Non-Profit Infrastructure for Software Freedom

Bradley M. Kuhn

Saturday 22 October 2011

Who Am I?

• Two official roles:
  • On Board of Directors of Free Software Foundation.
  • President and Executive Director of Software Freedom Conservancy.

• Many of my views are influenced by these roles.

• These are still my views, not those of these orgs or others.

Why Did People Write Free Software?

• Consider GNU project.

• Founded on idealism.

• Recruited volunteers.

• Paid non-profit staff.

• Those projects remain community-oriented.

The Danger of Our Success

• Open Source is a corporate fad now.

• VC’s use Open Source manipulatively.
  • proprietary relicensing
  • proprietary add-ons
• Companies employ developers …
  • … maybe to work on Free Software.
  • … but companies control employee’s time in their interest.

Where Things May Be Headed

• FLOSS sometimes drifts toward for-profit corporate interest.

• Or, it’s purely thrown over the wall.
  • At corporate whim

• Project decisions are made by companies.

Software Freedom Governance?

• Yet, corporate sponsorships are common and desired.

• But for-profit control of projects can be dangerous.

• Fedora vs. Ubuntu as Coke vs. Pepsi

Danger of For-Profits

• For-profits act in interest in shareholders.

• Those who care most about software are usually not shareholders.

• Interests do align sometimes with software freedom community.

• Common ground is needed so multiple for-profits can participate.

Non-Profits are Different

• 501(c)(3) non-profits act in interest of the public good.

• Software freedom is best when in public good.

• Non-profit orgs (NPOs) are best place for software freedom.

• Provide a place to receive philanthropy
  • (e.g., a place for SoC mentor funds to go)

What Can NPOs Do?

• Collect (USA-tax-deductible) donations for a project.
  • both individual and corporate.

• Distribute that money to advance & improve project (and public good).

• Make sure project isn’t controlled by for-profit interests.

• Help leadership with non-technical decisions.

• Neutral ground when corporations sponsor.

Organization Proliferation

• You can go your own way, but …

• Too many NPOs will confuse donors.

• Each needs a board of directors, incorporation, meetings, IRS filings.

• Hackers end up doing work they hate.

• Less Free Software gets written.

Aggregating Under Umbrella

• Sometimes called a “fiscal sponsor”
  • it doesn’t mean they give you money …
  • … but rather handle assets for you.

• Many projects get same benefit of single non-profit.

• Current 501(c)(3) options are:
  • Software Freedom Conservancy
  • Software in the Public Interest
  • Apache Software Foundation

• Or, you can still go your own way.

Software Freedom Conservancy

• Requirements:
  • Any license on both FSF’s and OSI’s lists.
  • Established project.
  • Evaluation by Board of Directors.
• Key benefits:
  • earmarked donations.
  • basic developer liability protection.
  • basic legal services (incl license enforcement)
  • holding assets.

Software in the Public Interest

• Requirements:
  • License meets DFSG.
  • Evaluation by Board of Directors.
• Key benefit:
  • earmarked donations.
  • holding assets.

Apache Software Foundation

• Requirements:
  • Apache License.
  • Must use SVN.
  • Must follow “Apache Way”.
  • Incubator process.
• Benefits:
  • Can apply for funding through Apache
    • (but no earmarked donations)
  • Technological infrastructure & hosting.
  • basic developer liability protection.

Going Your Own Way

• Should only do this if you want to be a non-profit administrator
  • at least some of the time.

More Info and This Talk’s License

• More Info:
  • Conservancy: http://sfconservancy.org
  • SPI: http://spi-inc.org/
  • Apache: http://apache.org/
• About me:
  • I co-host an oggcast, Free as In Freedom: faif.us
  • I’m on identi.ca: @bkuhn
  • I have a blog: http://ebb.org/blog

Copyright © 2010, 2011 Bradley M. Kuhn.
These slides, this talk, and audio/video recordings thereof are licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 United States License.