[TriLUG] Upcoming vote on TriLUG non-profit status

[David A. Cafaro]

I don't know what the current status of the Inflow/Sungard and TriLUG
is, but I was working at Inflow when TriLUG started hosting there.  I
wasn't involved in the deal, but talking to those that were, having
501(c)(3) status was mentioned by the Inflow management as a nice
benefit to providing the hosting (that and the engagement with the tech
community).  To Inflow, TriLUG was treated as a standard simple customer
and was put into all the documentation like anyone else renting out
space in the DataCenter.  Now this was way back in 2000, so no idea how
it's recorded or maintained after all the mergers and years.

For a more current comparison, I'm actually on the Board of Directors
for Tux.org located up here in the DC area.  We actually just went
through a discussion on if we should keep maintaining our status as a
non-profit.  In the end it was agreed that, though a pain, the benefits
are worth it, primarily for the donation of space and bandwidth we
receive.  Anything we can do, like being tax deductible, that makes it
easier for companies to provide donations to us is a good thing.

Cheers,
David

On 01/31/2011 07:49 PM, Jeremy Portzer wrote:
> Thank you Jos,
>
> As one of the people in a long line of Trilug treasurers / SC members
> who was delinquent in keeping up the organizational duties (updating
> the articles of incorporation, updating the corporate registration
> with the state, filing for non-profit status with the feds, etc), I
> saw this announcement and immediately had the same concerns as you. 
> Clearly, meeting space and the server hosting/bandwidth are the
> privileges that TriLUG is still using today even without "corporate
> sponsorship" and to lose these would be a major problem for the
> organization.  Back when I was on the SC, it was never clear to me
> exactly what the relationship between TriLug and
> Inflow/Sungard/Sungard AS was.  I never saw any sort of contract or
> MUA that explained what services we were granted, why, and how long it
> lasted.  Hopefully that was formalized since then, but if so, you
> should make sure that this contract does not describe TriLUG as a
> corporation and/or reference its purported non-profit status. (I am
> not sure at what point TriLUG actually HAD non-profit status, but
> that's another discussion.*)   If there is a contract between Sungard
> and TriLUG as a corporation, you I'd have to assume it would cease if
> the corporation is dissolved.
>
> (* When I was on the SC, we were never in possession of any documents
> stating that the TriLUG corporation actually had been granted
> 501(c)(3) status, and hence we removed all references to that from the
> web site. Incorporating with the intent of operating with this status
> doesn't mean you actually have it!  I don't see any references to
> non-profit status now either.  This didn't make a difference in terms
> of actual tax filing requirements, since our income was low enough to
> be exempt from corporate taxes anyway, but we didn't want to mislead
> potential corporate donors.)
>
> I do wish the organization well and am sad I can no longer be a part
> of it.  I hope to visit sometime this spring and visit old friends
> however!
>
> Cheers,
> Jeremy Portzer
> jeremyp at pobox.com
> (TriLUG Steering Committee member/treasurer/co-chair, 2003-2006)
>