Re: [gentoo-nfp] Re: [gentoo-project] A committee to review umbrellas as a new home for Gentoo assets.

[Rich Freeman <rich0@gentoo.org>]

On Wed, Jan 25, 2017 at 3:30 PM, Alec Warner <antarus@gentoo.org> wrote:
>
> If the Foundation was to be more active (raise more money, have complex
> interactions, employees, etc.) then being an umbrella is risky because there
> can be a lot of friction from that sort of structure. However very few
> individuals seem to want a more active Foundation and I see many in the
> developer community oppose such activities. So I don't see an active
> Foundation as likely.
>

There are pros and cons to either model.  IMO the Umbrella org
approach could make sense in a model where this side of the distro is
more active, because it lets people interested in doing things like
fundraising and such focus more on that stuff (and spending the money)
and less on ledgers and taxes.  At least, up until a point - at some
point the independent Foundation makes more sense (especially if
you're talking actual employees and such).

So, maybe viewed another way, here is a hierarchy of levels of sophistication:
Level 0 - keep the lights on (minimal filings, follow the law, pay the
hosting bills, accept paypal donations).
I think an umbrella org can basically relieve anybody from doing
anything more than sending them invoices and money.

Level 1 - a dose of activism (crowdfunding for feature requests,
bounties, some events/promotions, etc, but no employees or really
expensive obligations beyond basic infra; all obligations are taken on
as funds are available).
I think an umbrella org is also ideal here because it lets us focus
more on the high-value stuff and less on keeping the lights on.

Level 2 - a serious concern (think Apache/Mozilla/etc; staff that does
Gentoo stuff at least part time; ongoing obligations and operating
costs that are significant).
I think an umbrella org will fail hard here.  At this point we need a
Foundation that is probably as big as all of SPI and such.  We need
people full-time just making sure that the cash flow is there to pay
all the bills.

I think the reality is that today we struggle with Level 0 with dreams
of doing Level 1.  If we were ever to get to Level 2 (which seems
unlikely to me) we could always form a 501c3 and have the assets
transferred back to it, probably with a cleaner shot of things without
the issues with the existing Foundation history.  Creating a 501c3 (or
something similar) wouldn't be nearly as big a problem if we really
were operating at a level where we were even contemplating operating
at this level, since we'd probably have near-fulltime volunteers
already and a pretty big cash flow to hire the necessary expertise.

I think trying to optimize for Level 2 right now just doesn't make
sense.  It is like a startup blowing its seed money on a huge
corporate headquarters.  If we become the next Mozilla that stuff will
take care of itself.  Now, if we get stuck and no umbrella will have
us then we have no choice but to carry on, but IMO it isn't the place
we want to be right now...


-- 
Rich