This is a space for the FLOSS entities working group to design a survey of existing FLOSS nonprofits. The survey's purpose is to gather data on the structure and operation of community organizations, so that the working group can target its guidance to new organizations and determine how well-suited alternative structures are to the community's needs.

Survey Categories

• Basic characteristics & governance structure
• Main activities
• Financials
• Contribution policies
• Sources of support
• [more?]

Specific Questions

Basics & Governance

• When were you incorporated/organized?
  • In what state?
• Are you a:
  • Non-profit corporation
  • Limited liability company
  • Benefit corporation
  • Cooperative
  • Other (specify)
• Are you a recognized tax-exempt entity?
  • What kind?
  • Of the following, what was the most important reason that you sought tax-exempt status:
    • Our anticipated donors only fund tax-exempt organizations/require a deduction for their donation
    • To avoid paying state and federal income tax
    • Because developers trust tax-exempt nonprofits to represent community interests
    • Other (specify)
  • When did you receive recognition of exemption?
  • Did you receive any questions from the IRS in response to your tax-exempt application? (If so, would you be willing to provide them?)
  • Have you ever been examined (audited) by the IRS?
• Membership
  • Do you have members?
    • How many?
    • How does someone become a member?
      • Contributions to the project
      • Dues
      • Other
    • Do you offer corporate memberships?
    • How often does the membership meet?
    • What decisions are voted on by your membership?
    • What percentage of your membership are project contributors?
    • How does the membership meet/coordinate?
• Board of Directors
  • How many people are on your board of directors?
  • How many of your board members are project contributors?
  • How often does the board meet?
  • What decisions are voted on by your board?
  • How does the board meet/communicate?
• Are you affiliated in any way, apart from being funded by, any for-profit entity?

Activities

• Which of the following best describes your mission or purpose? To:
  • Produce and distribute software
  • Promote the development of and participation in FLOSS
  • Promote technology standards
  • Advance science or scientific knowledge
  • Educate people or produce educational materials
  • Advance democracy or democratic values
  • To benefit poor, distressed, or marginalized people or populations
  • Promote social welfare or benefit a local community
  • Other (specify)
• Do you produce or support particular software projects?
  • How many software projects do you support?
  • Do you control the codebase for these projects?
  • What (overall) licenses do these projects use?
  • What is your contribution policy?
    • No contribution policy
    • We require copyright assignment to the organization
    • We use a contributor license agreement, but do not require assignment
    • We require contributors to submit a Developer Certificate of Origin
    • Other
  • Is the software primarily designed or intended to be used to:
    • Advance science or scientific knowledge
    • Educate people or produce educational materials
    • Advance democracy or democratic values
    • Advance universal human rights
    • To benefit poor, distressed, or marginalized people or populations
    • Promote social welfare or benefit a local community
  • Into which category do most of your users fall?
    • General computer users
    • Programmers, sysadmins, or other technically skilled users
    • Students
    • Educators
    • Employees or agents of nonprofits
    • Government employees
    • Other (specify)
  • Do you offer any fee-based services to users?
  • Are there any for-profit entities producing similar software?
• Do you directly fund software development in any of the following ways?
  • Grants, awards, or stipends
  • Contracts
  • Employing developers
• Do you hold copyrights in any software?
  • How did you acquire them?
    • They were assigned by contributors
    • They arose from works made for hire, produced by the organization's employees or contractors
    • They were donated by another entity
      • For-profit
      • Non-profit
    • Other
• Do you organize any conferences or other events?

Financials

• What was your average net income over the past 3 years?
  • $0 - $4,999
  • $5,000 - $14,999
  • $15,000 - $24,999
  • $25,000 - $49,000
  • $50,000 - $99,999
  • $100,000 - $249,999
  • $250,000+
• What percentage of your contributions come from each of the following sources:
  • Membership dues
  • Individual contributions
  • Corporate contributions
  • Grants from foundations or other nonprofits
  • Government grants
  • Sales of services
  • Sales of merchandise
  • Conference/event fees
  • Other (please specify)
• What were your average annual expenditures over the past 3 years?
• What percentage of your annual expenditures went toward:
  • Maintaining online resources (website, software repository, etc.)
  • Salaries
  • Software development contracts
  • Other services contracts
  • Conference/event production costs
  • Computing hardware
  • Other goods and services (specify)