NGOs & local TDF chapters

[Charles-H_Schulz]

Hello everyone,

I am posting on this public list to be sure I can reach as many contributors possible in the project. There is a longstanding work item that needs to be handled for various reasons: TDF has been established for 2 years now, the work done by worldwide teams is growing, etc. Roughly, how do we plan to work with entities supporting LibreOffice and what are the criteria we should use to work more closely with entities we can rightly regard as our local chapters?

Roughly, we have about three kind of entities used by local teams/native-lang projects, notwhistanding differences in legal systems.

* ad-hoc non-profits set up by native-lang projects and used to handle mostly logistical needs
* non-profits that have a broader scope of Free Software promotion (doing Linux install parties, promoting open standards, Firefox, etc.)
* on profit entities working with an established trademark license of the Document Foundation whose sole purposes is to promote and represent LibreOffice or its users.

I'm afraid I don't have a breakdown of the first two types of cases, but I can tell the last one is rare. We have LibreItalia, and to a lesser extent, the NGO in Brazil who does not usually go by the name "LibreOffice Brazil" or anything close.

You may wonder why I am wondering about these topics. This is because of how close and easy exchanges btw. TDF and an entity could be. Let me give you three examples, and there could be more.
- trademark grants (for an event, store, etc.)
- funding for activities (obviously not restricted to one entity or another but probably easier with an entity already operating "under license" and with a known charter with TDF)
- more interestingly, and with my Membership Commitee hat on, should we integrate contributions made by actual local chapters of TDF (and not general purpose free software advocacy groups) inside TDF membership criteria?

Here is what I suggest:
- please share your thoughts here about the topic: did you find problematic to set up a local entity? etc.
- what should be the most important criteria for local entities to become "TDF chapters"?
-....

Thanks!

Charles.

[italovignoli]

* non profit entities working with an established trademark license of
the Document Foundation whose sole purposes is to promote and
represent LibreOffice or its users.

IMHO, we should try to establish this kind of non profit entities in
every geography. LibreItalia is growing in size, visibility, reputation
and importance almost on a daily basis. In addition, it is recognized by
government bodies, and has been able to build bridges even with one of
the organizations who have migrated to AOO (to be clear, this is not due
to a change of attitude of the people who have convinced the
organization to migrate to AOO because LibreOffice was "crap", but
because the person who has managed the project within the organization
has realized that he has been cheated, and LibreOffice is better than
AOO). Sonia and myself have been invited to speak at their event on
March 27, in Bologna.

I'm afraid I don't have a breakdown of the first two types of cases,
but I can tell the last one is rare. We have LibreItalia, and to a
lesser extent, the NGO in Brazil who does not usually go by the name
"LibreOffice Brazil" or anything close.

LibreItalia is seen at the Italian house of LibreOffice.

- more interestingly, and with my Membership Commitee hat on, should
we integrate contributions made by actual local chapters of TDF (and
not general purpose free software advocacy groups) inside TDF
membership criteria?

IMHO, yes, because they are growing the community at local level and as
such are strengthening the entire project.

- please share your thoughts here about the topic: did you find
problematic to set up a local entity? etc.

Once we decided to draft the statutes based on TDF statutes, with the
necessary tweaks based on the Italian law for non profit organizations,
the setup was easy but extremely time consuming (we presented the
statutes in April and we got the approval in August).

- what should be the most important criteria for local entities to
become "TDF chapters"?

Commitment to LibreOffice, commitment to LibreOffice, commitment to
LibreOffice.