It’s been on the back-burner for a bit but it’s time that I get on it and register our operation as a on-profit organization. We will be registering under the BC Societies Act. Completing this registration will allow for opening up a bank account under the organization’s name and reopen donations and have the previously donated funds transferred from @smorks@lemmy.ca to the organization.
To this date since taking over operations of Lemmy.ca I have personally covered the costs and have not been reimbursed to keep accounting as clean as possible. This will continue until registration has been completed.
First step to this is picking a name to register the Society under. Requirements for the name can be found here.
While the initial main purpose of the society/organization will be operating Lemmy.ca we would prefer a name that would be fit for operations of other open communication platforms as well as other potential projects that we may want to participate in in the future. Something somewhat open ended.
Please give us some suggestions and we will take the suggestions under advisement when picking a name.
Further information on non-profit registration in BC can be found here.
Im gonna take a second and thank @smorks for taking responsibility to give us this server, then selflessly giving away control and the funds in his charge to the new foundation.
We are grateful for your hard work and transperency.
I would like to caution against opting for a name that may be too open ended as it may dilute the purpose of the foundation simultaneously; in what people may misunderstand/perceive its purpose to be, and the scope of actions the foundations takes to achieve that unclear or shifting purpose/goal.
Firstly, a general or vague name will not immediately define the organization and therefore require more explanations and time to always explain its purpose/mission so as to avoid misunderstandings and/or apathy.
Secondly, an open ended or general name may look convenient because we do not yet clearly know everything the foundation may need to do in the future so we settle for a “catch-all” and hope for the best.
However, a vague or general name also leaves open the possibility to have the foundation’s initial purpose be diverted to something completely unrelated or maybe even counterproductive due to the nature of a changing context (original decision maker leaves, communities has diverging and incompatible priorities, takeover à-la-twitter, lopsided/frivolous legal threats, etc…).
Hence, we should first list all the goals and purposes we may have, wish and foresee for the foundation first. Then, vote on what make overall sense to include before selecting a name that succcintly and neatly encompasses those goals/missions.
Thank you for coming to my probably pointless Ted Talk™©® 🤣
OCC
Open Comms Canada
I like this one. People like three letter acronyms unless they spell something.
Would be interested in knowing what kind of future projects we’re thinking about? Do we want it focused on Federated projects? Or more open communication standards beyond the fediverse?
Something like Canadian Open-Source Communication Advocates (or Association) is very generic sounding
Would be interested in knowing what kind of future projects we’re thinking about?
Other than a potential matrix server, I do not currently have anything in mind. The future is unpredictable.
An example of a non-profit effort that I took on in the past is COVID PPE 3D printing with volunteer community printers. If something like that was needed for pandemic or disaster relief again would be nice to not have to go through the trouble of spinning up a new non-profit.
I think we can definitely work with Canadian Open Source Communication Association. Maybe swap out Communication for Community.
FWIW I’m not sure I’d be excited that my donations to Lemmy.ca would be spent on disaster relief. Some related projects make sense (other federated communities, online Canadian content ,etc) , but I stopped donating to Wikipedia after getting tired of their tangential charity shit.
To that end, some ideas
- Chat Across Canada (CAC? Could do something with sea to sea, as well, although c2c is a band)
- Canadian Federated Communities, although CFC is bad
- Canada online
- Some backronym for CANUCK
- Federated Canuckistan (okay this one is particularly dumb)
I’m not sure if the name will make a huge deal if you can do “business” under another name. If the society name is “Lemmy.ca and associated project deployments for Canadians by Canadians” can you “do business” (receive donations to, brand websites as) Lemmy.ca? There’s nothing really unclear about “the Lemmy.ca matrix server” or “an instance of mastodon run by Lemmy.ca”.
- Canada online
This one sounds like a parody of America Online (which was later renamed and is now known as AOL).
Federated communications Canada (FCC)
