2023-01-17T23:46:40-07:00 2022-02-28 990 2021-03-01 412203632 SOFTWARE FREEDOM CONSERVANCY INC SOFT 2124613245 137 MONTAGUE ST STE 380 Brooklyn NY 112013548 Karen Sandler President and Executive Director 2124613245 2023-01-17 0 11 0 AAL2 X 2021 2023-03-07 01:45:13Z Karen M Sandler 137 Montague St STE 380 Brooklyn NY 112013548 4357006 0 X https://sfconservancy.org X 2006 NY SFC promotes,improves,develops,facilitates, and defends Free and Open Source Software (FOSS). SFC advocates for the software rights and freedom of the public. SFC provides a home & infrastructure to FOSS projects & initiatives, & increases diversity, equity and inclusion in FOSS. 9 8 6 5500 0 0 3177281 4346553 43032 70 6027 9802 3648 581 3229988 4357006 70426 127942 0 679329 787169 13079 12598 90835 1828799 2238003 2591633 3165712 638355 1191294 5375134 6623240 166156 244961 5208978 6378279 Software Freedom Conservancy (SFC) promotes, improves, develops, facilitates & defends Free & Open Source Software (FOSS) & the right to software repair. SFC advocates for the public's software rights & freedoms. SFC provides a home & infrastructure to FOSS initiatives. SFC helps volunteers focus on improving FOSS for the public. Projects include: embedded software for IoT devices, copyleft licensing advocacy, & internships for contributors subject to systemic bias who are underrepresented in FOSS. 0 0 1217335 127542 0 FOSS development, documentation, infrastructure, sustainability, & project support: During the tax year, SFC engaged 21 different software developers as independent contractors to improve the software in its Godot, Inkscape, Microblocks, phpMyAdmin, Reproducible Builds projects, as well as improving FOSS for SFC's own accounting infrastructure. All code was released freely to the public under licenses that encourage the public to use, share, and modify it. These contractors also coordinated volunteer software developers to contribute further software code. SFC staff also assisted volunteers in our projects on a daily basis with administration, coordination, legal and infrastructural tasks and costs (as listed at https://sfconservancy.org/members/services/ ). SFC made software development grants to 6 individual developers. SFC gave grants to two organizations: a final grant to Sugar Labs, Inc. and an initial grant to the Evergreen Project Corporation (both now operating as their own, separate charities). We mentor leadership of projects both inside and outside our organization to improve their non-profit management skills. Finally, SFC staff and volunteers coordinated, discussed, and planned how to begin ramping up FOSS events and conferences once the pandemic subsides. 1231819 400 0 Outreachy and The Institute For Computing Research (ICR): In the tax year, we funded 184 interns via Outreachy - an initiative that encourages participation in FOSS for those who are subject to systemic bias and impacted by underrepresentation in the technical industry where they live. Outreachy interns improve FOSS and its documentation, and increase the diversity of the FOSS community while also learning valuable skills. ICR mentors and trains students in high school to do rigorous scientific research using FOSS. During this year, ICR had 28 internships. Both internship programs are paid programs which enable those from less privileged backgrounds to participate. 278054 0 0 License Compliance Activity: Many of Conservancy's projects are available under "copyleft" licenses, such as the General Public License (GPL). "Copylefts" are FOSS licenses that allow everyone to freely share, copy, modify, and install modified versions of the software. However, "copyleft" licenses additionally require that everyone who receives the software has an equal right to engage in those activities. SFC identifies situations where distributors fail to meet those requirements. SFC then enforces the copyleft license and requires these distributors to provide the same rights to copy, share, modify and install modified versions of the software to all those who receive the software distribution (just as those distributors had initially received those rights. Through this process, SFC ensures that the public has equal rights to use, improve, and study the software, and to experiment with their own modifications to the software. Most importantly, the rights of consumers to repair the software on their devices is restored. Rarely, in particularly egregious cases of a GPL violation, SFC seeks remedy in the courts through litigation. The primary goal of all these copyleft enforcement activities is always to ensure that all who receive copies of the copylefted software (or modified versions thereof) can freely engage in copying, modifying, improving and installing modified versions. 0 0 0 2727208 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 1 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 37 0 1 6 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 X 9 8 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 0 NY X X Bradley M Kuhn 2124613245 137 MONTAGUE ST STE 380 Brooklyn NY 11201 X Karen M Sandler President and Executive Director 40 0 X 167929 0 47980 Bradley M Kuhn Treasurer, Director, and Policy Fellow 40 0 X X 112172 0 28714 Sage A Sharp Senior Director of Diversity and Inclusion 40.89 X 100000 0 35702 Jeremy Allison Director 1 0 X 0 0 0 Kate Chapman Director 1 0 X 0 0 0 Laura Fortunato Director 1 0 X 0 0 0 Mark Galassi Board Chairperson, VIce President, and Director 24 0 X X 0 0 0 Bdale Garbee Director 1.25 0 X 0 0 0 Mike Linksvayer Director 3 0 X 0 0 0 Allison Randal Director 4.25 0 X 0 0 0 Anthony K Sebro Jr Director 1 0 X 0 0 0 380101 0 112396 3 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 4346553 0 4346553 Promotional Items Sales 813319 70 70 0 0 0 0 0 0 70 12632 0 0 12632 0 0 0 0 581 581 0 0 0 0 1411 -4241 0 0 1411 -4241 -2830 0 0 -2830 0 0 4357006 651 0 9802 114852 114852 4709 4709 8381 8381 363017 212758 110304 39955 303413 158855 123258 21300 17100 7388 8285 1427 58257 41876 10855 5526 45382 25386 15967 4029 172870 172627 243 18323 18323 12598 12598 4320 3570 750 21190 19112 2078 3276 1103 1224 949 51661 40864 10217 580 841 841 3131 3088 43 240 240 7398 7398 Internships in FOSS 978679 978679 0 0 Free & Open Source Software Development & Design 855976 853563 1027 1386 Project & Program Coordination Services 73661 71161 2500 0 Bank Charges,Bad Debt,and Misc. 46437 8996 37184 257 3165712 2727208 347669 90835 295929 1119336 4833014 2782792 219541 219183 26650 33543 2468386 5375134 6623240 166156 244961 166156 244961 X 1552807 1728461 3656171 4649818 5208978 6378279 5375134 6623240 1191294 -21993 0 0 0 0 X 0 1 X 1 0 X 2213962 3078324 2510140 3177281 4346553 15326260 2213962 3078324 2510140 3177281 4346553 15326260 4987289 10338971 17275 42264 66759 7748 14043 148089 15474349 1165001 0.66814 0.7338 X RESTRICTED RESTRICTED RESTRICTED RESTRICTED RESTRICTED RESTRICTED RESTRICTED RESTRICTED 4335013 -21993 0 0 0 -21993 4357006 0 0 0 4357006 3165712 0 0 0 0 0 3165712 0 0 0 3165712 1 Central America and the Caribbean 0 1 Program Services I 2000 East Asia and the Pacific 0 6 Program Services D, I, H 124872 Europe (including Iceland and Greenland) 0 25 Program Services D, I, H 608140 Middle East and North Africa 0 6 Program Services I 25000 North America (including Canada and Mexico, but not the United States) 0 7 Program Services E, C, I 58371 Russia and the newly independent States 0 8 Program Services I 38000 South America 0 15 Program Services D, I, P 267245 South Asia 0 70 Program Services H, I, D 377681 Sub-Saharan Africa 0 61 D, I 320563 East Asia and the Pacific Grantmaking 3743 Europe (including Iceland and Greenland) Grantmaking 2955 South Asia Grantmaking 1684 0 199 1830254 Computer hardware purchase Europe (including Iceland and Greenland) 1 2955 PayPal FMV Computer hardware purchase East Asia and the Pacific 1 3743 WIRE TRANSFER FMV Computer hardware purchase South Asia 1 1684 WIRE TRANSFER FMV 0 0 0 0 0 0 Schedule F, Part I, Line 2 Organization establishes volunteer committees to coordinate each of our projects and initiatives. The committee evaluates all grant requests based on various factors, including but not limited to whether the activity will have educational and public benefit impact. All grantees must submit reports of their work which are reviewed by the committee and staff. Travel assistance is always carried out in accordance with the written organization travel policy which is published on our website at https://sfconservancy.org/projects/policies/conservancy-travel-policy.html prior to payment, The reports and expenditures are reviewed pursuant to our fiscal controls policies, which typically includes multiple reviews by many employees. Schedule F, Part I, Line 3 We have coded program services in each region by a single letter and describe each herein: "C" means "conferences", which indicates that either a staff person or volunteer received travel expense reimbursement to speak at and/or attend a conference in the region, or we assisted in organizing a conference or event in that region. "D" means "software development", which indicates that we funded a contractor in that region to perform software development services as part of work described in Form 990, Part III, 4(A) "E" means "employee wages", which refers to our single employee in Canada, who works remotely for our organization in the USA. "H" means "hardware", which indicates either a purchase of computer hardware in that region for use in the usa, or purchasing computer hardware for a volunteer in that region. "P" means "program coordination", which indicates we funded a contractor in that region to help with coordination work for program activity work described in either Form 990, Part III, 4(a) or 4(b). "I" means "internship", which indicates that we funded an intern in this region as part of one of our internship programs described in Form 990, Part III, 4(b). Schedule F, Part III LINE 1 - METHOD OF ACCOUNTING: As part of the grant review process described above, For the hardware grants, no more than prevailing market rates for personal computer purchases were provided. LINE 1 - ESTIMATED NUMBER OF RECIPIENTS: Number of recipients is counted exactly. 1 Sugar Labs Incorporated 2028 E Ben White Blvd Austin TX 78741 843289298 501(c)(3) 88469 to support the use, development and improvement of Free and Open Source Software, specifically, for the Sugar Labs educational software that helps young people learn programming skills. The Evergreen Project Corporation c/o Donna Bacon 111 E Broadway STE 220 Columbia MO 652034208 831064700 501(c)(3) 26383 in furtherance of and to specifically support the use, development, and improvement of Free and Open Source Software, specifically, the Evergreen software project, which provides Integrated library system services for patrons and librarians. 2 0 Schedule I, Part I, Line 2 Organization requires a written agreement with all grantees that explain the work expected under the grant. Grant period is clearly defined in that agreement. At the end of the grant period or annually (whichever is shorter), the grantee must provide a written report of work accomplished. At the end of the grant period, grantees must publicly publish either (a) a report about the grant, or (b) the work completed under the grant. usually, that work is freely licensed software available for the public. X X X 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Karen M Sandler President and Executive Director 167929 0 0 0 0 0 6429 0 45836 0 220194 0 0 0 Form 990, Part VI, Section A, Line 1a Organization's Board of Directors charted an evaluation committee (see https://sfconservancy.org/about/eval-committee/ ). The Board delegates to that committee the authority to evaluate FOSS projects that have applied to become part of the organization. The evaluation committee is authorized to engage with prospective projects and accept projects on the board's behalf. The Board of Directors delegates to that committee full authority to evaluate and add new FOSS projects without direct Board approval. during the tax year, the following people served on SFC's Evaluation Committee: Jeremy Allison, Tom Callaway, Mark Galassi, Bdale Garbee, Bradley M. Kuhn, Mike Linksvayer, Tom Marble, AND Karen M. Sandler. Sandler is officer, but not a Director. Callaway, and Marble are not Directors. The Board of Directors also chartered a finance subcommittee of the Directors, that meets quarterly to approve minor adjustments to the budget, advise staff about investment policy, and review the annual audit before 990 filing. During the tax year, the Finance subcommittee was: Bdale Garbee, Mike Linksvayer, Allison Randal, and Bradley M. Kuhn. Karen Sandler Attends the subcommittee meetings ex-officio. Form 990, Part VI, Section B, Line 11b The Finance Subcommittee meets directly with the auditors to review the audit report and the 990. The Finance Subcommittee immediately files a report of that meeting by email to the full board. Before SFC staff files the 990, a final draft is submitted to the Directors. The Directors review the 990 at that time, and can raise any urgent issues immediately with each other and staff by email or telephone. Formal approval of the 990 and audit report occurs at the next regular meeting of the Directors. Form 990, Part VI, Section B, Line 12c The Board of Directors formally adopted and consented to the Organization's conflict of interest, whistleblower, and document retention policy on 16 March 2012. The polices are available for public inspection and comment. the Organization's policy is to remind the Board annually that the conflict of interest policy is in effect and any written conflicts disclosures are collected annually by a Director and/or staff member. Volunteers who help the Organization select contractors are required to adhere to the conflict of interest policy. Form 990, Part VI, Section B, Line 15 All full-time employees (including any key employees or full-time compensated Officers) are equally eligible for the same benefits package, which includes paid-time-off, 403(b) (including matching funds), medical, vision and dental benefits package. That benefits package, and changes thereto, are discussed and approved by the Board of Directors. Any employee serving on the Board of Directors or present at the meeting recuse themselves from that vote and the Board considers benefits package changes only in executive session without any employees present. Karen Sandler, the current President and Executive Director, negotiated her l compensation package with an outside Director and (at the time) Board Chairperson, Mark Galassi, when hired. That compensation package was then discussed and approved by the outside Directors. Changes to Sandler's compensation policy are made only with executive-session discussion by outside Directors. Sandler's salary increase in the 2017 tax year was again negotiated with Galassi and discussed in executive session by outside Directors. Sandler receives now and has always received the same benefits package as all other employees (described above), and receives COLAs using the same formula as other employees. Bradley M. Kuhn, Policy Fellow, is also an officer and director. His original compensation package (in 2010) was negotiated with Galassi and approved in executive session by the board, using data from Form 990s of similar organizations and other salary research data Kuhn receives COLAs using using the same formula as other staff, since that time. Kuhn receives the same benefits package (described above) as all other employees. Form 990, Part VI, Section C, Line 19 Organization's Form 990s, auditor reports, articles of incorporation & by-laws are available on their website at: https://sfconservancy.org/about/filings/ Other key policy documents are developed in public at: https://k.sfconservancy.org/policies Form 990, Part VII, Section A, Line 1a Amounts on Part VII, Line 1(f) & 2(f) are for Sandler and Kuhn's health, dental, worker's comp insurance, disability insurance premiums, as well as funds for healthcare reimbursement arrangements, 403(b) and a few immaterial incidental expenses.