Re: GNOME Foundation budget (Oct 2010-June 2011)

["Karen Sandler" <karen gnome org>]

On Wed, August 3, 2011 2:50 am, Frederic Muller wrote:

> Why is it difficult to just give a rough number at end of our financial
> period ('09 or '10) and be done with it for now?
>
> The GNOME Foundation obviously hasn't complied to state laws for years
> (by not making the required form available to the public) and you seem
> to enjoy not answering foundation members as well. What about the
> statement on our financial page:
> "For comments or questions on the data, please contact the GNOME
> Foundation Board of Directors. "
>

I'm sorry that you weren't responded to more quickly and were frustrated,
and I hope you understand that, as Germán says, he is only a volunteer
treasurer.

I'm obviously not on the board (and also new here) but I wanted to respond
because you mentioned being out of compliance with state laws. I believe
the form need only be made available on request in order to meet the state
requirements. While you definitely requested an important piece of
information, you didn't specifically ask to see the last 990 or the form
1023, both of which would overall have less relevant financial information
than what was circulated by Germán (even if the 990 had an ending
balance).Many nonprofits choose not to put their 990s up on their websites
and are not in violation of state laws to my knowledge. California does
make form 990s available directly on their website without registration,
but those forms are often not the best way to see the financial position
of a nonprofit anyway because of the reporting format. So long as a
nonprofit provides the forms when asked (they don't have to do it
instantly and can also charge a reasonable fee for doing so), they are in
compliance with the rules.  I think GNOME seeks to do better than that,
which is why the more detailed information was circulated to members.

I'm glad that you found the information you wanted ultimately and thanks
for the suggestion to publish the 990s and to improve the budget report.

karen