Re: [fsfc-discuss] Hello

[Russell McOrmond]

On 12-01-23 01:41 AM, Rudolf wrote:
> Aren't there ways to get around forming a formal organization to support
> Free Software in Canada? Or are there other simpler organizations that
> can be formed to support the activities of various Canadian groups?

  Whether you need a formal organization or not depends on what you 
want to do.

  In Ottawa we meet weekly to discuss FLOSS in Government, under the 
banner of "Getting Open Source Logic INto Governments" 
http://GOSLINGcommunity.org .   Since we don't "do" anything or "own" 
anything, and have no money flowing through us, there is no 
organisation.  It is just a website and mailing list that is used along 
with a weekly gathering to get people together.

  CLUE exists http://cluecan.ca , but they are also more of an "open 
source" organisation (Focus is on the non-political engineering benefits 
of FLOSS).  I believe we need to have an organisation that isn't shy 
about the political aspects, and is willing to organise the necessary 
political campaigns in Canada.  CLUE is also needing new volunteers, as 
not much has been happening beyond my volunteer policy work.

  If you want to take donations that can help fund software projects or 
do campaigns, like what the GNU project and the FSF is able to do in the 
USA and elsewhere in the world, then an organization is needed.  If we 
want these donations to be charitable, even more paperwork/formality is 
needed.


  If you look back in the archives you will see an attempt was made to 
do the paperwork to get charity status, but that didn't work.  I have 
not seen the paperwork, and it may be best to simply try again.

  If there are people truly willing to put time into this, then I'll 
jump in and do my part as well.  Once we have a core group I can 
approach CIPPIC.ca (also here in Ottawa) who may have lawyers/students 
willing to do probono some of the legal filings necessary to get us started.

--
 Russell McOrmond, Internet Consultant: <http://www.flora.ca/>
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