Thanks for all the advice. I'm aware of the 501(c)(6) option - that's also a possibility.
On Wed, May 24, 2017 at 2:09 PM, Pine W <[email protected]> wrote: > Hi Yaron, > > You might have a look at 501(c)(6). I have very limited familiarity with > it, but it seems to be used by business services cooperatives and at least > one nonprofit software support organization. > > I would encourage you to get more people on your board, preferably people > who are well placed in the kinds of organizations that you would like to > support. > > While I don't mean to discourage you, I think you are very early in the > business formation process. Getting board members who are experienced > businesspeople could help both the organization's credibility and the > organization's formation process. You might also benefit from advice from a > CPA and/or small business attorney. I am assuming that you are located in > the United States; if that is so then I would encourage you to contact your > local office of the U.S. Small Business Administration for advice. > > Good luck, > > Pine > > > On Wed, May 24, 2017 at 10:46 AM, Yaron Koren <[email protected]> wrote: > > > Hi Pine, > > > > Thanks for your questions. > > > > On Wed, May 24, 2017 at 1:27 PM, Pine W <[email protected]> wrote: > > > > > Thanks for the announcement. > > > > > > I see that membership has a minimum price of $2,000 per year. Why is > > there > > > a fee to join the organization? > > > > > > > Because money is the main focus of this organization - specifically, > > getting funds from organizational users of the software and putting it to > > use in development, evangelism, etc. Of course, a lot of development and > > evangelism can be done for free, but that's not the main focus of the > EMC. > > There are other organizations that handle volunteer efforts at improving > > parts of "enterprise MediaWiki", most notably the MediaWiki Stakeholders' > > Group: > > > > https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/MediaWiki_Stakeholders%27_Group > > > > > > > > > > Is the organization a 501(c)(3)? > > > > > > > No, but the hope is for it to become an official nonprofit, either by > > becoming a 501(c)(3) or via another route. In the last few years the IRS > > has apparently been less willing to give 501(c)(3) status to open-source > > software organizations like this one, with some high-profile rejections > > like the OpenStack Foundation. I haven't tried applying to the IRS yet, > > though, so we'll see. > > > > > > > > > > Who are the owners or directors of the organization? > > > > > > > At the moment, I'm the sole owner and director. > > > > -Yaron > > > > > > > > > > Thank you, > > > > > > Pine > > > > > > > > > On Wed, May 24, 2017 at 7:49 AM, Yaron Koren <[email protected]> > > wrote: > > > > > > > Hi, > > > > > > > > I'm very excited to announce the launch of the Enterprise MediaWiki > > > > Consortium (EMC), an organization devoted to supporting and > maintaining > > > > "enterprise MediaWiki" software. > > > > > > > > As you may know, a lot of open-source software has some sort of > > > > organization or foundation that is intended to pool money from users > of > > > the > > > > software toward developers. MediaWiki is in an unusual situation: it > is > > > > funded by the Wikimedia Foundation (and, to a lesser extent, > Wikimedia > > > > Deutschland and others), but those organizations' primary allegiance > is > > > to > > > > software that runs on Wikimedia sites. That leaves a lot of > > > > MediaWiki-related software (extensions, skins, etc.) that is mostly > > > > intended for use on non-Wikimedia sites, i.e. "enterprise" uses: some > > of > > > > this software has significant usage, but very little of it has > > > > institutional support. > > > > > > > > That is where the Enterprise MediaWiki Consortium fits in. It is > > intended > > > > to fund the development of extensions and other software that > otherwise > > > has > > > > no funding source. The set of software being funded is entirely up to > > the > > > > membership of the EMC, and of course the amount of support that can > be > > > > provided depends on the amount of money that members contribute - an > > > amount > > > > that will hopefully grow over time. > > > > > > > > If you belong to an organization, company or website that makes use > of > > > > MediaWiki - and specifically, of MediaWiki-related software not used > on > > > > Wikimedia sites - please consider joining the Enterprise MediaWiki > > > > Consortium - to provide much-needed support for the software you use, > > and > > > > to have a greater say in shaping its future. > > > > > > > > You can read more about the EMC here: > > > > > > > > http://enterprisemediawikiconsortium.org/ > > > > > > > > -Yaron > > > > _______________________________________________ > > > > MediaWiki-l mailing list > > > > To unsubscribe, go to: > > > > https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/mediawiki-l > > > > > > > _______________________________________________ > > > MediaWiki-l mailing list > > > To unsubscribe, go to: > > > https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/mediawiki-l > > > > > > > > > > > -- > > WikiWorks · MediaWiki Consulting · http://wikiworks.com > > _______________________________________________ > > MediaWiki-l mailing list > > To unsubscribe, go to: > > https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/mediawiki-l > > > _______________________________________________ > MediaWiki-l mailing list > To unsubscribe, go to: > https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/mediawiki-l > -- WikiWorks · MediaWiki Consulting · http://wikiworks.com _______________________________________________ MediaWiki-l mailing list To unsubscribe, go to: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/mediawiki-l
