Some here mentioned the idea of creating a cooperative/structure that would ideally take part in the enterprise, but could also have other objectives such as hiring a developer for certain tasks. I have no idea if this is realistic, feasible, if a cooperative is an adapted type or the necessary legal framework.
Background: I’ve been involved with non-profits for many years (30+). Including running one.
Some questions that immediately pop up for me.
National, seeking tax exempt status?
If 1, then what nations?
Is there any interest from Jolla in such a structure developing?
For my part, I’m interested, but don’t really have time since I’m not even keeping up with the volunteer work I have now. Still, maybe I can help in some small way.
Would it be an option that a cooperative just collects the funding money from its members and this cooperation as an independent legal entity would become one of the shareholders of Jolla?
Such a construction would allow the company structure of Jolla to remain as it is, it’s just the list of share holders and the supervisory board would change - if this cooperation gets large and its share is significant enough to be entitled for a seat in the supervisory board.
Sure not enough to replace Rostelcom entirely.
Finally, the idea is more to put a feet (a toe) into the boat than to replace RT, I believe.
This forum has 2900 users (about).
Potentially participating users are surely all registered here.
Questions are:
-What proportion of these 2900 users would participate in a medium term? (way to our brains is sometimes long: does few reactions now indicate few interest later if the move goes on?)
-How big is Jolla’s capital and what proportion did RT represent?
Maybe an initiative could take money to encourage/hire already existing developers to do work defined by the initative. Maybe we could even hire contractors from jolla for that.
The latter would have the obvious benefit that they already know what they are doing and we would be in close communication with jolla.
The downsite would be obviously that this wouldnt be an investment with a possible return but just spent money
@coderus is it possible to use Alipay in Russia? Its chinese, so it cannot be sanctioned. I seems to be everywhere, i could pay with it in a discounter…
Because I’ve mentioned this in another context without linking back here, just to push the thread in the history.
Things I thought of today;
Pan European (as a start) org. Is there such a thing for the purposes of tax exemption?
It’s relatively ‘easy’ to start an NGO like entity, but national regulations quickly introduce a spaghetti mess of regulations. How does one manage hiring remote across borders for an NGO?
What are the goals.
a) subsidize api usage (pure maps, osm scout, etc, etc)
b) create ‘internships’ or sabbaticals for app dev. / maintenance
c) if it’s a membership driven org (club like) yearly prios. of the membership?
d) bug bounties
e) classic open source / transparency objectives.
Can something like fundraising drives ( a yearly, some issue directed) succeed?
What kinds of EU funding could one seek out.
I’m going to go speak to some organization people who are specialized in this to get some advice.
Pan European (as a start) org. Is there such a thing for the purposes of tax exemption?
If it’s about tax exemption, foundation should be in several countries tax-free.
What are the goals.
It’s the most important part. In the NGO/foundation/association’s statutes it shouldn’t be too specific, but something like supporting financially open-source software for mobile phone. I prefer to support and improve Sailfish, but we never know what the future be like.
I’m going to go speak to some organization people who are specialized in this to get some advice.
Really good news ! If possible, it could be great to organize a (virtual) meetup to discuss about it.
Let’s see if I can get the input without it costing a fortune Sadly, but for good reason, the people I know are generally booked and well paid for advice. But asking questions at this stage doesn’t cost anything…
European grants seem possible for me. Tge EU was also financing some research and development done by Nokia in the good old times, and is currently striving for independence from the global players especially in the cloud and storage area, but likely also regarding mobility services.
As discussed earlier regarding map APIs, ideally we should have a system that would allow us, users, to pay for used map access. Some kind of proxy between consumers and map service providers. This shouldn’t be limited to SFOS apps. Same issue is on other platforms and why not have it supporting Android. Any open-source map client could benefit from having ability to link users with the service providers. Maybe some other services as well, like TTS for example.
This is somewhat different from annual donation scheme that would indiscriminately support users access. Whether it can be combined (donations + making money stream from consumers to providers), I don’t know.