Xfce Foundation status

[Jannis Pohlmann]

On Sun, 17 Oct 2010 15:06:19 +0200
Jérôme Guelfucci <jeromeg at xfce.org> wrote:

> On Fri, Oct 15, 2010 at 10:57 AM, Jannis Pohlmann <jannis at xfce.org 
> <mailto:jannis at xfce.org>> wrote:
> 
>     So, I'm summing up below:
> 
>     On Wed, 13 Oct 2010 20:42:22 +0200
>     Jannis Pohlmann <jannis at xfce.org <mailto:jannis at xfce.org>> wrote:
> 
>      > 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?
> 
>     Consensus seems to be: yes, this makes a lot of sense. Which in
> turn makes me happy of course. :)
> 
>      >   * Does a German e.V. (which is a non-profit organization
>      > registered in Germany) sound like a reasonable type of
>      > organization for
>     Xfce?
> 
>     Everyone seems fine with a German e.V. as long as there will
> always be someone to take care of the paperwork. There are a lot of
> German Xfce users who I know personally and there have always been a
> few German people deeply involved in Xfce as long as I've been
> around. So I guess a non-profit organization under German law should
> be fine.
> 
>      >   * Would you prefer "Xfce e.V." or "Xfce Foundation e.V." to
>      > be the name of the organization?
> 
>     A few concerns have been raised about the "Foundation" vs.
>     "Association" issue. The majority, however, has expressed "Xfce
>     Foundation e.V." to be their favorite name. So be it then.
> 
>      >   * For how many years do you think the board should be
>      > elected? 3, 2 or 1?
> 
>     Some have said 3 for stability reasons, the consensus is that 1
> year is too short (the main reason being our rather long release
> cycles in the past). I think 2 years is a good compromise, so let's
> say 2.
> 
>      >   * 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.
> 
>     The majority has made a different suggestion: the Free Software
>     Foundation. Thematically, this makes a lot of sense. It's a signal
>     that, even if Xfce should ever disappear, our efforts still will
> be aimed at supporting the free software ecosystem.
> 
>     I've updated the corresponding paragraphs in the document. I've
> also removed the clause that the FSF would have to contact the German
>     finance office before any use of our money. I think that's not
>     necessary and we should rather trust the FSF in that they will put
>     our money to good use.
> 
>      > 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.)
> 
>     This has been a bit controversal. I can totally understand the
> desire of some to make turn kick-off meeting into a big celebration
> and to be part of that of course. However, the most important part of
> this whole process is to agree on initial articles of association,
> which we have been doing here. The rest is formalities that I don't
> consider a big deal.
> 
>     I think there will be enough reasons and opportunities to
> celebrate the creation of the e.V. even after it has been registered
> because that's when we'll really notice the benefits.
> 
>     Ok, that's it for now. I'll be making some phone calls to collect
>     more information on the actual registration process in the
> following one or two weeks.
> 
>     Cheers,
>     Jannis
> 
> 
> As long as we organize an election right after the registration  (is 
> this legally possible, or dowe have to wait for 2 years?), I don't
> care about who signs the paper. But as Christian said we need a board
> of people who know Xfce and are willing to make things move forward,
> not random people.
> 
> If we can't change the board right after the creation, I think it
> would be better to wait and/or gather the right people to sign the
> paper.

Yes, my thoughts exactly. My plan is to 

  1. register the e.V. with a temporary board of directors
  2. approve membership for a number of people from Xfce
  3. announce new board elections
  4. have a few Xfce people run for the board of directors
  5. dismiss the temporary board, replace it with people from Xfce

And I think that will be easily possible without waiting for 2 years. ;)

  - Jannis
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