157 lines
6.9 KiB
HTML
157 lines
6.9 KiB
HTML
{% extends "base_members.html" %}
|
|
{% block subtitle %}Member Project Services - {% endblock %}
|
|
{% block submenuselection %}Services{% endblock %}
|
|
{% block content %}
|
|
|
|
<h1>Member Project Services</h1>
|
|
|
|
<p>Conservancy assists FLOSS project leaders by handling all matters other
|
|
than software development and documentation, so the developers can focus
|
|
on what they do best: improving the software for the public good. The
|
|
following are the services and options that are available to FLOSS
|
|
projects that have joined Conservancy as a member project.</p>
|
|
|
|
<h2>Tax-Deductible, Earmarked Donations</h2>
|
|
|
|
<p>Member projects can receive earmarked donations through Conservancy.
|
|
Since Conservancy is a 501(c)(3) charity incorporated in New York,
|
|
donors can often deduct the donation on their USA taxes. Additionally,
|
|
the donors can indicate that their donation should be used to advance a
|
|
specific member project, and those funds are kept in a separate account
|
|
for the member project by Conservancy. This structure prevents
|
|
developers from having to commingle project funds with their own
|
|
personal accounts or having to set up their own project specific
|
|
account.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p>Since Conservancy is a tax-exempt organization, there are some
|
|
limits that the law places on what member projects can do with their
|
|
assets, but those limits are the same as if the project was an
|
|
independent non-profit entity. Usually, the project leadership
|
|
instructs Conservancy's leadership on how the project's funds are spent.
|
|
Conservancy spends these funds on the project's behalf on any expenses
|
|
that constitute appropriate activity under Conservancy's 501(c)(3)
|
|
not-for-profit mission. Some typical uses of earmarked donations by
|
|
Conservancy's member projects are:
|
|
<ul>
|
|
<li>funding travel expenses for project developers to attend relevant
|
|
conferences.</li>
|
|
|
|
<li>domain name fees, bandwidth costs, and computer equipment
|
|
purchases.</li>
|
|
|
|
<li>purchasing media for distribution of project software at conferences
|
|
and events.</li>
|
|
|
|
<li>paying key developers on a contractual basis to improve the project's
|
|
software and its documentation.</li>
|
|
|
|
<li>sponsoring and organizing conferences for the project.</li>
|
|
|
|
<li>trademark registration and enforcement.</li>
|
|
|
|
<li>FLOSS license enforcement and compliance activity.</li>
|
|
</ul>
|
|
|
|
</p>
|
|
|
|
<h2>Asset Stewardship</h2>
|
|
|
|
<p>Conservancy can hold any assets for the project on its behalf. This
|
|
includes copyrights, trademarks, domain names, physical computer
|
|
equipment or anything that should be officially held in the name of the
|
|
project. Member projects are not required that Conservancy hold all
|
|
assets of a project. (For example, member projects are
|
|
not <em>required</em> to assign copyrights to Conservancy.)
|
|
However, Conservancy can accommodate the needs of projects that want
|
|
their assets under the control of a not-for-profit entity and exercised
|
|
only for the public good.</p>
|
|
|
|
<h2>Contract Negotiation and Execution</h2>
|
|
|
|
<p>Projects sometimes need to negotiate and execute a contract with a
|
|
company. For example, when a project wants to organize and run a
|
|
conference, the venue usually has a complicated contract for rental of
|
|
the space and services. Conservancy assists projects in the negotiation
|
|
of such contracts, and can sign them on behalf of the project.</p>
|
|
|
|
<h2>Conference Logistical Support</h2>
|
|
|
|
<p>Many Conservancy projects have an annual conference. Conservancy
|
|
provides logistical support for these conferences, particularly in the
|
|
area of financial responsibility and liability. Conservancy provides a
|
|
small amount of logistical support for conference in other ways,
|
|
resource-permitting.</p>
|
|
|
|
<h2>Basic Legal Advice and Services</h2>
|
|
|
|
<p>Since projects, upon joining, become organizationally part of
|
|
Conservancy, Conservancy can provide basic legal services to its member
|
|
projects through Conservancy's own General Counsel, outside counsel, and
|
|
pro-bono attorneys. For example, Conservancy assists its projects in
|
|
handling issues related to trademark registration, trademark policy
|
|
development and licensing, trademark enforcement, copyright licensing
|
|
and enforcement, and non-profit governance questions and issues.</p>
|
|
|
|
<h2>FLOSS Copyright License Enforcement</h2>
|
|
|
|
<p>Complying with FLOSS licenses is easy, as they permit and encourage
|
|
both non-commercial and commercial distribution and improvements.
|
|
Nevertheless, violations of FLOSS licenses (in particular of
|
|
the <a href="http://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl.html">GPL</a>
|
|
and <a href="http://www.gnu.org/licenses/lgpl.html">LGPL</a>) are all
|
|
too common. At request of the project's leaders, Conservancy can carry
|
|
out license enforcement activity on behalf of the project's copyright
|
|
holders.</p>
|
|
|
|
<h2>Fundraising Assistance</h2>
|
|
|
|
<p>Conservancy provides various tools and advice to member projects on
|
|
methods of raising funds for their projects' earmarked accounts.</p>
|
|
|
|
<h2>Avoid Non-Profit Administrivia</h2>
|
|
|
|
<p>Member projects can continue to operate in the same way they did before
|
|
joining Conservancy without having to select a board of directors or
|
|
any other layer of corporate management, without having to maintain
|
|
corporate records and without having to do any of the other things
|
|
required of incorporated entities. Conservancy handles all of that
|
|
burden on behalf of its projects.</p>
|
|
|
|
|
|
<h2>Leadership Mentoring, Advice and Guidance</h2>
|
|
|
|
<p>Many of Conservancy's <a href="/about/board">directors</a> are
|
|
experienced FLOSS project leaders. They offer themselves as a resource
|
|
to member project leaders who need assistance or face challenges in
|
|
their work leading their projects.</p>
|
|
|
|
<h2>Some Personal Liability Protection</h2>
|
|
|
|
<p>When a project joins Conservancy, it formally becomes part of the
|
|
Conservancy. (The project is thus somewhat analogous to a division of a
|
|
company or a department in a large agency.) As such, project leaders
|
|
benefit from some amount of protection from personal liability for their
|
|
work on the project.</p>
|
|
|
|
<h2>Officiating Community Elections and Ballot Initiatives</h2>
|
|
|
|
<p>Conservancy will organize and run community leadership committee elections
|
|
and/or ballot initiatives for its member project communities,
|
|
using <a href="https://gitorious.org/conservancy/voting/">online voting
|
|
software</a>.</p>
|
|
|
|
<hr/>
|
|
|
|
<p>Those familiar with non-profit terminology will recognize most of these
|
|
services
|
|
as <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fiscal_sponsorship">fiscal
|
|
sponsorship services</a>. This term is not particularly well
|
|
known in the FLOSS community, and many are confused by that term.
|
|
However, if you are familiar with what a fiscal sponsor typically does
|
|
in the non-profit sector, the term does fit many of services that
|
|
Conservancy offers its member projects.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p>Project
|
|
leaders that believe their project might benefit from these services can
|
|
<a href="/members/apply/">apply to become a member project</a>.</p>
|
|
{% endblock %}
|