OpenBSD project hesitated for a long time due to the same reason. The
I guess developer Bob Beck to the initnksative to start the OpenBSD
foundation. If some body needs info on how to do this I guess he might
be able to help.
Thanks
Siju
I think there are two important distinctions to make here. First the
OpenBSD foundation is based in Canada, and secondly they are not a
registered charity because of the paperwork and overhead this would
cause. Being a non-profit doesn't automatically make your donations
tax-deductible. In our case this would mean, on top of starting a
non-profit, we would need to apply for 501(c)(3)
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/501%28c%29_organization#501.28c.29.283.29>
status. Regarding the paperwork and administration, starting a
non-profit is relatively easy, and achieving and maintaining a
charitable status is hard.
However if we just started a non-profit we could start accepting
donations without an individual (i.e. Matthew Dillon) being personally
responsible for the taxes, potentially creating a difficult
bookkeeping situation for him solely.
We could just start a non-profit so we can start accept donations
right now and get to tax-deductibility later on. I'm not an American
citizen (I'm Dutch), but if we do decide to start a non-profit I would
be more that willing to help sort everything out.
Cheers,
Jelle
And to add to my last e-mail, there's also the option of joining the
Software Freedom Conservancy. They are a 501(c)(3) charity so they could
accept tax-deductible donations for DragonFly BSD. Some people think
they require projects to be GPL-licensed but the BSD-license will do fine.
This sums up how they could help:
---
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.
Since the 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:
* funding travel expenses for project developers to attend relevant
conferences.
* domain name fees, bandwidth costs, and computer equipment purchases.
* purchasing media for distribution of project software at conferences
and events.
* paying key developers on a contractual basis to improve the
project's software and its documentation.
* sponsoring and organizing conferences for the project.
* trademark registration and enforcement.
* FLOSS license enforcement and compliance activity.
---
This might be the easiest route with the least amount of hassle.
Cheers,
Jelle
