From 2533d928bd3400a8c1de55e1a46e7ecc7df40639 2020-09-16 19:50:50
From: Bradley M. Kuhn <bkuhn@sfconservancy.org>
Date: 2020-09-16 19:50:50
Subject: [PATCH] Substantial update of Member Project Application page.

This page had much out of date material, particularly the timeline
and the types of projects we seek, but also the FAQ section did not
include standard information that we're now regularly giving projects
during intake.

This update attempts to address many of those issues.

---

diff --git a/www/conservancy/static/projects/apply/index.html b/www/conservancy/static/projects/apply/index.html
index cde243097d4fe1ab155b67bbf8a0e22e845aeb7a..eea906c7116c5fc79c39c308d8dcec9aff4c8a4e 100644
--- a/www/conservancy/static/projects/apply/index.html
+++ b/www/conservancy/static/projects/apply/index.html
@@ -5,18 +5,45 @@
 
 <h1> Applying to Join Conservancy as a Member Project</h1>
 
-<p>Conservancy's Evaluation Committee considers  applications monthly on a
-  rolling basis.  Currently, Conservancy has dozens of projects in
-  various stages of the application process.</p>
-
-<p>The application process is somewhat informal.  New applicants should
-  write an initial inquiry email
+<p>Part of Conservancy's activity is through its member projects.  These
+  projects become formally part of Conservancy and have a close relationship
+  with our activity.  Most of our projects are purely software projects, but
+  we also occasionally accept initiatives designed to advance software
+  freedom, such as Outreachy.</p>
+
+<p>The situation for non-profit homes for FOSS activities has improved
+  greatly since Conservancy was founded in 2006.  In the USA, options now
+  exist for 501(c)(3), 501(c)(6) and even for-profit fiscal sponsorship, and
+  there are other options around the globe as well.  Prospective member
+  projects should carefully consider what type of structure is right for
+  them.</p>
+
+<p>For our part, Conservancy seeks projects that dedicate themselves to the
+  advancement of software freedom and focus their projects on the rights of
+  users to copy, share, modify and improve their software.  Being a FOSS
+  project under an OSI-approved and DFSG-free license is mandatory, but not
+  the only criteria.  Given the many options available for fiscal
+  sponsorship, we are selective and often refer projects to other fiscal
+  sponsors that are a better fit.  Nevertheless, we encourage projects to
+  that need a non-profit home to apply to many fiscal sponsors.
+  
+<p>Conservancy's Evaluation Committee considers applications on a rolling
+  basis.  Conservancy generally has dozens of projects in various stages of
+  the application process.  We do not move rapidly to accept new projects, as
+  we have found that consideration of joining or forming a non-profit
+  organization for your project is best done with careful consideration over
+  a period of many months rather than rapidly.</p>
+
+<p>Conservancy's application process is somewhat informal.  New applicants
+  should write an initial inquiry email
   to <a href="mailto:apply@sfconservancy.org">&lt;apply@sfconservancy.org&gt;</a>
-  with a very brief description of their project and a URL to their
-  project's website.  We'll send back initial questions (if any), and
-  after those questions are answered, we'll send the full application
-  materials.  Applications should be submitted in plain ASCII text via
-  email.</p>
+  with a very brief description of their project and a URL to their project's
+  website.  We'll send back initial questions, and after those questions are
+  answered, we'll send the full application materials.  Applications should
+  be submitted in plain ASCII text via email.  Your application will be
+  assigned a ticket number in our ticketing system, and please be sure to
+  include the proper ticket number details in the Subject line of your
+  emails to ensure they are routed to the right place.</p>
 
 <p>Projects are reviewed by Conservancy's Evaluation Committee, which is
   chartered by Conservancy's <a href="/about/board/">Board of
@@ -41,7 +68,9 @@
   sometimes can take quite a while to finish the application process and
   be offered membership, but please note that such delays mean that should
   your project ultimately become a member project, your project will then
-  be a beneficiary of this policy.</p>
+  be a beneficiary of this policy.  Also, generally speaking, we encourage
+  care and consideration when joining a non-profit and we do not believe
+  a rapid membership process is in the interest of projects.</p>
 
 <h2>What are the key criteria our project must meet to join?</h2>
 
@@ -49,25 +78,23 @@
   outline of those criteria are as follows:</p>
 
 <ul><li>The project must be exclusively devoted to the development and
-    documentation of FLOSS.  The project's goals must be consistent with
-    Conservancy's tax-exempt purposes, and other requirements imposed
-    on Conservancy by the IRS' 501(c)(3) rules.  Namely, the goal of the
-    project must to develop and document the software in a not-for-profit
-    way to advance the public good, and must develop the software in
-    public.</li>
-
-    <li>The project must be licensed in a way fitting with software
-      freedom principles.  Specifically, all software of the project
-      should be licensed under a license that is listed both as
-      a <a href="http://www.gnu.org/licenses/license-list.html">Free
-      Software license by the Free Software Foundation</a> and as
+    documentation of FOSS.  The project's goals must be consistent with
+    Conservancy's tax-exempt purposes, and other requirements imposed on
+    Conservancy by the IRS' 501(c)(3) rules.  Namely, the goal of the project
+    must to develop and document the software in a not-for-profit way to
+    advance the public good, and must develop the software in public, and
+    strategically advance software freedom for all users.</li>
+
+    <li>The project must be licensed in a way fitting with software freedom
+      principles.  Specifically, all software of the project should be
+      licensed under a license that is listed both as as
       an <a href="http://www.opensource.org/licenses/alphabetical">Open
-      Source license by the Open Source Initiative</a>.  All software
-      documentation for the project should be licensed under a license on
-      the preceding lists, or under Creative
+      Source license by the Open Source Initiative</a> and
+      as <a href="https://www.debian.org/legal/licenses/">DFSG-Free
+      license</a>.  All software documentation for the project should be
+      licensed under a license on the preceding lists, or under Creative
       Commons' <a href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/">CC-By-SA</a>
-      or <a href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/">CC-By</a>
-      or
+      or <a href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/">CC-By</a> or
         <a href="https://creativecommons.org/choose/zero/">CC-0</a>.</li>
 
    <li>The project should have an existing, vibrant, diverse community
@@ -101,7 +128,15 @@
 <p>We maintain a <a href="/members/services">detailed list of services
     that Conservancy provides to member projects</a>.  If you have
     detailed questions about any of the benefits, please
-    ask <a href="mailto:apply@sfconservancy.org">&lt;apply@sfconservancy.org&gt;</a>.</p>
+    ask <a href="mailto:apply@sfconservancy.org">&lt;apply@sfconservancy.org&gt;</a>
+    in your application ticket.  We find however that projects will find
+    Conservancy a better fit if you don't view Conservancy as a service
+    provider; we are not a service provider in the sense of your hosting
+    provider or other vendor.  Conservancy projects become a part of
+    Conservancy, and as such membership with Conservancy is an equal
+    partnership between you and your project and should be treated as such.
+    If that's not the kind of relationship you want from your fiscal
+    sponsor, then other options are likely a better fit for your project.</p>
 
 <h2>Conservancy seems to be called a &ldquo;fiscal sponsor&rdquo; to its
   member projects.  Does that mean you give our project money if we join?</h2>
@@ -153,11 +188,16 @@ not involve itself with technical or artistic decision making.  Projects
 are asked, however, to keep Conservancy up to date on their
 activities.</p>
 
+<p>Additionally, when Conservancy discovers or becomes aware of any legal,
+  licensing or PR issues regarding your project, Conservancy will contact the
+  project and ask you to work collectively with Conservancy.</p>
+
 <h2>Once our project joins, who holds its assets (money, copyrights, trademarks, etc.)?</h2>
 
 <p>Conservancy holds assets on behalf of its member projects and
 manages and disburses those assets in accordance with the wishes of the
-project's leadership.  Funds received by Conservancy on behalf of a
+project's leadership, as long as those wishes are consistent with non-profit
+rules, requirements, and Conservancy's mission.  Funds received by Conservancy on behalf of a
 project are kept track of separately for each specific project and the
 management of those funds is directed by the project.  For example, if a
 donor wanted to contribute $100 to Project Foo, they would formally make
@@ -169,7 +209,7 @@ legitimate non-profit expense fitting with Conservancy's non-profit
   mission, Conservancy pays the expense on the Project's behalf.</p>
 
 <p>Similarly, any copyrights, trademarks, domain name or other assets
-transferred to a project can also be held by Conservancy on behalf of
+transferred to a project are typically held by Conservancy on behalf of
 the project.  A significant service that Conservancy provides its
 members is a vehicle through which copyright ownership in the project can
 be unified.  There are several advantages to having a consolidated
@@ -187,7 +227,7 @@ must transfer their assets from Conservancy in a way that is
 consistent with Conservancy's not-for-profit tax status &mdash;
 meaning the assets cannot be transferred to an individual or a for-profit
 entity.  Generally, a project would either find another fiscal sponsor or
-form their own independent tax-exempt non-profit.</p>
+form their own independent tax-exempt 501(c)(3) non-profit.</p>
 
 <p>We fully expect that some Conservancy projects will ultimately wish to
   form their own non-profit 501(c)(3) organizations; that's why we design
@@ -225,13 +265,22 @@ form their own independent tax-exempt non-profit.</p>
   all to the general fund, but we unfortunately discovered that without
   this requirement, Conservancy was not able to offer the myriad of
   services to all its projects, particularly to larger projects that
-  have more income and therefore need more attention from staff.</p>
-
-<p>We do understand that, particularly for small projects that only
-  receive a few small donations, that donating a percentage of your income
-  back to Conservancy can be a high burden.  Therefore, Conservancy
-  remains open to discussion on a case-by-case basis for smaller projects
-  about how to handle this requirement, and applicants should feel free to
-  raise any concerns about this issue during the application process.</p>
+  have more income and therefore need more attention from staff.  Even now,
+  the 10% we receive from our project does not fully fund our fiscal
+  sponsorship activities; we raise additional funds
+  through <a href="/supporter">support program</a> to subsidize our fiscal
+  sponsorship work.</p>
+
+<p>We do understand that, particularly for small projects that only receive a
+  few small donations, that donating a percentage of your income back to
+  Conservancy can be a high burden.  We encourage such small projects to
+  consider <a href="https://www.spi-inc.org/">Software in the Public
+  Interest</a>, which offers fewer services than Conservancy, but only
+  requires 5% of gross revenue.  To our knowledge, SPI is the only fiscal
+  sponsor operating in FOSS that requires less than 10%; most FOSS fiscal
+  sponsors require at least 10%, or they operate on a fee-for-service model
+  whereby projects pay the actual costs of any service they receive (and such
+  charges are usually much higher than 10%).  We urge you to very explicitly
+  ask about these issues with any fiscal sponsor you consider.</p>
 
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