Dear Lucas, there have been discussions about the status of the DebConf 15 legal entity and its status towards Debian.
The two points of contention are a) handling Debian's money b) potentially carrying "Debian" in the name of said legal entity, as in "Debian Deutschland e.V." instead of "DebConf Deutschland e.V." For a) there are precedents of trusting the local organisation. For b), with my trademark team hat on, I don't see any issues even if the organisation does not become a TO. As Brian disagrees and Joe has not chimed in, we are tied within the trademark team as of right now. We do not have the time for long deliberations as an option with the venue will lapse if we wait too long with signing contracts and as we need the legal entity as contractual partner. Yet, I have become convinced that using "Debian" in the name will ease sponsorship efforts. This means a higher chance of a balanced budget and a larger travel budget. This directly benefits Debian. As discussed in #debian-dpl, due to those time constraints, and in the spirit of collaboration, I am hereby submitting an intial response to the requirements for becoming a TO[1]. If you think it unlikely that we will gain TO status please say no sooner rather than later; we would rather do without Debian in the name than lose too much time. All that being said: 1. The organization should share Debian's general visions We are (almost?) entirely made up of DDs, most of us have had Debian in our lifes for more than a decade. We agree with the Social Contract, the DFSG, and the Debian Constitution. 2. The organization should remain loyal to Debian See 1. Going against Debian's best interest now or in the future would not only be stupid beyond description, it would also wipe out our collective reputations. 3. The organization should provide accountability on assets held in trust At a minimum, we will create yearly accounts and share this data with Debian Auditors and anyone else the DPL deems useful. 4. The organization should be reliable, sustainable, and reactive We think we proved how quickly we operate. Many of us hold other positions of trust. As to sustainability, we do not know if this organisation will die after DebConf15 or if we will use it in the future as well. This decision will be made after DebConf15 and we will get the input of the community and the DPL. 5. The organization should provide a reasonable financial framework We are aiming for tax-exempt status and are working with pro-bono lawyers to make sure this happens. 6. Additional opportunities This is happening to make DebConf15 the best possible DebConf we can deliver. On behalf of the DC15 team, Richard [1] https://wiki.debian.org/Teams/DPL/TrustedOrganizationCriteria _______________________________________________ Debconf-team mailing list [email protected] http://lists.debconf.org/mailman/listinfo/debconf-team
