[maemo-community] maemo.org merchandise

[From: Sebastian 'CrashandDie' Lauwers]

On Thu, Feb 4, 2010 at 1:16 AM, Randall Arnold <texrat at ovi.com> wrote:
> I think for a immediate solution, paypal should be the better option, but
> since we're here we should consider the creation of a no-profit association
> for our community, that could help dealing with the merchandising money,
> donations, etc. It has some advantages, but also some disadvantages, so need
> to be discussed first :)

Paypal is indeed a good solution when it comes to international
payments. It eliminates issues with credit cards and such, and just
provides us with a simple payment system. I would even recommend not
just thinking of it as a temporary solution.

With regards to the non-profit organisation around maemo.org, this has
been discussed a few times, however never in front of an audience as
far as I can remember. A few ideas were thrown around, from what I
remember:
 - Country of the organisation can be anywhere in Europe really, prime
candidates were (not in any particular order): France, Netherlands, UK
& Ireland, Spain. The reason for this is that those country have a
strong community presence, with a few members being highly regarded
and respected, with positions that would allow them to manage
something like this.

 - My personal preference went towards having one of the paid
contributors take responsibility of the financial management of the
organisation.

 - I am not aware of US laws regarding organisations, however I see no
issues with having a separation and having two equivalent
organisations operating on each side of the ocean. International
organisations get very complex and hard to manage very quickly.

 - Financial results should be published openly to community members
on a quarterly basis. These results/numbers are not confidential,
however displaying them publicly would serve no purpose.

-- 
question = ( to ) ? be : ! be;
      -- Wm. Shakespeare