[OPEN-ILS-GENERAL] Draft rules of governance for Evergreen Software Foundation - for discussion

[Dan Scott]

After a great deal of effort through the summer, the Governance
Committee that was struck at the 2010 Evergreen Conference is pleased to
provide for your review and feedback the proposed rules of governance for
the Evergreen Software Foundation. These rules can be found at the top
of the "governance structure" space of the Evergreen wiki at
http://evergreen-ils.org/dokuwiki/doku.php?id=governance:structure in
wiki format, OpenDocument format, and Word format.

The proposed rules of governance describe the purpose of the Evergreen
Software Foundation as having the mission to:

(i) promote, support, and advance the Evergreen software;
(ii) support and facilitate the growth of the international community of
Evergreen users;
(ii) foster and protect the Evergreen assets;
(iii) serve as a resource and communication device for Evergreen users;
and
(iv) serve as a funding and grant seeking source for cooperative
development projects.

Hopefully these goals are self-explanatory, but some explanation of (ii)
(the second ii - heh - some editing still required): the "Evergreen
assets" are the trademarks, logos, domain names, and some hardware
currently held by GPLS PINES and Equinox, as well as copyright over
portions of the code, should institutions or individuals for some reason
opt to contribute their copyright to the foundation. The assets would
also include funds that result from donations to the project, revenues
from conferences, etc.

The Governance Committee has chosen to submit a membership application
to the Software Freedom Conservancy (http://sfconservancy.org) as the
most expedient route to functioning within a 501(c)(3) non-profit
structure that offers tax benefits for donations made by residents of
the United States. The membership application is also visible at the top
of the "governance structure" space of the Evergreen wiki at 
http://evergreen-ils.org/dokuwiki/doku.php?id=governance:structure

These are significant steps for the Evergreen community, and your
feedback on the proposed rules of governance for the foundation is
genuinely desired. For the foundation to be successful, we need to be
sure that we have the confidence and trust of the community to move
forward with the proposal. If, after reading the documents, there are
aspects of the plans or documents that you find confusing, or that you
find worrisome, please raise your concern on this mailing list - you
probably won't be alone! If you have suggestions for amendments, please
post those suggestions to this mailing list as well.