[Devel] Changing the (legal) structure of OpenHatch so that it's easier to take donations

[Asheesh Laroia]

Hi all,

I think it'd be nice to have OpenHatch have a bank account with a 
non-profit that we can use to spend on server hosting costs and travel 
expenses as we send people to conferences, and travel costs as we put on 
more events like the one at Penn (*). I want to have OpenHatch, Inc., put 
some money there, and spend it on travel expenses related to outreach 
events.

That non-profit is Software in the Public Interest: 
http://www.spi-inc.org/ (often pronounced "Spy")

I'm writing this email in the hopes of quickly reaching consensus on my 
suggested project governance model: We all keep doing things as we are, 
and the Login Team and other processes cover how people get access to our 
resources. I have had some experience working on the Debian GNU/Linux 
distribution, and that project sets a model I really like for spending 
money: one person (the Project Leader) is authorized to spend money stored 
at SPI on behalf of the group.

Initially, that spending authorizer would be me; I would be able to 
nominate a successor.

If we like that, then I will talk to Software in the Public Interest about 
making it happen.

More details
------------

OpenHatch is more than just the website. That's become quite clear to me 
over the past year, with the enthusiasm around the Boston Python Workshop, 
and the "Build it" event series, and the teaching open source event in 
September at Penn: 
http://opensource.com/life/10/11/introducing-students-world-open-source-day-1

Those events sometimes have travel expenses. And there's the (small, but 
non-zero) cost of hosting the site and paying for domain names.

Right now, there's a corporation that was created through the Shotput 
Ventures' start up incubation program in Atlanta, 2009, and it has a 
little money still due to some fund-raising that we co-founders did in 
2009. OpenHatch, Inc., pays the hosting bills, and sometimes pays for my 
travel to conferences.

I'm hoping to close down that for-profit corporation because it never was 
very good at making money. I think that OpenHatch, realistically, is now 
quite like Debian: a collective of people who spend their own time to 
advance the state of free open source software. (For those who don't know 
much about Debian's structure, I suggest reading 
https://secure.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/wiki/Debian#Organization .)

For most OpenHatch code contributors, this won't actually change anything. 
Someone will continue to pay the bills for hosting the site, and people's 
travel on OpenHatch-y things will continue to be paid for, either by the 
individual, or by OpenHatch itself.

If we all are enthusiastic about OpenHatch's SPI account spending money on 
outreach event travel, I would like to pour a bunch of money into the 
(new) OpenHatch non-profit bank account, as a donation from OpenHatch, 
Inc. Either way, OpenHatch Inc. will soon close its doors.

Initially, most of the expenses (by dollar count) are basically definitely 
going to go toward my next year of touring the US and running teaching 
open source events like the one at Penn. I want to be clear that this 
isn't going to enrich me; it'll just pay for some bus rides or airline 
fares. I'll still probably end up sleeping on people's couches when I 
arrive in those cities.

Having a bank account with a registered US 501(c)3 non-profit (SPI) will 
also make it easier to take donations, which I'm enthusiastic about.

I imagine that in the coming year or so, we'll see if people like the 
project. If they continue to like it, maybe around February 2013 I'll try 
to make OpenHatch into a non-profit of its own and try to find funding and 
a staff. (Wow, 2013 is a big number)

Conclusion
----------

I'm sending this to Devel because many of you have gained a sense of 
ownership over what OpenHatch is -- so many of you have contributed code 
and documentation and imagery and effort on events, and by doing so 
changed what it is. If you don't like this idea of us opening an account 
with Software in the Public Interest, I'm open to a discussion.

Again, this is unlikely to very much affect what any of y'all are doing.

I'm also open to other modifications of this idea.

I'm hoping that we reach consensus reasonably quickly, so if you have 
concerns or positive remarks, voice them!

What I'm really hoping is to hear some enthusiastic "+1"s from people who 
have been especially involved, like Jack Grigg and Jessica McKellar, and 
to hear thoughts from old-time co-founders Raffi and Nelson.

-- Asheesh.