Karen Sandler <[email protected]> writes: > On 2014-02-14 16:39, Florian Müllner wrote: >> On Fri, Feb 14, 2014 at 10:27 PM, alex diavatis >> <[email protected]> wrote: >> there is any legal issue that prevent gnome to introduce a per-user >> revenue >> model, or in other words commercial services over open source >> solutions? >> >> Being a non-profit organization[0], I would assume so (but then I am >> not a lawyer). > > We are a 501(c)(3) organization, but that doesn't mean we can't ever > charge for services. Basically it's more of a matter of whether the > income is taxed or not, and to make sure that this kind of activity > isn't a substantial part of what we do.
I also IANAL, but I believe the real constraint is that any income from providing services to users (or other means) cannot be shared among people / shareholders, but must remain as reserve for the nonprofit board (paying for people doing real work on stuff is usually okay, but requires being a bit careful, lest creating a conflict of interests which might lead to an accusation of peculation). Also, the amount paid should be less than what a for-profit organization might charge for the same services, and the scope of such services related to your mission as an organization — then the income should be tax-exempt. These constraints can be of course be ameliorated by offering a service as part of a donation, pretty much like you might get a t-shirt as a Friend of GNOME, or 5 e-mail aliases as a FSF member. People then can donate any amount that covers the cost of the service, or more (of their own free will). However, I am more well versed in European law, so I might be off-the-spot with US law. Cheers, Matteo
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