59 lines
3.2 KiB
HTML
59 lines
3.2 KiB
HTML
{% extends "base_conservancy.html" %}
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{% block subtitle %}Overview - {% endblock %}
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{% block category %}overview{% endblock %}
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{% block content %}
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<h1>Overview</h1>
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<p>The Software Freedom Conservancy is a not-for-profit organization that
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helps promote, improve, develop, and defend Free, Libre, and Open Source
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Software (FLOSS) projects. Conservancy provides a non-profit home and
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infrastructure for FLOSS projects. This allows FLOSS developers to
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focus on what they do best — writing and improving FLOSS for the
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general public — while Conservancy takes care of the projects' needs that
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do not relate directly to software development.</p>
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<p>FLOSS projects whose <a href="/members/apply">applications are
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accepted</a> become an actual part of the Software Freedom Conservancy
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(akin to a separate department of a large agency). Once joined, the
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<a href="/members">“member project”</a> receives most of
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the benefits of existing as a non-profit corporate entity without
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actually having to form and maintain one. Conservancy aggregates the
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work of running a FLOSS non-profit for <a href="/members/current/">its
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many members</a>.</p>
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<p>The Conservancy provides <a href="/members/services/">many important services</a> for its
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member projects. Member projects can take directed donations, which
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allows donors to earmark their donations for the benefit of a specific
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FLOSS project. Conservancy provides fiscal oversight to ensure that
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these funds are spent in a manner that advances the project and fits
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with Conservancy's 501(c)(3) mission to advance software freedom.</p>
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<p>If the member project's leaders want, Conservancy can also hold other
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assets and titles on behalf of the projects, such as copyrights,
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trademarks, domain names, online hosting accounts, and title and ownership
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of physical hardware. Also at discretion of the project's leaders,
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Conservancy can assist in defending the rights represented in these
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assets. For example, Conservancy is available to assist member projects
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in enforcing the terms of the projects' FLOSS license.</p>
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<p>Finally, developers of Conservancy's member projects, when operating in
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their capacity as project leaders, receive some protection from personal
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liability for their work on the project.</p>
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<p>For further reading on the benefits of Conservancy, a full and detailed <a href="/members/services/">list of Conservancy's
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services for its member projects</a> and a <a href="/members/current/">a
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list of Conservancy's current member projects</a> are available.</p>
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<p>Conservancy and
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its <a href="/about/directors">directors</a>, <a href="/about/officers">officers</a>,
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and <a href="/about/staff">staff</a> believe strongly in the principles
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of software freedom, and believe that all users should have the right to
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study, improve and share their software. Conservancy helps protect,
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enable, coordinate, facilitate and defend the public's right to copy,
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share, modify and redistribute FLOSS both non-commercially and
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commercially. Finally, like most organizations devoted to FLOSS,
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Conservancy opposes the notion of patents that cover software, and urges
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contributors to its member projects not to apply for patents.</p>
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{% endblock %}
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