213 lines
11 KiB
HTML
213 lines
11 KiB
HTML
{% extends "base_members.html" %}
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{% block subtitle %}Member Project Services - {% endblock %}
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{% block submenuselection %}Applying{% endblock %}
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{% block content %}
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<h1> Applying to Join Conservancy as a Member Project</h1>
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<p>New applications for project membership with Conservancy are considered
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twice a year. The deadlines for submission of application materials are
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1 February and 1 September each year.</p>
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<p>The application process is somewhat informal. New applicants should
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write
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to <a href="mailto:apply@sfconservancy.org"><apply@sfconservancy.org></a>
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with a very brief description of their project and a URL to their
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project's website. We'll send back initial questions if we have any,
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and after that, we'll send the full application materials. Applications
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should be submitted in plain ASCII text via email.</p>
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<p>Projects are reviewed by Conservancy's Evaluation Subcommittee (which
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is a subcommittee of Conservacy's Directors), and the subcommittee's
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recommendations are submitted to
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Conservancy's <a href="/about/board/">Board of Directors</a>, who make
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the final decision to offer membership.</p>
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<h1>Project Membership Application FAQs</h1>
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<p>The following are various questions that we typically get from project
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leaders that wish to apply to Conservancy.</p>
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<h2>What are the key criteria our project must meet to join?</h2>
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<p>In order to join, projects need to meet certain criteria. A rough
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outline of those criteria are as follows:</p>
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<p>
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<ul><li>The project must be a software development or documentation
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project. Non-software projects to advance the cause of software
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freedom, while important and useful, are beyond the scope of
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Conservancy.</li>
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<li>The project must be exclusively devoted to the development and
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documentation of FLOSS. The project's goals must be consistent with
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the Conservancy's tax-exempt purposes, and other requirements imposed
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on Conservancy by the IRS' 501(c)(3) rules. Namely, the goal of the
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project must to develop and document the software in a not-for-profit
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way to advance the public good, and must develop the software in
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public.</li>
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<li>The project must be licensed in a way fitting with software
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freedom principles. Specifically, all software of the project
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should be licensed under a license that is listed both as
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a <a href="http://www.gnu.org/licenses/license-list.html">Free
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Software license by the Free Software Foundation</a> and as
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an <a href="http://www.opensource.org/licenses/alphabetical">Open
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Source license by the Open Source Initiative</a>. All software
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documentation for the project should be licensed under a license on
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the preceding lists, or under Creative
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Commons' <a href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/">CC-By-SA</a>
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or <a href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/">CC-By</a>
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or
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<a href="http://creativecommons.org/choose/zero/">CC-0</a>.</li>
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<li>The project should have an existing, vibrant, diverse community
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that develops and documents the software. For example, projects
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that have been under development for less than a year or only a
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“proof of concept” implementation are generally not
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eligible.</li>
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</ul>
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</p>
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<p>While any project meeting the criteria above can apply, meeting these
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criteria don't guarantee acceptance of your project. The Conservancy
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favors projects that are well-established and have some track record of
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substantial contributions from a community of volunteer developers.
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Furthermore, the Conservancy does gives higher priority to projects that
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have an established userbase and interest, but also tries to accept some
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smaller projects with strong potential.</p>
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<h2>Is our project required to accept membership if offered?</h2>
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<p>Not at all. Many projects apply and subsequently decide not to join a
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non-profit, or decide to join a different non-profit entity. Don't
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worry about “wasting our time” if your project's developers
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aren't completely sure yet if they want to join Conservancy. If
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membership in Conservancy is currently a legitimate consideration for
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your project, we encourage you to apply. We'd rather that you apply and
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turn down an offer for membership than fail to apply and have to wait
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until the next application round when you're sure.</p>
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<h2>What benefits does our project get from joining?</h2>
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<p>We maintain a <a href="/members/services">detailed list of services
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that Conservancy provides to member projects</a>. If you have
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detailed questions about any of the benefits, please
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ask <a href="mailto:apply@sfconservancy.org"><apply@sfconservancy.org></a>.</p>
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<h2>Conservancy seems to be called a “fiscal sponsor” to its
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member projects. Does that mean you give our project money if we join?</h2>
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<p>It's true that we would love to fund our member projects if it were
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possible, because we believe they deserve to be funded. However, that's
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not typically what a fiscal sponsor does. The term “fiscal
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sponsor“ is often used in non-profit settings and has a standard
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meaning there. But, to those not familiar with non-profit operations,
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it comes across as a bit of a misnomer.</p>
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<p>In this context, a fiscal sponsor is a non-profit organization that,
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rather than fund a project directly, provides the required
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infrastructure and facilitates the project's ability to raise its own
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funds. Conservancy therefore assists your project in raising funds, and
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allows your project to hold those funds and spend them on activities
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that simultaneously advance the non-profit mission of the Conservancy
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and the FLOSS development and documentation goals of the project.</p>
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<h2>What will the project leaders have to agree to if our project joins?</h2>
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<p>Once you're offered membership, we'll send you a draft fiscal
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sponsorship agreement. These aren't secret documents and many of our
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member projects have even chosen to put theirs online. However, we wait
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to send a draft of this document until the application process is
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complete, as we often tailor and modify the agreements based on
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individual project needs. This is painstaking work, and it's better to
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complete that work after both Conservancy and the project are quite sure
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that they both want the project to join Conservancy.</p>
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<h2>If my project joins the Conservancy, how will it change?</h2>
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<p>Substantively, member projects continue to operate in the same way as
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they did before joining the Conservancy. So long as the project remains
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devoted to software freedom and operates consistently with the
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Conservancy's tax-exempt status, the Conservancy does not intervene in the
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project's development other than to provide administrative assistance.
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For example, the Conservancy keeps and maintains books and records for the
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project and assists with the logistics of receiving donations, but does
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not involve itself with technical or artistic decision making. Projects
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are asked, however, to keep the Conservancy up to date on their
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activities.</p>
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<h2>Once our project joins, who holds its assets (money, copyrights, trademarks, etc.)?</h2>
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<p>The Conservancy holds assets on behalf of its member projects and
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manages and disburses those assets in accordance with the wishes of the
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project's leadership. Funds received by the Conservancy on behalf of a
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project are kept track of separately for each specific project and the
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management of those funds is directed by the project. For example, if a
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donor wanted to contribute $100 to Project Foo, they would formally make
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the donation to the Conservancy and identify Project Foo as the desired
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project to support. The Conservancy would then deposit the check and
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earmark the funds for use by Project Foo. Project Foo would then tell the
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Conservancy how that money should be spent. As long as that expense is a
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legitimate non-profit expense fitting with Conservancy's non-profit
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mission, Conservancy pays the expense on the Project's behalf.</p>
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<p>Similarly, any copyrights, trademarks, domain name or other assets
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transferred to a project can also be held by the Conservancy on behalf of
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the project. A significant service that the Conservancy provides its
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members is a vehicle through which copyright ownership in the project can
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be unified. There are several advantages to having a consolidated
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copyright structure, including that it makes enforcement activity easier
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and more effective. However, copyright, trademark, and domain name
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assignment is not a requirement in order to join the Conservancy, rather,
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it is an option for those projects that ask for it.</p>
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<h2>If our project joins, must it be a member project of Conservancy forever?</h2>
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<p>All agreements between member projects and the Conservancy stipulate
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clearly that the member project can leave the Conservancy with a few
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months' notice. Federal tax exemption law, though, states that projects
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must transfer their assets from the Conservancy in a way that is
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consistent with the Conservancy's not-for-profit tax status —
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meaning the assets cannot be transferred to an individual or a for-profit
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entity. Generally, a project would either find another fiscal sponsor or
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form their own independent tax-exempt non-profit.</p>
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<p>We fully expect that some Conservancy projects will ultimately wish to
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form their own non-profit 501(c)(3) organizations; that's why we design
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our agreements with projects to allow them to leave to another 501(c)(3)
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organization. Typically, projects join Conservancy because the project
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leaders don't want the burdens of running a non-profit themselves.
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Often, as projects grow, leaders get interested in the non-profit
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management and organizational side of the activities and are then
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prepared to take on the additional work themselves.</p>
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<h2>How are “project leaders” defined with respect to Conservancy?</h2>
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<p>How leaders are chosen for projects varies greatly from project to
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project. Our goal is to do our best to embody the “natural”
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leadership structure that evolved in your project into the formal
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agreement with Conservancy. As part of the agreement drafting, we work
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carefully with you to understand your project's governance and write up
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formally with you the decision-making process you use. Most project
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contributors find this process of formalizing the leadership structure
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helps them clarify in their own minds the governance of their project,
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even though the process can be difficult. Since it can be a complicated
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process, we suggest that you prepare your project community for this
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discussion once your project is accepted.</p>
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<h2>How much does it cost us financially to join Conservancy?</h2>
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<p>After your application is approved, as part of the negotiation of the
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formal agreement, we'll discuss this issue. Typically, we ask that
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member projects voluntarily choose to donate some percentage of their
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donations received to support Conservancy's general operations servicing
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all its member projects (including yours). We do understand that,
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particularly for small projects that only receive a few small donations,
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that donating a percentage of your income back to Conservancy can be a
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high burden. Therefore, this is not a mandatory requirement. We thus
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suggest that you be prepared to discuss this issue with us in detail
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after your application is approved.</p>
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{% endblock %}
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