Legal entity for postmarketOS
I think it would be benificial for pmOS to have a legal entity.
The team is growing and we are trying to get more money from grants and donations.
This issue is to start a discusison within the team if this idea should be followed or not and also to discuss some ideas how to realize this.
Benefits of having a legal entity:
- business oprations with taxable invoices, bank accounts etc.
- legal representation in case of juristical challanges
- warrenty related topics
- continutation of operations if one ore more core member are inhibited
Cons:
- efforts/costs required with creating&maintaining the entity --> less ressource(s) for development work.
- stress in the team due to diferent new roles
- audits/review from external parties
Which legal entity could be used? some first ideas:
-
(charitable) foundation - aka non-profit foundation - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Foundation_(nonprofit)
-
Registered association - like in Austria/Germany/Switzerland: eingetragener Verein - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Registered_association_(Germany) The registered association in Germany can also apply for charitable status (German: Gemeinnützigkeit).
-
cooperative - like for example the Societas cooperativa Europaea - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Societas_cooperativa_Europaea
As most of the team-members are from Europe, let us focus for the first idea on European models and exclude the US 501.. foundations, which as @pabloyoyoista tells me are a p.i.a to create and maintain.