Somewhat amused by Russ and me writing similar emails at the same time.... On Sat, 2008-08-03 at 11:29 -0500, Russell McOrmond wrote: > What I'm hoping, and what I'd like to transfer the domain names > eventually to, is a Canadian equivalent of what I see with FSF Europe > http://www.fsfeurope.org/ and http://fsf.org.in/
I agree that these stand as an ideal example. I'm all for everyone working towards that, right away. I'm still concerned that we need to discuss the use of the fsf.ca and fsfc.ca domain names more fully. So.... What I expect is that we are talking two different organizations (a foundation on one hand and a policy council on the other) -- that there is a need for both, and room for both. Some of us might even want to work for both.... Now, you might wonder why I think a charitable public foundation is important. The short answer is that it is the best protection for a long-haul approach to any public interest project. If you've done fundraising, you eventually learn that self-financing -- like going door-to-door, and/or an annual fundraising event, and/or selling shirts, etc. -- is not hard, but needs a lot of attention to *maintain*. It can suck up a lot of focus. And then you find that government funding is fickle at best and non-existent if there is no perceived public pressure. The trend today is also to reduce it substantially. With foundations -- and many people are surprised at how many foundations there are, and how much funding they do, and how big a chunk of the massive volunteer sector[0] they provide for -- it is not always easy to get in the door, but sustainable funding is actually possible. In fact, they are often set up for long-haul efforts. The problem is that foundations tend to have a fairly narrow focus. What I expect is that we are going to need more and more constant public education campaigns -- that efforts to commodify everything will only get more persistent, and will have to be fought harder. A secure funding source will someday pay off. But setting up a foundation is definitely *not* for everyone. It is fussy, slow work. However, even if we don't have the people to want to do that work right now, we may find they show up over the next while. I'd rather keep that door open. All the best, David Henry 0. Satellite account of non-profit institutions and volunteering http://www.statcan.ca/Daily/English/061208/d061208a.htm _______________________________________________ fsfc-discuss mailing list [email protected] http://lists.gnu.org/mailman/listinfo/fsfc-discuss
