[UK] Information about the think tank Doteveryone

Mat Witts admin at yuj.it
Fri Sep 22 13:24:46 UTC 2017


I presume they have to be 'supportive' in some way - which could mean a
donation or something else - like a commitment to promoting FS I would
assume - but I don't know

DOTEVERYONE is a trading name of GO ON UK LTD.

The newly incorporated DOTEVERYONE is now a dissolved company.

The older company, GO ON UK is a registered Charity, two of their
websites (digitalskills.com and go-on.co.uk) weren't responding when I
looked today and their latest accounts highlight two risks about
'organizational capacity' and 'financial stability' which again, because
I don't know the conditions of being added, don't know if that's
relevant here.

It's certainly interesting to learn that the bulk of the money (approx.
1.2M a year) has been pledged by companies not known for their sympathy
towards free software AFAIK including E ON (Energy), EE (Telecomms),
Lloyds Bank, Sage (software) and Talk Talk (telecomms).

Their accounts don't mention FS anywhere as far as I can see... they
don't seem to know much about FS and don't talk of it's importance in
any of their materials... which is not to say they wouldn't if they were
educated since they do seem well intentioned, fairly well resourced and
well connected.

The bulk of the expenses seems to go on wages, consultants, web costs
and other things which doesn't impress me much though.

I have worked in UK third sector for 15 years and the variability in
quality in UK charities is hard to overestimate and the regulator is
seen as being quite weak and ineffective.

Any UK registered charity would fit the broader category description of
'NGO'. What a 'true' NGO 'like the other organisations on our list'
means I am not sure.

SUMMARY IMO: I don't know the terms /conditions of entry to the list so
can't make a judgment. The company are having quite a few teething
problems... which I think is because it's rather unfocused aims and
objectives and (ironically) for an organization promoting digital
competence - it doesn't seem to have demonstrated much of that so far...
e.g. it has 'frozen' some of it's operations because it's uncertain
about the 'viability of the platform'.

They do not seem to be oriented towards FS so far, but you may still
want to add them for other reasons... e.g. FSFE might be able to
influence them into talking more about FS in their events?

/ mat



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