0. "Legislation" in English refers to laws enacted e.g. by the EU or national, regional, or local governments. I think what you're talking about is a legal entity such as a partnership, association, club, society, or nonprofit corporation. > 1. Fiscal host ... e.g. OpenCollective. OpenCollective itself is not a Fiscal Host. It looks like a potentially useful tool if you don't want to work directly with Stripe. You either need a bank account or a Fiscal Host. Open Collective Europe is such a Fiscal Host but it doesn't do legal so you're maybe not getting much for your admin fee. > 2a. A company that focuses on providing legal status - sfconservancy Speaking here from USA I'd be very concerned about getting tied into the US legal system - or China's or Russia's or India's. The EU is not perfect but you're in the EU and the EU is less awful than some of the other big players so I would suggest trying to keep your legal footprint within the EU and worry less about patent trolls and sanctions and trade wars and encryption export restrictions. > 2b. A company that focuses on providing legal status - dyne Tried researching them. Very opaque. Thumbs down from me. > 3. Our own non-profit organization. > > The option of founding our own organization may seem the most attractive, > but at the same time it represents the greatest overhead burden for us. > Because the current active team members want to focus on code maintenance > and development, we would have to hire someone trusted to deal with the > legislation of such an organization. We would probably also have to hire > some lawyers to deal with the legislation to create the company. Because > we do not have our own funds and there is no certainty what income we will > be able to earn, there is no certainty how we will be able to pay such > people. I see too many pitfalls here for this way. There are alternatives to being a nonprofit corporation such as being an association or club, or being a partnership. You'd have to do some research or talk to a CZ lawyer to see exactly what is available and what the tradeoffs are. There's some work involved in setting up and maybe some work involved in filing a tax return but I don't think it's all that much. I've set up businesses and as long as you don't have employees it's easy and doesn't need a lawyer. However I'm in the US so YMMV in CZ. I would suggest at minimum investigating if there's an easy route for nonprofits or clubs below a certain turnover. The nonprofits I've been involved with in the US were indeed incorporated. They file tax returns. Some have employees and some don't. Those without employees are easy. My parents lived in the UK and were members of a drama group and a community group and some years they were officials such as chair or secretary or treasurer. NO EMPLOYEES. There would be an annual meeting but other than that the bookkeeping and correspondence took less than half an hour a month in the days before they had a computer. They may have used a lawyer for the initial setup but more likely just followed the instructions in a book. X. Liability Liability is why you incorporate. If a patent troll attacks we can't afford to defend TDE. Dyne or some Fiscal Host might regret the incident but they wouldn't pay to defend something as small as TDE. Unlike a drama club we're not worried about fires, falling lights, and people tripping and breaking their legs in the aisles. But if some corporation accuses TDE software of losing data, or letting a hacker in, we can't afford to defend TDE. Doesn't matter if the accusation is valid or not. Incorporation means that if they take TDE there's a good chance that they won't also take everything the developers own. An unincorporated partnership tied to a Fiscal Host may not provide that protection - research CZ law or ask a lawyer. And when you've got liability you have to think about liability insurance. You may or may not need it. It might be mandated by some government, or by one of the organizations you do business with. For example in the US I mainly needed liability insurance to satisfy the landlord of the office I rented. --Mike ____________________________________________________ tde-users mailing list -- users@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx To unsubscribe send an email to users-leave@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Web mail archive available at https://mail.trinitydesktop.org/mailman3/hyperkitty/list/users@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
