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<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

   independent non-profit entity.  Usually, the project leadership can

   then indicate to Conservancy's leadership how the funds should be spent

   to advance the project and Conservancy permits these funds to be spent

   in any way that is appropriate activity under Conservancy's 501(c)(3)

   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>

</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>