Sovereign Tech Fund and NLNet Application

[Sebastian Thiel (Byron)]

This issue tracks the status for the application to https://www.sovereigntechfund.de (STF) as well as to https://nlnet.nl .

Note that the STF is mutually exclusive, but the idea is to have options.

PLAN: apply - and if there could be funds, go all the way with website, opencollective, and whatever else there might be.

Tasks

• Apply to STF
• Apply to NlNet
• figure out how to receive funds
• figure out how to spend funds
• setup a collective

Timeline

2024-06-18

Start filling out the form for NlNet but reach out them instead for guidance.

The idea is that my questions affect the STF similarly, and knowing what they think should help. Will not block on this for too long, and plan to do the STF application soonish.

2024-06-22

Can OpenCollective alleviate the need for a foundation to be able to receive an spend money (hassle-free, without taxes, but while allowing invoicing of sorts?)

Setup personal account.

• It seems to be pretty much what I was looking for - an incorporation of a non-profit without the hassle. They are a fiscal host, and able to deal with invoicing, but also contract-review and signing of contracts.
• Cost of this service: 8%
• Is gitoxide eligible❓(see requirements)
  • Ideally, two or more administrators (but not a hard requirement)
  • controlled by an organization on GitHub, but I should check with them or just try
  • Probably it makes no sense to sign up before funding becomes an option
• Do their terms suit the project❓ (see terms)
  • contributions aren't are tax-deductable
  • contracts are legally with the OSC, so need their collaboration and permission
  • ownership is retained by 'the collective' (me), even though ownership can be transferred
  • expenses can be submitted, and will be paid from the collectives funds. The handle taxes (of which there should be none as non-profit)
  • 30 days notices period
  • after termination, one can choose to withdraw all funds against a valid expense, or pass it to another organisation. If nothing is chosen, assets remain with the OSC
  • differences are handled by communication or arbitration, but not in court.
  • dispute resolution is done in california (strange, I was looking at the OSC in Brussels). Ask for clarification
  • The agreement with OSC is exclusive, so just one fiscal host. Does that mean GitHub sponsors needs to go there then?
  • The document mentions 10% fees + fiscal processor fees, probably out of date? Again, the european OSC should have their own and updated terms. Actually it's not, but there are details - they are trying to not go beyond 10%.
  • under the hood, they use Stripe, Paypal and Wise

  • To trigger a payout of your funds, submit an expense through your Collective with a receipt or invoice, and approve it as the Collective admin. Then we will review it to make sure it’s valid. Once approved by both you and us, we will pay the expense and automatically deduct that amount from your Collective balance

  • If you raise funds for your project outside of the Open Collective platform and send them to us, we will add them to your Collective’s balance manually.

    • Looks like outside funds are still possible and there is no obligation to send everything to OSC, but better ask.

  • If an expense for your project is paid outside of the platform, we will manually deduct the amount from your Collective’s balance.

  • Can my collective receive financing from public institutions or grants? Yes. All collectives hosted under OC Europe can receive subsidies after signing a cooperation agreement with us. Learn more

• All the documentation - on how to run a successful and trustworthy OSS project
  • https://docs.oscollective.org/guides/project-hygiene
  • A website is definitely a good thing to have, and a roadmap

Particularly interesting: one can incorporate yourself while still using features of the OSC platform as independent collective, without any platform fees. So if one wanted to create a foundation at some point, it could still use some of the tooling one has become accustomed to.

Applying to Open Collective Europe seems to be the way to go, but Ferrous Systems might be an option as well.

2024-06-23

Check how it would be possible to go for 'gemeinnütziger Verein' right away. Details are this chat.

Learnings: it needs 7 founding members, which is probably where this idea ends. However, if an incorporation would work, it would be really easy to use Wise for accounting.

Also took a first look at the STF application form.

2024-07-22

Create Gist to allow writing the text on the fly: https://gist.github.com/Byron/d25b140ca42626f0a18f62372b7c5290#tbd-titles-can-be-linked-to-from-the-pff-they-are-anchors . Plan is to write it while in the train or using public transportation.

2024-09-26

Reached out to Ferrous Systems to see if they want to host Gitoxide.

Hi!

Sebastian here from Gitoxide. The project has to take the next step and be able to receive transparent funding. Since I am living 30 minutes from Berlin and have been in your offices once, having met Florian (I think :)), it really seems like the right thing to do and a win-win.

LibGit2 is now on OpenCollective and wanted to donate to Gitoxide, and I told Ed Thomson that I'd definitely want to keep the funds on OpenCollective as well.
Also I wanted to apply to the Sovereign Tech Fund while it's up, and funds would have to go to the collective as well.

What do you think?

Cheers,
Sebastian

It's unclear to me how to create a collective for Gitoxide that is assigned to their host though, as the standard dialog for that talks about OpenCollective as fiscal host. However, it seems changing hosts is very possible, but let's be sure to wait to avoid receiving donations with the wrong fiscal host.

2024-10-01

Also sent the above text as email to ferrous-systems.com .

2024-10-04

Also sent the above text as email to Florian and Felix Gilcher.

2024-10-09

Applied to open collective.

2024-10-11

Got response from Open Collective, they need the repo to be part of an organization.
It's time to take that step then.

Create organization. Prep to move, and move!
Invited Eliah Kagan (@EliahKagan) as collaborator, which seems like a natural choice given his prior involvement and accomplishments. It's also a requirement to get the fiscal host approved on open collective, even though the collective itself is already there: https://opencollective.com/gitoxide

2024-10-22

Register on https://apply.sovereigntechfund.de , take a first look.

2024-11-23

• Got reaffirming email from Sergey "Shnatsel" Davidoff (@Shnatsel) with sample application that show very well how much effort one has to put in. It's probably something I can piecemeal together in a couple of sessions, even though the estimation of work is going to be hard. Maybe just put a number that seems reasonable while also leaving some room - they can probably set it to what they want anyway without downright rejecting the proposal.
• Thanks to additional Markdown document, a HackMD outline could be set up to do work in incrementally: https://hackmd.io/@ByronBates/H1GmNVUxkx (needs login)

2025-05-17 - Brainstorming with Trifecta Foundation

See notes in the RustWeek Unconf log.

More links:

• "Pendulum" on the STA website: https://www.sovereign.tech/tech/pendulum
• Alternative fund: Alpha Omega, https://alpha-omega.dev/grants/how-to-apply/
• Trifecta Tech Foundation, data compression page: https://trifectatech.org/initiatives/data-compression/

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Original issue: #1406