I thought that the previous discussion (on this list, not just ooo-users) arrived at the following:
1. ASF does not accept donations that have strings on how the funds are used. 2. The means for individuals to make contributions to ASF in honor of the support for OpenOffice.org is to use the ASF donation page and PayPal and add a comment that the contribution is inspired by OpenOffice.org being at Apache (or any other factor). This does not carry any targeting of the donation, but it informs ASF of what action on its part has inspired the contribution. With regard to targeted activities, I thought it was made clear that any other entities that accept donations must remain external to ASF and must not cause confusion with regard to ASF association and how the ADF AOOo operates in any manner. That effectively ended the previous discussion, because such arrangements are not our business here (so long as there is no serious confusion, of course). THE CURRENT CONVERSATION Now, a factor in the current conversation is the fact that there are pages on the current OpenOffice.org site that (1) direct contributions to Team OpenOffice.org and (2) are used by Team OpenOffice.org in acknowledging contributions to Team OpenOffice.org as if they are contributions to OpenOffice.org. This particular approach is clearly unacceptable going forward - the coupling is too close and confusing. ASF is not going to recommend a primary recipient for donations other than itself. This matters for both legal and policy reasons, as I understand it. It seems more appropriate for a page on the openoffice.org web site to feature how to contribute to ASF and how such contributions are used. That page or a companion could also link to other entities that support OpenOffice.org development and promotion and that accept donations. However, there is the issue of vetting the authenticity of such activities and the manner in which they account for how received donations are employed. The likely situation is that ASF would place a strong and prominent disclaimer that the list is not comprehensive, ASF is not affiliated with those other entities in any way, and that ASF is not responsible in any way for how donations are solicited and how received funds are managed and disbursed by other entities. I don't see how ASF can go any farther than that, and Apache AOOo should stay within those boundaries. I suspect it would also be appropriate to have a link to a place for reporting any concerns about a particular link as well as recommendations that a link be added/removed. Because of the rather sensitive nature of such matters, ooo-private@ i.a.o might be a better destination, if not some preferable @a.o recipient. - Dennis -----Original Message----- From: Ian Lynch [mailto:[email protected]] Sent: Wednesday, October 19, 2011 02:41 To: [email protected]; [email protected] Subject: Re: Making donations to the project On 19 October 2011 10:21, FR web forum <[email protected]> wrote: > I have initiated this discussion on users list last month: > > http://mail-archives.apache.org/mod_mbox/incubator-ooo-users/201109.mbox/browser > > No real answer was given to me > Maybe there isn't an answer as such. It could simply be making people more aware of possibilities. Unless someone makes a specific proposal for change based on the discussions nothing will change. Until we know the TOO perspective, it's difficult to know what changes if any would be useful in their situation. -- Ian Ofqual Accredited IT Qualifications (The Schools ITQ) www.theINGOTs.org +44 (0)1827 305940 The Learning Machine Limited, Reg Office, 36 Ashby Road, Tamworth, Staffordshire, B79 8AQ. Reg No: 05560797, Registered in England and Wales.
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