On Fri, 23 Jan 2004, Lars Aronsson wrote:
I think that the solution is quite simple -- for the Wikimedia Foundation to form and control the German subsidiary. This subsidiary will give the ability for Germans to give tax deductible donations, will serve as a legal point of contact for any Germany-specific concerns, etc.
And on the other hand, German tax laws might require (I don't know) that the German organization be totally independent under its own bylaws in order to be registered ("incorporate") and qualify for tax exemption. I think I warned against this sort of conflict a year ago. I strongly recommend that you all look at how the German chapter of ISOC (which is an "e.V.", see www.isoc.de) has solved this. I assume they have a working model already, that could be copied. In fact, the ISOC chapter model could be copied for more countries than Germany, if Wikipedians want to form local chapters in their area.
In Norway, to get tax breaks, etc. the organiation has to be democratically organized. Which I guess wouldn't work for Wikimedia yet.
-- Daniel