Legal entity

[Efrain Valles]

The Ubuntu-ve considered this too a while back, but we were discouraged
to do it using the figure of the LoCo team. and it was not discused in
depth, but basically we saw the elements that this brings, it makes
rotation a bit difficult (since it requires money and lawyers to make
documents official) and time comsuming. there is also a great benefit.
in Venezuela social resposibility is enforced and companies have to help
Non profit organizations and to prove that they have helped one they
needed a letter from the non-profit so that they can show the fiscal
authorities.

Then we didn't consider Ubuntu-ve mature enough to handle  a legal
status. but we could consider joining forces qith other FOSS advocates
and start one for the benefit not just of the LoCo team but any team
seeking promotion of free software and leaving the Ubuntu-ve name aside
for this.

and example of such aliances in Venezuela is www.glove.org.ve
here is a list of all the LUGS participating in it.
http://www.glove.org.ve/?page_id=4 

Notice the Non-profit offers a more organized structure for all others
to join. this is helpful when the team is a bit messy and still need to
look organized in front of companies offering sponsorship ;)

I particularly do not belong to it, but ubuntu-ve in it's early stages
benefited greatly from basic hosting services and other sponsored
resources.

This works in my country, your country might be a totally different
scenario.

Hope this helps 
El mié, 07-05-2008 a las 13:09 +0300, Amir Eldor escribió:
> In Israel one member of the community (eyal levin) founded a
> non-profit open-business. the business is not related to ubuntu but it
> will certainly help financially to our LoCo team for achiving the
> ultimate goal of more Linux and FOSS in Israel.
> 
> On Wed, May 7, 2008 at 1:05 PM, Neil Coetzer <nit006.5 at gmail.com>
> wrote:
>         Very relevant topic. Zimbabwe is also considering registering
>         as a non-profit organisation. Being a part of another
>         non-profit organisation (Round Table), I don't think we'd have
>         any "legality" problems in Zimbabwe (as long as we keep
>         audited accounts), provided that this is 'allowed' by the
>         Ubuntu Community. It would be particularly important for us in
>         Zimbabwe since, with our current economic situation, there are
>         often shortages of cash and donations can only be received
>         into a bank account. To open a bank account, we would need to
>         be a formal association.
>         
>         
>         On Wed, 2008-05-07 at 00:01 +0200, Søren Bredlund Caspersen
>         wrote: 
>         > Hello everyone,
>         > 
>         > in the Danish LoCo team we are currently considering the possibility
>         > of forming a 'formal' association, which would be a legal entity. This
>         > would be done to enable the team to administrate money to pay for
>         > posters, rent locations for release parties and so on.
>         > 
>         > However some have mentioned that Canonical might have a problem with
>         > this from a legal point of view (trademarks, etc.). So can someone
>         > 'official' (Jono Bacon?) confirm or deny that?
>         > 
>         > Regards
>         > Søren Caspersen
>         > 
>         
>         --
>         loco-contacts mailing list
>         loco-contacts at lists.ubuntu.com
>         https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/loco-contacts
>         
>