Re: [tdf-discuss] donation button on German download page

Hi Drew,

Disclaimer: I am wearing a double hat here, since I am in the board of 
directors at FrODeV, so I have to consider both sides (TDF and FrODeV).

drew wrote on 2011-09-20 14:51:

> My understanding was that FrODev.org was accepting donations that could
> be earmarked for TDF - if it has turned out that 100$ of said donations
> were so earmarked, well that is hard on FrODev.org sure - the
> association (FrODev.org) should address that internally.

legally, all money is donated to FrODeV, because it is the legal entity 
capable of accepting donations. SPI is another entity collecting 
donations for TDF.

Since donations are legally bound to certain reasons, FrODeV has set-up 
a separate account "for TDF". Quotation marks, because at the moment, 
TDF = FrODeV in legal terms, so both accounts belong to FrODeV. However, 
two accounts make it easier to track the donations for one specific 
reason, as we are legally bound.

The problem is: Nearly 100% of the donations FrODeV as legal entity 
received in the last months are for "the TDF". That means, that for 
other activities of FrODeV, like their own web site, event 
participation, production of merchandise and the like.

> If FrODev.org is still paying bills for TDF our of the FrODev.org
> working accounts I would ask Why and suggest they stop.

You'd better not ask this question, since otherwise, they may indeed 
stop. ;-)

> This is important in my mind - TDF becoming a legal entity is, I hear,
> getting close... so are you saying that it is not in shape to stand on
> it's own feet, financially, at this point?

This doesn't solve the problem. The money needs to belong to one entity, 
someone needs to register domains and trademarks etc., and this entity 
currently is FrODeV. TDF cannot stand on its own feet as long as it is 
no legal entity.

So, if you ask FrODeV to stop, that means that *ALL* activities would 
need to be shut down *IMMEDIATELY*, until another organisation taking 
care 1. of donations/handling money and 2. acting as interim legal 
entity is found.

> Is FrODev.org to continue some financial role after TDF is legal?

There are no fixed plans yet. FrODeV and TDF will be to separate 
entities and each has to find their positioning. Sure, FrODeV might 
donate to TDF and vice-versa, but this is a topic for the future.

> Among other concerns (which I've edited out of this email), I am worried
> about the precedent this sets.
>
> It seems to me that there are numerous places in the current website
> where a link to the FrODev.org website could be integrated and I would
> be all for that - but the actual pitch for a donation, for FrODev.org,
> should IMO be at that site.

I think most people are not aware what FrODeV does and how important 
this is for us.

Again: We have an association acting as interim legal entity. Without 
this association, *NOTHING* of what we do here at the moment would be 
possible. Due to the tremendous success of TDF, this association has a 
problem - all donations coming in are bound to TDF, since many people do 
not know the difference.

That's what we from FrODeV want to address, and therefore, we would like 
to add a donation button to (only) the German websites, so people are 
actually aware of that association.

Sure, this is an exception that others might ask for as well. However, 
people should keep in mind that FrODeV has a somewhat special role at 
the moment.

Florian

--
Florian Effenberger <floeff@documentfoundation.org>
Steering Committee and Founding Member of The Document Foundation
Tel: +49 8341 99660880 | Mobile: +49 151 14424108
Skype: floeff | Twitter/Identi.ca: @floeff

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