I appreciate all of the input on this topic so far. I would encourage even more North American users and developers to chime in. One of the decisions made at the KUDOS meeting was that we would not create a separate KUDOS list, but we would use koha-l to discuss KUDOS business. It was felt that we had nothing to hide from the community and the community might be interested. Hopefully this will be the case.<br>
<br>Thanks,<br><br>Vicki<br><br><div class="gmail_quote">On Wed, Jan 20, 2010 at 5:03 AM, MJ Ray <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:mjr@phonecoop.coop">mjr@phonecoop.coop</a>></span> wrote:<br><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="border-left: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); margin: 0pt 0pt 0pt 0.8ex; padding-left: 1ex;">
David Schuster wrote: [...]<br>
<div class="im">> I hate confrontation and love constructive criticism - and am open for<br>
> suggestions on how to make this work for the community in North America. I<br>
> don't want to put people at opposite poles, but also must work within the<br>
> regulations of the IRS. [...]<br>
<br>
</div>I think the IRS is pretty well-documented online, as is the non-profit<br>
law of quite a few states of the USA, so I know I don't know the law<br>
there, but I hope it's online. The IRS non-profit web homepage is<br>
<a href="http://www.irs.gov/charities/index.html?navmenu=menu1" target="_blank">http://www.irs.gov/charities/index.html?navmenu=menu1</a><br>
but I didn't find the Pennsylvania Nonprofit Corporation Law online.<br>
What particular IRS regulation is motivating developer marginalisation?<br>
<br>
Some UK charities exclude workers from membership needlessly and I<br>
feel that's because someone misunderstood the limits on commercial<br>
activity. As long as the non-profit is clearly structured so it can't<br>
be used for tax evasion or other naughties, there shouldn't be a<br>
problem, should there?<br>
<br>
I'm pretty sure that KUDOS has got to answer the question of corporate<br>
membership anyway because many user libraries will be corporations<br>
rather than individual librarians, so can developer corporations<br>
be handled by the same protections?<br>
<div class="im"><br>
> I am open to suggestions on how we can get KUDOS up and running so as to<br>
> function to benefit all of us. I see KUDOS as a major help in getting<br>
> conferences to work, possible joint development/grant writing/managing -<br>
> IMLS is always looking for collaborative ventures between various library<br>
> types. WE ARE IT!<br>
<br>
</div>Open the membership, open the organisation, gather members, build<br>
consensus. Maybe when we've a bit more information, people can<br>
suggest or do more specific actions.<br>
<br>
Looking at the bylaws again for suggestions: I think there should also<br>
be a minimal activity requirement for good standing and an ability to<br>
refuse to renew members who are not in good standing. Otherwise, it<br>
is possible to become paralysed with idle members.<br>
<br>
Other failure cases I've seen are a present-but-idle majority on the<br>
board and a failure to organise board meetings or elections. It looks<br>
like <a href="http://kudos.koha.org/bylaws/" target="_blank">http://kudos.koha.org/bylaws/</a> doesn't handle those yet either.<br>
It would be good to give the wider membership a last chance to regain<br>
control of the corporation legitimately, but I don't know how that<br>
sits with local laws.<br>
<br>
Hope that helps,<br>
<font color="#888888">--<br>
MJ Ray (slef) Webmaster and LMS developer at | software<br>
<a href="http://www.software.coop" target="_blank">www.software.coop</a> <a href="http://mjr.towers.org.uk" target="_blank">http://mjr.towers.org.uk</a> | .... co<br>
IMO only: see <a href="http://mjr.towers.org.uk/email.html" target="_blank">http://mjr.towers.org.uk/email.html</a> | .... op<br>
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</div></div></blockquote></div><br><br clear="all"><br>-- <br>Vicki Teal Lovely<br><br>Helping our 52 member libraries provide the best possible service to the public.<br><br>Software Applications Supervisor<br>South Central Library System<br>
<a href="mailto:vtl@scls.lib.wi.us">vtl@scls.lib.wi.us</a><br>(608)242-4713<br><br>