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{% block subtitle %}Member Project Services - {% endblock %}

{% block submenuselection %}Applying{% endblock %}

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<p>New applications for project membership with Conservancy are considered

  twice a year.  The deadlines for submission of application materials are

  1 February and 1 September each year.</p>

<p>The application process is somewhat informal.  New applicants should

  write

  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 we have any,

  and after that, we'll send the full application materials.  Applications

  should be submitted in plain ASCII text via email.</p>

<p>Projects are reviewed by Conservancy's Evaluation Subcommittee (which

  is a subcommittee of Conservacy's Directors), and the subcommittee's

  recommendations are submitted to

  Conservancy's <a href="/about/board/">Board of Directors</a>, who make

  the final decision to offer membership.</p>

<h1>Project Membership Application FAQs</h1>

<p>The following are various questions that we typically get from project

  leaders that wish to apply to Conservancy.</p>

<h2>What are the key criteria our project must meet to join?</h2>

<p>In order to join, projects need to meet certain criteria, including the

requirement that the project be exclusively devoted to the development of

FLOSS and that it be consistent with the Conservancy's tax-exempt purposes

and the financial requirements imposed by the IRS.  Most FLOSS projects

will meet these requirements.</p>

<p>Additionally, 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

  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

  Commons' <a href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/">CC-By-SA</a>

  or <a href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/">CC-By</a> or

  <a href="http://creativecommons.org/choose/zero/">CC-0</a>.</p>

<p>While any project licensed under FLOSS licenses can apply, the

  Conservancy seeks in particular projects that are well-established and

project to support.  The Conservancy would then deposit the check and

earmark the funds for use by Project Foo.  Project Foo would then tell the

Conservancy how that money should be spent.</p>

<p>Similarly, any copyrights, trademarks, domain name or other assets

transferred to a project can also be held by the Conservancy on behalf of

the project.  A significant service that the 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

copyright structure, including that it makes enforcement activity easier

and more effective.  However, copyright, trademark, and domain name

assignment is not a requirement in order to join the Conservancy, rather,

it is an option for those projects that ask for it.</p>

<h2>If our project joins, must it be a member project of Conservancy forever?</h2>

<p>All agreements between member projects and the Conservancy stipulate

clearly that the member project can leave the Conservancy at any time.

Federal tax exemption law, though, states that projects must transfer

their assets from the Conservancy in a way that is consistent with the

Conservancy's not-for-profit tax status — 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>

<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

  our agreements with projects to allow them to leave to another 501(c)(3)

  organization.  Typically, projects join Conservancy because the project

  leaders don't want the burdens of running a non-profit themselves.

  Often, as projects grow, leaders get interested in the non-profit

  management and organizational side of the activities and are then

  prepared to take on the additional work themselves.</p>

<h2>How are &ldquo;product leaders&rdquo; defined with respect to Conservancy?</h2>

<p>How leaders are chosen for projects varies greatly from project to

  project.  Our goal is to do our best to embody the “natural”

  leadership structure that evolved in your project into the formal

  agreement with Conservancy.  As part of the agreement drafting, we work

  carefully with you to understand your project's governance and write up

  formally with you the decision-making process you use. Most project

  contributors find this process of formalizing the leadership structure

  helps them clarify in their own minds the governance of their project,

  even though the process can be difficult.  Since it can be a complicated

  process, we suggest that you prepare your project community for this

  discussion once your project is accepted.</p>

<p>After your application is approved, as part of the negotiation of the

  formal agreement, we'll discuss this issue.  Typically, we ask that

  member projects voluntarily choose to donate some percentage of their

  donations received to support Conservancy's general operations servicing

  all its member projects (including yours).  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, this is not a mandatory requirement.  We thus

  suggest that you be prepared to discuss this issue with us in detail

  after your application is approved.</p>

{% endblock %}

{% extends "base_members.html" %}

{% block subtitle %}Member Project Services - {% endblock %}

{% block submenuselection %}Services{% endblock %}

{% block content %}

<h1>Member Project Services</h1>

<p>Conservancy assists FLOSS project leaders by handling all matters other

  than software development and documentation, so the developers can focus

  on what they do best: improving the software for the public good.  The

  following are the services and options that are available to FLOSS

  projects that have joined Conservancy as a member project.</p>

<h2>Tax-Deductible, Earmarked Donations</h2>

<p>Member projects can receive earmarked donations through Conservancy.

   Since Conservancy is a 501(c)(3) charity incorporated in New York,

   donors can often deduct the donation on their USA taxes.  Additionally,

   the donors can indicate that their donation should be used to advance a

   specific member project, and those funds are kept in a separate account

   for the member project by Conservancy.  This structure prevents

   developers from having to commingle project funds with their own

   personal accounts or having to set up their own project specific

   account.</p>

   <p>Since the Conservancy is a tax-exempt organization, there are some

   limits that the law places on what member projects can do with their

   assets, but those limits are the same as if the project was an

   independent non-profit entity.  Usually, the project leadership

   not-for-profit mission.  Some typical uses of earmarked donations by

   Conservancy's member projects are:

<ul>

<li>funding travel expenses for project developers to attend relevant

  conferences.</li> 

<li>domain name fees, bandwidth costs, and computer equipment

  purchases.</li>

<li>purchasing media for distribution of project software at conferences

  and events.</li>

<li>paying key developers on a contractual basis to improve the project's

  software and its documentation.</li>

<li>sponsoring and organizing conferences for the project.</li>

<li>trademark registration and enforcement.</li>

<li>FLOSS license enforcement and compliance activity.</li>

</ul>

</p>

<h2>Asset Stewardship</h2>

<p>Conservancy can hold any assets for the project on its behalf.  This

  includes copyrights, trademarks, domain names, physical computer

  equipment or anything that should be officially held in the name of the

  project.  Member projects are not required that Conservancy hold all

  assets of a project. (For example, member projects are

  not <em>required</em> to assign copyrights to the Conservancy.)

  However, Conservancy can accommodate the needs of projects that want

  their assets under the control of a not-for-profit entity and exercised

  only for the public good.</p>

<h2>Contract Negotiation and Execution</h2>

<p>Projects sometimes need to negotiate and execute a contract with a

  company.  For example, when a project wants to organize and run a

  conference, the venue usually has a complicated contract for rental of

  the space and services.  Conservancy assists projects in the negotiation

  of such contracts, and can sign them on behalf of the project.</p>

<h2>FLOSS Copyright License Enforcement</h2>

<p>Complying with FLOSS licenses is easy, as they permit and encourage

  both non-commercial and commercial distribution and improvements.