Re: [tdf-discuss] Foundation Fundraising

On 8 February 2011 16:36, BRM <bm_witness@yahoo.com> wrote:

> ----- Original Message ----
>
> > From: Ian Lynch <ianrlynch@gmail.com>
> > On 8 February 2011 11:34, Florian Effenberger <
> floeff@documentfoundation.org
> > >  wrote:
> >
> > > Hi,
> > >
> > > thanks for your contributions, great to  see things moving! :-)
> > >
> > > Well, I think opening an US bank account  is problematic at least from
> the
> > > time perspective, but maybe also from a  legal PoV - our association
> might
> > > not be eligible to do so, as we are  accredited in Germany and have
> special
> > > tax rules applied  here.
> > >
> > > Jonathan Aquilina wrote on 2011-02-08  10.18:
> > >
> > >  Is the TDF an NGO. If its based in the EU the  organization can
> possibly
> > > > get a lot of funding from the EU  itself.
> > >
> > > IIRC, the EU only funds existing entities,  i.e. they will only fund us
> when
> > > the Foundation itself  exists.
> >
> > That is correct. One avenue would be to create a company  limited by
> > guarantee or Community Interest Company in the UK - costs about 50  Euro
> and
> > then use that to raise money to set up the German Foundation after  say a
> > year and just transfer any surplus money. Note that for EU grants you
>  have
> > to submit accounts so probably you need a years operation to generate
>  those.
> > So the earlier the better. Of course there are some advantages to  having
> two
> > sister companies since they could be partners in an EU project.  That
> could
> > even be a deliberate strategy. You could then get money for study  visits
> and
> > mobilities between them. Organise a preparatory meeting at one and  you
> have
> > the potential for people from other countries to get paid by their  NA to
> > attend the meeting. You could even set up a thematic network with
>  funding
> > for partners to travel meet and discuss  things.
>
> Why resort to deception and Microsoft-esque tactics to promote LO?

Why is it every time anyone thinks a little bit laterally, paranoia sets in
in relation to Microsoft :-)

This is nothing to do with deception, its about a simple strategy to work
through national bureaucratic systems which have significant differences in
order to arrive at a perfectly legal and transparent outcome to meet the
needs of the community.


> That is all having two companies owned by the same collective would do.

Not at all, many collectives have different companies and interests. It is
perfectly legal and reasonable to do so. You might have a company focused on
R&D and another on sales. There are common shareholdings across many large
companies and many that are organised in devolved ways.

So while it may be expedient to setup one company for a short term to raise
> money
> in order to convert to the other in the future (no problem), if that is
> done
> then the first
> should be shut down upon conversion.

No problem at all with that but just like there are different native
language projects as part of the OOo community that operate with high
degrees of autonomy, there is no moral or legal reason not to have national
or regional foundations associated with LO. It really is just a matter of
selecting a preferred method of administration to the best meet the desired
outcomes of the project.

Everything you mention, aside from the deceptive partnerships, can be done
> with
> one entity.

I resent the inference that I am being deceptive. That is YOUR
interpretation of something that is perfectly transparent and perfectly
reasonable.

Ben
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