creation of The Document Collective (TDC)

Board Discuss
#1

Hello,

Am 11.09.19 um 10:39 schrieb Florian Effenberger:

Hello,

during today’s LibreOffice Conference opening session, the board’s resolution to create The Document Collective (TDC) has been announced, which is hereby published to the general public for feedback and discussion.

(Please use the public board-discuss@documentfoundation.org list for any discusisons related on this topic.)

The resolution taken during the board meeting on Monday, September 9, is as follows:

The Board RESOLVES to start creation of The Document Collective (TDC) by taking the following acts:

  • Broadly, to implement the concepts in the Board’s Document “The Document Collective” version 0.4

  • Appoint a transitional leadership Group comprising Simon Phipps, Eike Rathke, Michael Meeks, Thorsten Behrens, and/or other volunteers TBD…

could there be a Conflict of Interest (CoI)?:

https://beta.companieshouse.gov.uk/company/10026175/officers

and maybe an issue with self-dealing? And what about good governance /compliance?

And once I googled the address of Public Software CiC I stumbled over this:

https://suite.endole.co.uk/explorer/postcode/so17-1xs

(374 companies listed under this address).

Regards,
T.

#2

Hi Thomas! Thanks for asking.

On Sun, Sep 15, 2019 at 2:03 PM Thomas Meyer <t.meyer97@gmx.de> wrote:

could there be a Conflict of Interest (CoI)?:

https://beta.companieshouse.gov.uk/company/10026175/officers

and maybe an issue with self-dealing? And what about good governance /compliance?

Public Software CIC was created by Andrew Katz and I specifically to provide a not-for-profit service hosting FLOSS community initiatives. While I am a director of Public Software CIC, it is a Community Interest Company which means no-one (including me) benefits individually from the trading activities it conducts. CICs are overseen by a government regulator, see https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/office-of-the-regulator-of-community-interest-companies

Additionally, I am not compensated by Public Software and act in a voluntary capacity. In any case, we are proposing only that Public Software host the activities of TDC in the initial stage while it is being incorporated, a bank account opened (and hopefully the Brexit transition is crossed). Once those tasks are done, we will move all activities from Public Software CIC to The Document Collective entity in a suitable jusrisdiction. To ensure that the governance of TDC is well formed, the Board intends to direct a group rather than me individually to define and operate its governance.

And once I googled the address of Public Software CiC I stumbled over this:

https://suite.endole.co.uk/explorer/postcode/so17-1xs

(374 companies listed under this address).

Yes, the address is that of a reputable accounting firm, Fiander Tovell Ltd, who provide Registered Office services to many of the companies for which they handle accounts. In common with many small community entities, Public Software does not have any offices so this arrangement is ideal.

Happy to answer further questions on this,

Simon

–

#3

Hi Simon,

#4

Hi Thomas,

*Gesendet:* Sonntag, 15. September 2019 um 17:59 Uhr
*Von:* "Simon Phipps" <webmink@documentfoundation.org>

Public Software CIC was created by Andrew Katz and I specifically to
provide a not-for-profit service hosting FLOSS community initiatives.est
...

subsumtion:
* it's really the situation of self dealing (you are sitting on both
sides of the same table).
* you have a CoI for this reason (no matter, if there a finacial issues
or not)

There are various sorts of interest of course. But apart from that: it
is the full board handling the topic.

* such self dealing is always an issue with compliance / good governance
and transparency

Therefore the plan for the TDC is announced and are members invited to
look at it and discuss their ideas with us.

Would that make sense?

Greetings,
Cor

#5

Hi Thomas,

first off - thanks for taking part in this conversation! As Cor said,
the intention here really is to have a public discussion, and taking
input from TDF members, contributors and all other stakeholders.

Thomas Meyer wrote:

   So it could be regarded as a letterbox company.

Just a word of caution - idiomatic expressions don't always translate
1:1, and the phrase you used could be regarded as rather rerogatory in
English (I'm sure it wasn't meant like that). But for the avoidance of
doubt, Public Software CIC is a reputable company, and we're grateful
to Simon for offering it as a (temporary) host. Which is btw not
uncommon practice, as e.g. Freies Office Deutschland e.V. did
something similar when we bootstrapped TDF, starting in 2010.

Cheers,

-- Thorsten

#6

Hi!

subsumtion:

  • it’s really the situation of self dealing (you are sitting on both sides of the same table).

No, as I am only a Board deputy rather than a full director, have not voted on this proposal and will not do so at the Board meeting where the decision is made.

We are a community of people with a commitment to free/open source software in general and LibreOffice/Document Liberation in particular. You can find a way almost everyone willing to serve here has a conflict in any positive action we try to take. If you choose to.

So it could be regarded as a letterbox company.

Are you making an accusation here, it’s not clear? Do you intend to make the same accusation against other entities which do not trade from their registered address, such as The Document Foundation?

S.

#7

could there be a Conflict of Interest (CoI)?:

https://beta.companieshouse.gov.uk/company/10026175/officers

and maybe an issue with self-dealing? And what about good governance
/compliance?

Good governance is crucial and takes some effort, so thanks for posing questions.

Conflict of interest is a concern for every organisation; can you be more specific about the risks you see here?

So it could be regarded as a letterbox company.

FWIW my company phpList is also a permanent 'letterbox company' by this definition, but there's nothing problematic about that (at least not in the UK).

Sam.

#8

Hi Simon,

#9

Hello,

as I received similar questions by several people on the initial mail, asking how to proceed, here's a follow-up:

which is hereby published to the general public for feedback and discussion.

Everyone is invited to share thoughts and comments, give feedback and ask questions on the public board-discuss@documentfoundation.org mailing list, right now.

- Appoint a transitional leadership Group comprising Simon Phipps, Eike Rathke, Michael Meeks, Thorsten Behrens, and/or other volunteers TBD...

The "to be determined" (TBD) note means that community members, who'd like to join the transitional leadership group, are invited to raise their hands on the public board-discuss@documentfoundation.org mailing list, right now.

Florian

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