In the opening message of the thread "HOT governance tasks, please read!", Mikel said:
"The one thing we do need to decide is which organization would receive HOT’s assets in the event of dissolution. This must be an existing US 501(c)3. One suggestion so far has been the EFF, but this hasn’t progressed past the idea stage. So, suggestions welcome." Am I correct in thinking that EFF = Electronic Frontier Foundation? If yes, then I don't like this option. I'd prefer to see the assets going to an organization involved in humanitarian aid, in particular disaster relief. I did a little looking around in Wikipedia and found a few potential names in this area such as (I've verified that these are 501(c)(3) organizations): * AmeriCares: "AmeriCares is a nonprofit disaster relief and humanitarian aid organization which provides immediate response to emergency medical needs – and supports long-term humanitarian assistance programs – for all people around the world, irrespective of race, creed or political persuasion." (quote from http://www.americares.org/aboutus/ ). * Sahana Software Foundation (their 501(c)(3) application is pending): "The Sahana Software Foundation is dedicated to the mission of saving lives by providing information management solutions that enable organizations and communities to better prepare for and respond to disasters." (quote from http://sahanafoundation.org/about-us/ ). * Portlight Strategies: "Co-opting with individuals as well as other organizations to cut through red tape in order to directly meet the specific needs of un-served, under served, and forgotten people" (quote from http://www.portlight.org/images/onesheet.pdf ). ...Portlight appears to have the focus on disaster relief that is consistent with HOT, but they are not that organized with respect to their online presence and might not be sufficiently tech enabled to take advantage of the assets ... in my opinion, based solely on reviewing their website. Those are three and there are others potentially. It would be useful to consider what you would intend to accomplish through a beneficiary. Would it be continuation of activities? Or uplift of an organization through asset receipt? Or migration of membership into a new organizational structure (like or unlike the original)? Or providing benefit and assuring stewardship through a long-term partner? All things to consider when making the beneficiary determination. Regards -- OSM user ceyockey _______________________________________________ HOT mailing list [email protected] http://lists.openstreetmap.org/listinfo/hot
