Sugar Labs/Governance/Transactions

Administrative transactions with the Software Freedom Conservancy

Sugar Labs is a member project of the Software Freedom Conservancy, "an organization composed of Free and Open Source Software (FOSS) projects. As a fiscal sponsor for FOSS projects, the Conservancy provides member projects with free financial and administrative services, but does not involve itself with technological and artistic decisions." While we benefit from the numerous services provided by the conservancy, we are also under an obligation to abide by its mission--promoting FOSS projects--and work within its administrative structure. Below is a set of administrative procedures for routine transactions with the Conservancy. If you have any transactions that fall outside of those listed below, please contact slobs AT sugarlabs DOT org.

accounts-payable AT tix DOT sfconservancy DOT org is the place to write if you’re asking Conservancy to send money to someone. This includes reimbursements for travel and other project expenses, contractor payments, payments for conference services, and so on.

accounts-receivable AT tix DOT sfconservancy DOT org is the place to write if Conservancy should expect to receive money from someone, or for customer service after they’ve sent the Conservancy money. Write here if you want the Conservancy to send an invoice to someone (including invoices after payment), to let the Conservancy know about conference sponsorships, or to give the Conservancy a heads-up about what an incoming check is for.

accounts-taxinfo AT tix DOT sfconservancy DOT org is the place to send tax documents like W-8BEN, W-9, etc. You usually won’t need to write the Concervancy here directly; they will write people from this address as needed.

Request for payment

Some Sugar Labs projects have a budget (e.g., Google Summer of Code). Typically there is a project leader who has put together a budget that has been vetted by the Conservancy (See #Project proposal approval). If you have incurred a project-related expense, please submit a copy of your receipt to conservancy AT sfconservancy DOT org along with a brief explanation of the expense. Please be sure to include reference to the specific project for which the expense applies.

Similarly, if you need to invoice Sugar Labs, please submit your invoice along with a reference to a project to accounts-payable AT tix DOT sfconservancy DOT org.

Please note that [finances] are routinely processed around the ides (15th) of each month. (Hence the latency in payments after approval can be up to 30 days.)

In order to expedite the process, please be sure to include documentation of your expenses: a receipt that shows the price of the purchase or some documentation from a third party (e.g., your credit card company) that shows the specific amount paid.

Also, please also include:

the reference to the board Transaction approval.
a brief paragraph explaining what was accomplished, e.g., what you did for the project during your travel.
How you'd liked to be reimbursed. The four payment options, in order of Conservancy's preference, are:

1. Issue you a check in USD from a USA bank, sent to you via post. For this option, we just need your postal address.

2. Paypal. For this, we need an email address that is valid for the Paypal account be paid.

3. Wire the amount in your local currency to your bank account in your country. For this option, we need all of the following information:

SWIFT Code

For USA, ACH routing number for incoming payments.

Bank Name

Bank Address

Account Number

Full Name of the Account Holder

Full Address of Account Holder

IBAN (if available, mandatory for Europe)

Preferred Currency

BIC

4. Issue you a check in your local currency, sent to you via post. For this option, we just need your postal address and what currency you want.

Note: the Conservancy has a travel policy that must be adhered to.

A procedure to request an exemption of this travel policy is currently in development by slobs AT sugarlabs DOT org. Please check for updates.

Project proposal approval

If you are applying for a grant proposal and wish to include Sugar Labs as a partner, it is necessary to run your draft proposal text by the Conservancy to make sure that it is within the bounds of the Conservancy mission. Please send a draft to conservancy AT sfconservancy DOT org two weeks before the proposal is due in order to allow time for review and feedback. Proposals where the Conservancy is the lead organization will incur a 10% overhead rate to cover administrative costs.

It is customary to reference the SFC in your proposal with language similar to:

Sugar Labs is a member project of the Software Freedom Conservancy, an organization composed of Free and Open Source Software (FOSS) projects. As a fiscal sponsor for FOSS projects, the Conservancy provides member projects with financial and administrative services. Technological and artistic decisions about the projects' development are left up to project leaders, who are designated by a formal agreement between Conservancy and the project. In the case of Sugar Labs, we have a member-elected oversight board (See http://sfconservancy.org and Sugar_Labs/Governance).

License request

The Sugar Labs trademark policy describes the various marks and conditions of usage that are held by the Conservancy on behalf of Sugar Labs. If you are interested in using a Sugar Labs trademark, please contact conservancy AT sfconservancy DOT org with the following information:

a list of which marks are desired to be licensed, along with a full description of how they will be used;
a description of the current use of any Sugar Labs marks;
a list of any individuals or corporations that will be participating in the proposed use of the mark;
a list of any Sugar Labs community members with whom you are currently working;
information for a primary contact person, including email address and phone number.

Initial contact will be made within two weeks of receipt of a request.