[Koha] Users and developers (was KUDOS - ALA Proposed Agenda)

[M. Brooke Helman]

Salvete!


>>
Again thanks for following through and making suggestions:

http://www.irs.gov/charities/article/0,,id=139515,00.html  - an article
about having a policy to deal with conflict of interest.

The concern for having the 501c3 exemption status pulled by the IRS was the
concern.  The board will have to put this policy together and submit it as
well with the application.  

If KUDOS in the future does fund development we were trying to look long
term and avoid conflict of interest through membership.

It will be part of the board members duty(as volunteers) to provide
diligence that the policy is maintained and followed.  It is hard to
anticipate how this will work so again it is hard to write when we haven't
done it before.  Again we are open for suggestions and comments!  Keep them
coming!
>>


        Bearing in mind that I'm not a lawyer, I personally think that you're being overly conservative in this concern at the expense of organisational development, which is a Librarian virtue. Clearly overcompensation is absolutely no concern to KUDOS since Board Members won't be paid. 
        It's much more important to have a conflict of interest policy that says if a developer is sitting on the Board, they needs abstain if there's a possibility that they, a family member, a friend (you can take this list quite far) have a substantial financial interest in the matter before them (defining this would be a good idea, too.) It would be even better to have a recommended course of action, such that they declare, and abstain from discussion and voting. Have you visited www.globethics.net?
        There are a lot of lawyers out there that would love to help on such a small matter pro bono once plans are in place to give them an idea of how we want things to operate. The state in question has someone to help you, though the degree of help granted will probably vary. Contacting the IRS for guidance wouldn't hurt, either. They aren't unreasonable, and in a lot of cases it's not like it goes from you have status to YOINK! you just lost it.

Cheers,
Brooke