[Squeakfoundation]So....

[squeakfoundation@lists.squeakfoundation.org]

> I think I'm the 'owner' of the task, but from the Netherlands there's
> not much actual stuff I can do.

Allow me to keep the U.S.A. end of it up.  ;^)

>  At the moment I'm trying to set up a
> conference call with Dan and Andrew on this topic (both of them are
> extremely busy, one with hanging around in court and the other with
> building weather stations - now that builds a lot of trust for the 
> future
> of SqueakF ;-}). I'd be happy to include OP into that, because I think 
> we'll
> need to go ahead just like seems to be happening with the 
> German/European
> counterpart - in an XP manner: first setup a regular general purpose
> organization, start working, and figure out what bylaws you *really* 
> want in a
> year or so when stuff is running.

A good plan!  Until the bylaws are officially adopted (no hard deadline 
required) they are very maliable.  After adoption they should provide 
their own change mechanism.  As a slow example, one member organization 
took three years of Board "discussion" (and grew to ~500 members) from 
incorporation to adopting bylaws.  It was another three years before the 
first amendments (minor ones.)  I'm stepping out of the chair position 
on that Bylaws Committee.

> This work is not Andrew's specialization, although he did promise to 
> try to
> get one of his colleagues who is into the loop (pro bono), so someone 
> with
> actual hands-on experience might help speeding things up (as far as I'm
> concerned, I'm still committed to Dan's self-imposed deadline of June).

Accelerator apply: brick.

Consider the following as a brick -to be used or discarded as 
appropriate.
I make some (hopefully reasonable) assumptions below based on my 
understanding of the Squeak Foundations mission.
Hopefully the explanations will be sufficient for non-U.S. readers.  I 
will be gladly explain/expound as desired.
(This is my break from filling out IRS Form 990 as part of a non-profits 
annual filing requirements. :-)

<IRS-Brick>
Given that the Squeak Foundation would benefit by qualifying as a 
non-profit the top questions to decide before incorporation are:
	1) What type of tax-exempt activity -relative to IRS (Internal 
Revenue Service) regulations- will the Squeak Foundation engage in?
		- Even though 'Foundation' appears in the name the IRS 
classification of being a 'private foundation' is UNdesirable.
		- The area to focus on is IRS Code Section 501(c)(3) for 
(tax-exempt) public charities.  Its common and permissible to engage in 
more than one 501(c)(3) tax-exempt activity.  So the activities it makes 
sense for the Squeak Foundation to limit itself to in its Articles of 
Incorporation are a) Charitable, b) Scientific, and or possibly c) 
Educational.
			"Charitable" is defined as "providing services beneficial 
to the public interest" and requires that the organization be set up to 
benefit an indefinite class of individuals, not particular persons.  One 
explicitly listed IRS charitable activity is "advancement of education 
or science." {This all fits well with my understanding of the S.F.'s 
intent.}
			"Scientific" purposes encompass scientific research 
carried on in the public interest.  For S.F. this basically means that 
the results are made available to the public; or that the purpose is 
aiding in the scientific education of college or university students.
			"Educational" purposes encompass instruction for both 
self-development and for the benefit of the community.  The closest fit 
I find for explicitly listed exempt-purpose activities is "publishing 
public interest educational materials."
		- Whatever mission/purpose the S.F. determines for itself I'm 
confident it will qualify for non-profit recognition.  Its just good to 
make it easy for the IRS clerks to grant that recognition by using the 
language they're looking for.  Grant giving organizations like to see 
the same language too.

	2) Will the S.F. have members?
		- This makes for a convenient way of raising funds (membership 
dues.)  It also implies 'mass rule' where the Board of Directors is 
elected by the members.  Realistically an elected Board -once in place- 
is pretty much self selecting/propagating (with some dependence on how 
the bylaws are structured.)  Membership criteria can also limit who 
voting members are as a way of assuring continuity of reasonable 
leadership (ie. avoid the organization being hijacked.)
</IRS-Brick>

Enough for now.
peace,
donald