Re: [boost] [Boost-announce] Boost Asset Stewardship Review begins 09/03

pon., 2 wrz 2024 o 20:56 Vinnie Falco napisał(a):

On Mon, Sep 2, 2024 at 11:24 AM Glen Fernandes via Boost wrote:

...

I have asked Vinnie to provide us with a high level summary of the agreement that will appear in the forthcoming review announcement (but he is free to post it here in advance of it).

The subject of the review is the C++ Alliance fiscal sponsorship proposal, which put simply looks like this:

1. A legal agreement (“Fiscal Sponsorship Agreement”) where C++ Alliance holds assets on behalf of the Boost project. The Steering Committee, formed as a result of this agreement, determines how these assets are used. The C++ Alliance will donate its Boost-related assets such as domain name, logo, and trademarks to the project.

2. Boost Foundation to donate assets to the Boost project. This consists of the boost.org domain name, social media accounts, and existing infrastructure (such as the wowbagger server and the cloud services it uses) plus any trademarks.

A fiscal sponsor is a registered 501(c)(3) non-profit organization which takes on one or more projects (referred to as a “Model A” sponsorship). These projects are not represented by a legal entity, and by having a fiscal sponsor they get access to the sponsor’s administrative resources to ensure regulatory compliance. This is an enormous benefit, as the project leaders can focus on pursuing its mission rather than becoming experts at holding board meetings and filing paperwork.

A “Fiscal Sponsorship Agreement” is a legal contract which defines the relationship between the fiscal sponsor and the project. With permission from the Software Freedom Conservancy, we have used their original contract as a starting point. This contract specifies that Alliance holds the assets for the project while the project’s leadership decides how they are used. Furthermore, the project can decide at any time to terminate the agreement and select a different fiscal sponsor to hold the assets.

A previous version of this proposal advised the usage of the Boost Software Commons, an already-existing 501(c)(3), to serve as a new governance entity for Boost using project-aligned individuals as board members. However upon further analysis, the fiscal sponsorship solution is better for the project. Serving as a non-profit board member is quite frankly a hassle, as this requires that a Boost developer also become an expert in regulatory compliance, rules of order for meetings, and other administrative duties, in addition to taking on liability. Offloading these responsibilities to the fiscal sponsor allows Boost developers to focus on the project.

Learn more about fiscal sponsorship here:

https://www.501c3.org/what-is-a-fiscal-sponsor/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fiscal_sponsorship

Glen, Vinnie, Thanks for these explanations. They are very helpful. Regards, &rzej;