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>>>>> On Mon, 29 Jun 2020, Robin H Johnson wrote: |
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> Dear council candidates, |
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> I'd like to know what opinions you hold about the future of the |
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> Foundation. I intend to publicly post the same question for the |
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> Foundation Trustee candidates when that election starts. |
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> Q1: What are your feels on the recent history of the Foundation? |
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> (last 2-3 years) |
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> Q2: What should the Foundation do more of? |
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> Q3: What should the Foundation do less of? |
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Answering these three questions together. |
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IIUC the books are now in order, and the Foundation has settled its |
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issues with the IRS? This is good news. |
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Looking at financial reports from the last couple of years, there is way |
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more income than there are expenses. So looks like the Foundation has a |
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problem with cash outflow, and some ideas are definitely needed what to |
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do with the funds. (Admittedly, I don't have a solution at hand.) |
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The Nitrokey action was a nice effort, and good PR for Gentoo. There |
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could be more activities of similar kind. |
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> Q4: What should become of the Foundation? |
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> * something not the following list at all? |
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> * long-term continue to exist as-is non-501c6 state |
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> * finish 501c6 state |
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> * convert to 501c3 in some way |
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If it continues to exist, then one of the two tax-exempt states. I am |
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not familiar with the details, so I don't know what the legal obstacles |
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for either of them are. (As I understand it, 501c3 is the equivalent of |
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"gemeinnützig" in Germany.) |
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> * join an umbrella? |
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> ** what should the selection criterion be? |
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There may be not much choice. The umbrella organization must be large |
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enough, so are there any options other than SPI and SFC? Also, _they_ |
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have to accept _us_. |
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> * disband entirely |
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> ** where should the financial holdings go? |
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> ** where should the copyright & trademark holdings go? |
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> ** what actions will be impacted by this? |
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I don't believe that's an option. A legal entity is needed for the |
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infrastructure and for the trademark. |
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Ulrich |
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