Xfce Foundation status

[Auke Kok]

On 10/13/2010 11:42 AM, Jannis Pohlmann wrote:
> Hey everyone,
>
> I am currently working on some of the documents required to create a
> non-profit organization for Xfce under German law (so it would be
> called "Xfce e.V." or "Xfce Foundation e.V." to give it more of an
> international touch). This mail reports the progress I made lately and
> there are a few questions I'd like you all to think about and help me
> answer at the bottom of the mail as well.
>
> The benefits are obvious: Xfce would become a legal entity with an
> official board of directors and we could raise funds in the form of
> donations and via supporting members in order to organize hackfests
> etc.
>
> I've been in contact with the president of the KDE e.V., Cornelius
> Schumacher, and have been granted permission to re-use their articles
> of association (German: Satzung) for Xfce. You can read the KDE
> version on
>
>    http://ev.kde.org/corporate/statutes.php
>
> Based on this I created a draft for Xfce. So far I only have a
> German version ready, but I basically replaced "KDE" with "Xfce" (or
> "Xfce Foundation" where appropriate) and fixed a few typos. I also
> changed the time board members are elected for from 3 to 2 years as I
> think 3 years is a bit too much. We could even say 1 year here.

can we read the draft you created?

> The draft is not finished yet but I have a few questions for you anyway
> (please read KDE's articles of association first):
>
>    * Do you think all this makes sense?

yes

>    * Does a German e.V. (which is a non-profit organization registered
>      in Germany) sound like a reasonable type of organization for Xfce?

any country can fit, as long as Xfce has a reasonable presence (IOW, 
there's people to take care of stuff).

>    * Would you prefer "Xfce e.V." or "Xfce Foundation e.V." to be the
>      name of the organization?

foundation

>    * For how many years do you think the board should be elected?
>      3, 2 or 1?

3, unless there's all of a sudden an unmanageable amount of money going 
through here. In the start of a foundation, consistency for the first 
period helps. After that, it's less important.

>    * There is one clause about where the raised money should go in case
>      the e.V. is abandoned. The KDE people have decided to forward all
>      their money to UNESCO. I have come up with a few alternatives.
>      Which of the following organizations would you prefer the money to
>      be handed over to in case the e.V. is closed?
>
>        UNESCO, Amnesty International, Greenpeace, WWF or OLPC?
>
>      You can of course make your own suggestions if you want to.

UNICEF, by far, the best choice imo. If you have kids you understand.

I strongly suggest a UN-affiliated organization or an international 
focussed non-provocative organization (so no greenpeace). Please pick 
something noncontroversial that everyone agrees on is a good cause.

I would rephrase this and allow people to select multiple choices, and 
we pick one that the most people would agree on. Or rather, turn it 
around: ask people to pick from a list which entries they think are 
inappropriate or they do not wish to donate to, then pick all the 
entries that nobody (or the least) amount of people pick.

> Please help us by answering the questions. If this makes sense for most
> of you and the questions are answered, I'll proceed in finishing the
> paperwork.
>
> The founding process itself involves a formal meeting in real life
> with at least 7 persons attending. As it seems unrealistic to organize
> such a meeting with Xfce-only people from all around the world before
> the end of the year, I propose that I organize this meeting in
> Lübeck, gathering a few local Xfce users or friends. During this
> meeting they would sign a resolution that says the board of directors
> will be re-elected shortly after the e.V. has been registered. In this
> re-election we can then establish people more deeply involved in Xfce
> as board members. (And we would of course decide not to take money from
> e.V. members, so anyone can become part of the whole thing.)
>
> How does all this sound to you people?

I suggest picking a conference and planning something on the side, 
perhaps in line with 1-2 talks on Xfce, such as FOSDEM. Isn't FOSDEM 
coming up early next year again?

Auke