a cleaner shot of things without |
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the issues with the existing Foundation history. Creating a 501c3 (or |
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something similar) wouldn't be nearly as big a problem if we really |
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were operating at a level where we were even contemplating operating |
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at this level, since we'd probably have near-fulltime volunteers |
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already and a pretty big cash flow to hire the necessary expertise. |
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I think trying to optimize for Level 2 right now just doesn't make |
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sense. It is like a startup blowing its seed money on a huge |
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corporate headquarters. If we become the next Mozilla that stuff will |
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take care of itself. Now, if we get stuck and no umbrella will have |
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us then we have no choice but to carry on, but IMO it isn't the place |
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we want to be right now... |
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-- |
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Rich |
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