William L. Thomson Jr.'s 2008 Gentoo Board of Trustees Manifesto

1. Overview

The following is William L. Thomson Jr.'s manifesto for his Gentoo Foundation Board of Trustees candidacy. Please read entirely, and please only vote for me if you agree with my direction, thoughts, and are comfortable with my background and limitations.

2. General Goals

The following is a list of goals I would like to see accomplished during my term. Listed in order of significance.

Establish and maintain legal entity in US and abroad
Increase fund raising proactively
Obtain ownership and control of trademark
Define trustee roles and responsibilities with backups
Increase transparency about foundational activities
Revamp and document all policies and procedures for present and future boards
Increase foundation roles and responsibilities beyond paper pushing. ( within the stated mission, nothing technical )

3. Idealistic Goals

The following is a list of Idealistic goals I would like to see accomplished at some point in time. Possibly during my term. In no particular order. Some are controversial, thus would need to be discussed, debated, and voted on.

Retain outside accounting and legal representation via the SPI at first. ( Till we can afford alternatives. )
Establish international presences and foundation legal entities in countries other than the US. ( Possibly as subsidiaries )
Offload unwanted burdens from council
Increase cooperation with the council
Create yearly budget for Gentoo; infra services, hardware, shwag, etc.

4. Plan of action

The following is a list of my plans for action to accomplish my stated goals. In no particular order.

Immediate board meeting to discuss, decide roles, and delegate foundation responsibilities amongst newly elected board members
Regular scheduled monthly board meetings
Regular and constant communication with other board members, community, teams, and council.
Regular postings and summaries to both -nfp mailing list and PR for all meetings and foundation related actions or information alerts
Constant documentation of ongoing actions made publicly available on gentoo.org.
Pro-actively raise funds via yearly donation fund raising drives. Along with exploring other means. Beyond the Gentoo store and waiting for donations.
Negotiate a deal with Daniel Robbins and reimburse him once funds are available for the trademark.
Be available via email, irc, forums, and/or other means. At minimum easily accessible to the entire community.

5. Background

I have been self employed since 2000. During that time I have hired and worked with both accountants and lawyers. Including a 2yr litigation with depositions and other legal proceedings. Over a failed partnership and separation.

I have also done my fair share of direct tax returns and other accounting related legal filings. Which I have done for my own business for the last 5 or so years. But will likely only do so for another year before passing it on to external accountant.

6. Limitations

Abilities

While I have a fair amount of business administration and management experience. I currently do not have any formal education beyond high school. Or any specific abilities which would qualify me to serve as a board member. Which I have never done before. Nor have I worked with or for a NPO. I do not bring any other special abilities to the table other than my past experience, ideas, and effort.

Time

Due to being self employed. Any time given to Gentoo comes at the expense of my own company. Essentially my pocket and bottom line. I became a developer out of necessity, which has not changed. I only have so much time for Gentoo and most of it has to be allocated to technical matters that directly effect my business and needs there.

I believe I can make time to fill a role on the board of trustees. But that role would need to keep my time limitations in mind. Any time spent on foundational matters would need to be done in an efficient and productive manner.

7. Parting thoughts - In House, SFC, or SPI

While ideally it would be nice for us do handle all accounting and legal matters in house. I do not think that is practical at this time. Unless we have certified accountants, and lawyers who have passed the bar in multiple states, available on staff. Which I believe we have many with the necessary experience, possibly some with the qualifications. But either way I feel it's best left to those that do that for a living all day long. Partly since they under take the same legal responsibilities and liabilities for others in their normal practice.

The SFC is not a option. They are new and do not have a proven track record just yet. They have never managed an entity our size or with our background. Having an existing legal entity, trademark, etc. They presently lack funding so even if we wanted to join. They can't afford to take on our project possible at all this year. When their budget/funting is increased and can afford to take on a project of our size. It's first come first serve, and we still have to be invited. They rely 100% on donations, they do not take a percentage of donations to member projects. They have no model of their own for covering their expenses other than from grant funding and donations. The SFC is NOT the SFLC they are different. Some what related and similar statff. But different legal entities, missions, agendas, etc.

The SPI is an option, today, or when ever we are ready. They have been around for many years. Have a proven record managing other large entities. Their business model, of collecting 5% of donations to cover their costs and overhead. Means they have the funds now, and for the future regardless of our size. They also have a lawyer from the SFLC on staff at the SPI.

For now I think we are best to work with the SPI. Let them do what they do best. Then look to make the foundation more effective in other areas beyond paper pushing. Once we have an effective foundation/board of trustees and we can afford our own accountants, or have them on staff. We can considering doing things in house. But even then I think we would be best to retain outside accounting and legal representation. At min accounting, and legal representation we can get from the SFLC.

Either way, decisions have to be made in house. So their will be a need for a board of trustees even with retained external entities doing a majority of the paper pushing.

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