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
What we actually did, was copying the model of the Free Software Foundation. They also are a "e.V." ("eingetragener Verein") in Germany, not a Foundation. As I already said, it's very complicated to found and run a foundation in Germany, probably far more complicated than you in the US can imagine. Where you would be founding a foundation normally, we are founding an "e.V." Even the red cross is an "e.V." in Germany.
Uli