Re: [Boost-announce] Boost Asset Stewardship Review begins 09/03

From: Vinnie Falco (vinnie.falco_at_[hidden])
Date: 2024-09-02 18:56:38

On Mon, Sep 2, 2024 at 11:24 AM Glen Fernandes via Boost
<boost_at_[hidden]> wrote:
> I have asked Vinnie to provide us with a high level summary of the
> agreement that will appear in the forthcoming review announcement (but
> he is free to post it here in advance of it).

The subject of the review is the C++ Alliance fiscal sponsorship
proposal, which put simply looks like this:

1. A legal agreement (“Fiscal Sponsorship Agreement”) where C++
Alliance holds assets on behalf of the Boost project. The Steering
Committee, formed as a result of this agreement, determines how these
assets are used. The C++ Alliance will donate its Boost-related assets
such as domain name, logo, and trademarks to the project.

2. Boost Foundation to donate assets to the Boost project. This
consists of the boost.org domain name, social media accounts, and
existing infrastructure (such as the wowbagger server and the cloud
services it uses) plus any trademarks.

A fiscal sponsor is a registered 501(c)(3) non-profit organization
which takes on one or more projects (referred to as a “Model A”
sponsorship). These projects are not represented by a legal entity,
and by having a fiscal sponsor they get access to the sponsor’s
administrative resources to ensure regulatory compliance. This is an
enormous benefit, as the project leaders can focus on pursuing its
mission rather than becoming experts at holding board meetings and
filing paperwork.

A “Fiscal Sponsorship Agreement” is a legal contract which defines the
relationship between the fiscal sponsor and the project. With
permission from the Software Freedom Conservancy, we have used their
original contract as a starting point. This contract specifies that
Alliance holds the assets for the project while the project’s
leadership decides how they are used. Furthermore, the project can
decide at any time to terminate the agreement and select a different
fiscal sponsor to hold the assets.

A previous version of this proposal advised the usage of the Boost
Software Commons, an already-existing 501(c)(3), to serve as a new
governance entity for Boost using project-aligned individuals as board
members. However upon further analysis, the fiscal sponsorship
solution is better for the project. Serving as a non-profit board
member is quite frankly a hassle, as this requires that a Boost
developer also become an expert in regulatory compliance, rules of
order for meetings, and other administrative duties, in addition to
taking on liability. Offloading these responsibilities to the fiscal
sponsor allows Boost developers to focus on the project.

Learn more about fiscal sponsorship here:

https://www.501c3.org/what-is-a-fiscal-sponsor/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fiscal_sponsorship

Thanks