[Foundation-l] Provisional Volunteer Council - proposal sent to the Board

[Mike Godwin]

  Lodewijk writes:

> Hi Mike,
>
> are you suggesting here that a provisional council with the details as
> outlined could have any impact on any status at all?

No, I asked about the larger proposal for a Volunteer Council as a  
permanent alteration of corporate governance for the Foundation. I've  
read the discussions here, and am trying to get a clear idea of what  
the ultimate goal is.   If the ultimate goal is to change the  
Foundation's corporate governance in some fundamental way, then I  
think we have to consider whether the changes are consistent with  
Florida non-profit corporation law. There may also be tax or other  
legal dimensions to such a change.  I had been assuming somebody would  
bring up these issue at some point, but since no one has, I thought  
I'd raise the question, in case I'd missed something.

Thomas Dalton writes:

> I would expect the board to consult you on that before they pass the
> resolution. I wouldn't expect the provisional council to cause any
> problems - if it gets any binding decision making power there may be
> technicalities to consider.

Certainly, but it would a shame, in my view, if a significant  
proportion of the community asked the Board to change the Foundation's  
governance structure -- as the result of a face-to-face gathering for  
hours or days in Europe -- only to be told at the end of the process  
"Sorry, we can't do what you asked for," then I think a lot of bad  
feelings might result.  I think it's better to ask the legal questions  
earlier rather than later.


--Mike