Dear all,
the German local team for DebConf15 is in the process of incorporating itself. We need a legal shell for signing contracts, taking in donations, and for insurance reasons. Plus, we are expecting to gain non-profit status which means tax exemption and thus more money for making DebConf15 better. Before anyone raises this point: Yes, we tried contacting[1] FFIS, but they have not even answered in more than four weeks; we are not confident that they would be more reactive going forward and do not consider them an option any more. At Lucas' request, we are aiming to become a Debian Trusted Organisation[2]. As Lucas asked for our timeframe: We will be meeting in person[3] on 2014-05-03 and would like to officially found the organisation at that time. We do not have the time for long deliberations as our option with the venue will lapse if we wait too long with signing contracts and as we need the legal entity as contractual partner. This could result in increased cost for DebConf, and thus less travel sponsorship. Of course, we will need to have decided upon a name by then. The three options are: * Debian Deutschland e.V. * DebConf Deutschland e.V. * DebConf15 Deutschland e.V. >From our understanding, German tax authorities don't like throw-away/single-use non-profit organisations, but we have no proof of that, so please speak up if you have experience. Also, at least Ganneff and me would be willing to carry on the e.V. after DebConf15 if this is deemed useful to Debian. Given FFIS' performance (the above isn't a one-time event only, it's been this way for a long time), this seems likely. Also, having "Debian" in the name can help with finding sponsors. Within the trademark team, Brian Gupta, Joe Healy, Lucas Nussbaum, and myself are working on an actual policy for granting the Debian trademark as part of a legal name; as of right now the policy draft could be summarized as "needs to be a TO, trademark team does verification, and DPL needs to agree explictly". Also, as TO, we would be handling Debian's money in the context of DebConf15 and potentially afterwards. All that being said, our answers to the requirements[4], including feedback to questions from Lucas are: 1. The organization should share Debian's general visions We are almost entirely made up of DDs, most of us have had Debian in our lifes for more than a decade. We agree with the Social Contract, the DFSG, and the Debian Constitution. Confirmed attendance[3] of potential[5] founding members: Andi Mundt Arne Wichmann Christian T. Steigies Franziska Lichtblau Hannes von Haugwitz Joerg Jaspert Margarita Manterola Martin Krafft Maximiliano Curia Michael Banck Penny Krafft Rene Engelhard Richard Hartmann Sandro Knaus Unconfirmed attendance: Constanze Stohn Philipp Hug Sebastian Harl 2. The organization should remain loyal to Debian See 1. Going against Debian's best interest now or in the future would not only be stupid beyond description, it would also wipe out our collective reputations and remove the common cause that unites us as DebConf15 team members. At Lucas' request, we are working with our German lawyer to add something like "board members must be DDs" or similar into our constitution, but this will be a non-trivial legal construct, especially given that the Verein (association) is legally required to be an independent legal entity whose highest decision-making body is the members' assembly. Therefore, it'll be really hard to codify external influence as requested. For the German tax office, it'll be a stretch to bestow authority to an international formation such as Debian, and we certainly want to avoid having to explain what Debian is and how we make decisions. Whether we can make this happen or not: the board needs to approve new members before they can join and thus vote anyway. As a consequence, hostile take-over is very unlikely. We would _highly_ appreciate knowledgeable and legally-sound input on this. If you are a German lawyer or can get one to make a statement in their capacity as a lawyer, do speak up! We are also in the process of finding out what, if any, other TOs have similar constructs in place. As those are mostly in other jurisdictions, we are not sure if any constructs can be cloned over to Germany. Input from Lucas if he considers this an optional extra or a requirement would also be useful. 3. The organization should provide accountability on assets held in trust At a minimum, we will create yearly accounts and share this data with Debian Auditors and anyone else the DPL deems useful. Upon request of the Debian Auditors, we will provide current balance and other information. We do ask Auditors not to request too much information during the high phase of DebConf15, though. 4. The organization should be reliable, sustainable, and reactive We think we proved how quickly we operate. Many of us hold other positions of trust. As to sustainability, we are not entirely sure about the long-term plans for this organisation. This decision will be made after DebConf15 and we will get the input of the Debian community and the DPL. 5. The organization should provide a reasonable financial framework We are aiming for tax-exempt status and are working with pro-bono lawyers to make sure this happens. As such, donations will be tax-deductible and we will avoid a lot of taxes. On behalf of the DC15 team, Richard [1] https://lists.debian.org/debian-project/2014/04/msg00036.html [2] http://www.debian.org/devel/constitution#item-9 [3] https://wiki.debconf.org/wiki/DebConf15/Germany/KickoffMeeting#Attendance [4] https://wiki.debian.org/Teams/DPL/TrustedOrganizationCriteria [5] The legal requirement for founding a Verein (association) in Germany is seven founding members. Actual work for DebConf15 will happen within the local team, the e.V. is merely a legal construct so DC15 team membership is not congruent with association membership. _______________________________________________ Debconf-team mailing list Debconf-team@lists.debconf.org http://lists.debconf.org/mailman/listinfo/debconf-team
