Corporate status of oVirt and sub-projects

[Anthony Liguori]

On 09/26/2011 03:27 PM, Carl Trieloff wrote:
>
> Right now we will not setup a foundation, however the goal as a
> community is to provide support for subprojects, help direct marketing etc.
>
> We can pretty much provide all the value for sub-projects without a
> foundation. If we get to the point we believe we need a foundation to
> better develop the ece-system we can create one, however based on past
> experience I don't think we will need one.

Can you elaborate on that?

We're actually feeling pains from not having a foundation with QEMU.  US tax law 
is complex and unforgiving so when it comes to thinks like accepting donations, 
a foundation is really needed.

A concrete example is something like Google Summer of Code.  As part of the 
program, Google pays each organization a small stipend which requires the 
organization to generate a purchase order.  So you need some organization that 
can generate the PO, and then can also cover travel/pay out stipends.

If any oVirt project decides to participate in GSoC, this will come up.  There 
are similar problems in accepting donations from other organizations and/or 
trying to sponsor travel.

Both Apache and Eclipse are 501(c)3 and 501(c)6 foundations respectively. 
Almost every other foundation has some sort of non-profit status too[1].

[1] http://flossfoundations.org/foundation-directory

Regards,

Anthony Liguori

>
> Carl.
>
>
>
> On 09/26/2011 03:59 PM, Anthony Liguori wrote:
>> Hi,
>>
>> Is oVirt Foundation (or will it be) an independent corporation with a
>> 501(c)3 status?
>>
>> If so, will the foundation accept sub-project targeted donations?
>> Will the foundation provide legal services for projects?
>>
>> I'm trying to understands the pros and cons of being a member project
>> to help make a case for joining.  Even if this isn't in place today or
>> in the near future, if that's where things are heading, it would be
>> useful to know.
>>
>> Regards,
>>
>> Anthony Liguori
>>
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