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