Mooneer Salem <[email protected]> writes: (I sent this earlier but it has not appeared on the list, perhaps due to an OpenPGP siganture, and perhaps because I kept digitalvoice in the CC.)
> On first thought, it seems that a non-profit/501(c)3 structure would be > most appropriate given the mission of such a potential organization and its > dedication to open source, but I'm wondering if some other structure would > fit better. Another possibility is structuring it more like a membership > club (IIRC there was a digital voice club back in the FDMDV days but I > forget offhand what it was). >From my experience in software, some thoughts (admittedly US-centric): Only consider charitable non-profit, US term 501(c)3 which is legally required to act in the public interest. In contrast a trade association, 501(c)6 is legally required to act in the common business interest of members. Understand international implications. I think there is some trans-national recognition of charities. The bigger they get the more likely it is that this is worked out. Creating and running a 501(c)3 takes a a lot of work, and needs officers/directors and annual reporting. Plus costs for auditing financials and liability. Small charities are just not efficient. This is more like Free Software than like radio, even though it's Free Software for radio. A group like the Software Freedom Conservancy which provides a financial home for software projects is likely a better fit than the ARRL. It's a fair question for the ARRL, but they do not seem to really understand or appreciate Free Software, given that they print reviews that talk about "and there is software" without telling people that it's proprietary and Windows-only, and they talk about AMBE-required digital voice without explaining that it's proprietary and secret. (And yes, I ranted at my Director about at least some of this.) It would not surprise me if ARDC limits itself to 501(c)3 recipients. Reading their pages, my read is that they almost limit themselves but not quite. In the US, a tax-exempt charity can fund other tax-exempty charities, but not random companies (as support; they can buy things to support their mission, e.g. the Salvation Army can buy food to give to people that need it). Therefore I would recommend homing the project under TAPR or SFC, or some similar 501(c)3 umbrella, assuming they are amenable. 73 de n1dam _______________________________________________ Freetel-codec2 mailing list [email protected] https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/freetel-codec2
