Strongly agreed. I am hoping that one of those organizations will be
agreeable to serving as a largely-hands-off and non-opinionated facilitator
to Amateur Radio projects with little more than insistence on Open Source
and an ability to receive funds and dispense checks. It may actually help
that they aren't, for the most part, hams.
ARDC is a unique opportunity for the advancement of Amateur Radio, and
although they are trying really hard, I don't think we can count on it
lasting forever. They are essentially working on the interest of a base
USD$135M investment but IRS rules may force them to erode that base.
In the face of this absolute miracle, I have now seen _two_ Amateur Radio
non-profits both render themselves practically ineligible for further
funding of their own or their hosted projects. It's easy for a non-profit
board to be mercurial or for personal relationships to get in the way of
organizational goals. I am hoping that a non-Amateur organization will not
involve themselves enough in the community to fall into this pitfall.
Thanks
Bruce
On Tue, Feb 22, 2022 at 11:33 PM Mooneer Salem <[email protected]> wrote:
> Hi all,
>
> From what I've gathered via your feedback, it seems that partnering with
> another organization (such as SFC or SPI) will definitely be the easier
> route compared to starting an 501(c)3 from scratch. There also doesn't seem
> to be anything precluding the project from spinning off later if/when it
> becomes big enough to be worthwhile. I will definitely take a look at the
> various sponsorship organizations in closer detail and see what results
> from that.
>
> Thanks,
>
> -Mooneer K6AQ
>
> On Tue, Feb 22, 2022 at 12:55 PM 'Bruce Perens' via digitalvoice <
> [email protected]> wrote:
>
>> I have founded two such organizations so far, Software in the Public
>> Interest, and Open Research Institute. I paid about $3500 for an outside
>> organization to do the 501(C)3 for ORI.
>>
>> Unfortunately, I do not currently recommend ORI as a sponsor, as the
>> current CEO is having relationship issues with ARDC. For the record, I get
>> along with ARDC just fine and am not part of this issue and am wondering if
>> I have to form yet another organization because of this.
>>
>> Software Freedom Conservancy has received their own ARDC grant and might
>> be a good choice.
>>
>> Thanks
>>
>> Bruce
>>
>> On Tue, Feb 22, 2022 at 11:49 AM <[email protected]> wrote:
>>
>>> Sounds like a great way to get some traction on the efforts necessary to
>>> take things to the next level.
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> As always, you know you have my support in anything needed for this.
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> All the best,
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> Walter/K5WH
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> *From:* [email protected] <[email protected]> *On
>>> Behalf Of *Mooneer Salem
>>> *Sent:* Sunday, February 20, 2022 4:07 PM
>>> *To:* [email protected];
>>> [email protected]
>>> *Subject:* [digitalvoice] Starting an organization for FreeDV/Codec2
>>> development
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> Hi all,
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> Over the past year or so, there have been several occasions where it
>>> would have been beneficial to have had an official organization steering
>>> FreeDV and Codec2 development. For instance, the ARDC does not
>>> currently offer grants to individuals
>>> <https://www.ampr.org/apply/#eligibility>, not to mention the recent
>>> discussion about Windows Defender
>>> <https://github.com/drowe67/freedv-gui/issues/213> and what it would
>>> take to get FreeDV "trusted" by Microsoft. I'd like to brainstorm what such
>>> an organization would look like.
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> First off, what would the mission of such an organization be? This seems
>>> obvious at first glance ("promote the use of open source digital voice
>>> modes on amateur radio"), but what would that entail exactly? A few
>>> potential things off the top of my head:
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> * SM1000 replacement (faster hardware to support other FreeDV modes,
>>> Wi-Fi support for radios such as the IC-705, etc.)
>>>
>>> * General software process improvements (code signing of binaries,
>>> hosted Debian/Fedora/etc. package repos, etc.)
>>>
>>> * General advocacy (e.g. presence at more ham radio related events,
>>> Zoom/etc. presentations about HF digital voice)
>>>
>>> * Offering grants to individual developers to develop Codec2 and FreeDV
>>> further (e.g. fixed-point ports, improved/more modes, etc.)
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> 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).
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> Anyway, if you have any suggestions or comments, they would be most
>>> welcome.
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> Thanks,
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> -Mooneer K6AQ
>>>
>>> --
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>>>
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>>> .
>>>
>>
>>
>> --
>> Bruce Perens K6BP
>>
>> --
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>> .
>>
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>
--
Bruce Perens K6BP
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