transparency about the fellowship

Paul Boddie paul at boddie.org.uk
Mon Jul 9 21:00:50 UTC 2018


On Monday 9. July 2018 22.29.45 Daniel Pocock wrote:
> 
> There have been discussions where people were unclear about the
> relationship between FSF and FSFE or the fact that these are different
> organizations.  I've seen that both publicly and privately.  If people
> are putting FSF(E) into their will and if they do so believing their
> money will go into promoting freedom as RMS explains it then is FSFE
> able to accept that money?

Surely this is a matter for those charged with the task of executing the will.

(I personally do not see such donations in the same way as corporate 
donations. Corporations have their own ongoing agendas and could be perceived 
as buying influence by donating to charitable organisations. That an 
individual might decide to leave money to a cause that was dear to them is 
rather a different matter.)

I think your other points are more worthy of discussion...

The financial contributions of fellows/supporters to the organisation and 
whether fellows/supporters should feel that this alone might give them some 
influence in the organisation's direction, perhaps by being asked their 
opinions, and then perhaps only slightly influencing operations within the 
more rigid parameters of the organisation's stated mission.

Whether the abolition of the Fellowship is confusing to potential or existing 
supporters and/or donors, and whether they perceive any involvement they might 
have as being different after this change.

Whether there is a reasonable level of satisfaction amongst fellows/supporters 
about the functioning and activities of the organisation, and whether these 
still match the expectations of these people.

Matters of representation and whether fellows/supporters feel sufficiently 
represented, particularly by a board of largely appointed individuals.

Transparency about what is generally done in the organisation and the level of 
engagement with fellows, supporters and others.

Paul



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