Software Freedom Conservancy, Inc. is a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit -organization incorporated in New York. Conservancy is managed by -its board of directors, who appoint -its officers and hire -its staff. Conservancy also gets some -occasional help from outside legal counsel and -contractors.
+organization incorporated in New York. Software Freedom Conservancy helps +promote, improve, develop, and defend Free, Libre, and Open Source Software +(FLOSS) projects. Conservancy provides a non-profit home and infrastructure +for FLOSS projects. This allows FLOSS developers to focus on what they do +best — writing and improving FLOSS for the general public — while +Conservancy takes care of the projects' needs that do not relate directly to +software development and documentation. + +FLOSS projects whose applications are + accepted become part of the Software Freedom Conservancy + (akin to a separate department of a large agency). Once joined, the + “member project” receives most of + the benefits of existing as a non-profit corporate entity without + engaging in the arduous work of forming a separate, new organization. + Conservancy aggregates the work of running a FLOSS non-profit + for its many members.
+ +Conservancy provides many important services for its + member projects. Member projects can take directed donations, which + allows donors to earmark their donations for the benefit of a specific + FLOSS project. Conservancy provides fiscal oversight to ensure that + these funds are spent in a manner that advances the project and fits + with Conservancy's 501(c)(3) mission to promote, advance, and defend software freedom.
+ +If the member project's leaders want, Conservancy can also hold other + assets and titles on behalf of the projects, such as copyrights, + trademarks, domain names, online hosting accounts, and title and ownership + of physical hardware. Also at discretion of the project's leaders, + Conservancy can assist in defending the rights represented in these + assets. For example, Conservancy is available to assist member projects + in enforcing the terms of the projects' FLOSS license.
+ +Finally, developers of Conservancy's member projects, when operating in + their capacity as project leaders, could receive some protection from personal + liability for their work on the project.
+ +For further reading on the benefits of Conservancy, a full and detailed list of Conservancy's + services for its member projects and a a + list of Conservancy's current member projects are available.
+ +Conservancy and + its directors, officers, + and staff believe strongly in the principles + of software freedom, and believe that all users should have the right to + study, improve and share their software. Conservancy helps protect, + enable, coordinate, facilitate and defend the public's right to copy, + share, modify and redistribute FLOSS both non-commercially and + commercially. Finally, like most organizations devoted to FLOSS, + Conservancy opposes the notion of patents that cover software, and urges + contributors to its member projects not to apply for patents.
Conservancy strives to be as transparent as possible, and makes - its public filings available on its - website. Bradley M. Kuhn, Conservancy's President, blogs regularly about Conservancy's - activities.
- -A general overview of Conservancy's - work can be found on this site, and detailed - information about the work that Conservancy does for its member - projects is also available.
+ its public filings available on its website. + Bradley M. Kuhn, Conservancy's President, blogs + regularly about Conservancy's activities. + Finally, detailed information about the work that + Conservancy does for its member projects is also available.If you have general questions about Conservancy and its work, contact information is available.