Comparison chart of associations and foundations

Comparison chart of associations and foundations

Add fields and comments as necessary.

	Horowhenua Library Trust (HLT)	Software in the Public Interest (SPI)	IFLA	Software Freedom Conservancy	New Koha association or foundation	New FOSS in Libraries association or foundation
Place/type/date	Charitable Trust established in NZ in 1996 by Horowhenua District Council.	Incorporated non-profit association in June 1997, New York state, USA	Founded in Edinburgh, Scotland, in 1927	Incorporated Non-profit foundation in New York, New York 2006	(our choice)	(our choice)
Membership requirements	HLT can form a Koha sub-committee as it wishes, with whatever 'conditions' or 'rules that it sees fit, that are developed with the Koha Community. See Deed of Trust: HLT.	“Contributing memberships are open to persons and organizations who have made significant contributions to the free software community, as determined by the membership committee.”	"Associations, Institutions, and Personal and Student Affiliates" also Corporate Partnerships	by invitation/appointment	(our choice)	(our choice)
Voting membership fee range	See note on membership requirements.	0	EUR104-21162	?	(our choice)	(our choice)
Position on FOSS	Strongly supportive	Founded to help organizations develop and distribute open hardware and software and managed in the best interests of the free software community Supportive in an observational capacity and general IT capacity	Strongly supportive.	The Software Freedom Conservancy is a specialized legal project spun out of the Software Freedom Law Center, which provides pro bono legal representation and other law-related services to protect and advance Free and Open Source Software.	Strongly supportive. Discussion on encouraging good community citizenship may need to follow	Reason for existing.
Ease of withdrawal - Asset lock details	Very easy	may quit at any time. Assets may be transferred to US non-profit or held until expended. (Gnome and OpenSource Initative did it)	There does not appear to be any context for withdrawal	Any member can leave the Conservancy at any time, if it wishes to form their own independent tax exempt nonprofit. (Does this mean US or anywhere globally?)	(depends on location/type)	(depends on location/type)
Pros	Longstanding relationship with Koha, already registered, legal and willing to help, presents a balance in interest between development community and library community	established international organization with high-profile FOSS projects, contributors first, can do paperwork, models exist for projects which do not involve technical or artistic decision making unless there is a project-threatening dispute	established international organization, libraries first, can do paperwork, models exist for special interest groups sponsored by sections	Very “hands-off” taking care of only the financial and legal matters. And doing that “pro bono.” Has some high-profile members like Samba and Wine. What does it mean to join the Software Freedom Conservancy? "...the Conservancy keeps and maintains books and records for the project and assists with the logistics of receiving donations, but does not involve itself with technical or artistic decision making."	provides dedicated attention and resources to the Koha community	shares administration overheads between Koha and other FOSS library resources
Cons	Little funding, more an umbrella role than doing lots of actual 'work'	Might lock some assets in the US - see Transferring to another non-profit If eventually leaving to form an independent foundation, assigned trademarks, copyrights, etc. might be trapped in the US by IRS rules.	slow, loss of trademarks or domain?, little funding, does not appear to have any mechanism in place to accommodate the sort of needs peculiar to a FOSS community	Undemocratic SMOF-like board: "The Conservancy is directed by a self-perpetuating Board of Directors" 3-6 months to consider applications. If eventually leaving to form an independent foundation, trademarks, copyrights, etc. might be trapped in the US by IRS rules.	time needed to establish, start-up funding required. May need several months of discussion about bylaws, etc. which could be discussed while assets are held by another association in preparation for an independent association.	needs someone to develop consensus, time needed to establish, start-up funding required. Liable to dilute resources away from Koha specific issues

Comments

This chart was created as discussed in the Foundation-forming Meeting, 15 September 2009.

Added the Software Freedom Conservancy as suggested in this post to the koha list.