We will be doing that too ;) -FT
On Thu, May 7, 2009 at 10:31 AM, K.S. Bhaskar <ks.bhas...@fnis.com> wrote: > > Thanks, Fred. Your thinking makes sense. But I am a geek wannabe, not > a lawyer. My advice is just to get good advice. > > Regards > -- Bhaskar > > On 05/07/2009 11:07 AM, fred trotter wrote: >> One of the primary purposes of LibertyMSF will be to work on orphan >> projects like written documentation or code documentation, and we want >> to be able to apply for grants and such. We also want to be able to >> accept donations directly from individuals. For this reason we will be >> going 501c3 >> >> The Health IT Public Utility Act of 2009 is unique because I had >> honestly thought that direct 'lobbying' (as in trying to influence the >> passing of legislation) would be outside our mission statement. >> However, 501c3 can do limited lobbying and the kinds of lobbying that >> we plan to do for this bill and bills like it are essentially >> costless, and well within the limitations of what a 501c3 is allowed >> to do. (IANAL etc etc) >> >> There will so rarely be an actual 'bill' that comes up, that I do not >> think we will spend much time on this. I hope that LibertyMSF will >> become more regularly involved in policy papers rather than directly >> active on legislation. >> >> As for a trade association, (or 501c6) it is my limited understanding >> that they have to survive on the dues of its members. The problem with >> that is that any organization that hopes to represent our community >> must reconcile the fact that what is in the companies best interests >> is not always the same thing as the interests of the individuals in >> the community. If LibertyMSF were limited to representing just >> corporate members, we would eventually become beholden to only 50% of >> the relevant interests. Again, the proprietary EHR industry has the >> glut of funds needed to run several different organizations, our >> community simply does not. For this reason we will be following the >> 'patron' model that the Free Software Foundation uses. >> >> Of course, as we move forward we are open to changing course on issues >> like this, but for now, I wanted to explain our initial thinking. Does >> this make sense? >> >> -FT > > _____________ > > The information contained in this message is proprietary and/or confidential. > If you are not the > intended recipient, please: (i) delete the message and all copies; (ii) do > not disclose, > distribute or use the message in any manner; and (iii) notify the sender > immediately. In addition, > please be aware that any message addressed to our domain is subject to > archiving and review by > persons other than the intended recipient. Thank you. > _____________ > > --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ > http://groups.google.com/group/Hardhats > To unsubscribe, send email to hardhats-unsubscr...@googlegroups.com > -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~--- > > -- Fred Trotter http://www.fredtrotter.com
