Re: [Fsfe-uk] RFC: Sponsorship

[Brian Gough]

MJ Ray writes:
 > Sorry, you didn't flag the practical problems clearly enough for me to 
 > see them.

The practical issue is reprinting, or having to limit a print run when
it would be more economical to print extra copies for future use.
Clearly that's not such a problem if the material is a one-off
mailshot or whatever.

 > Do they really turn away no sponsorship?

As far as I am aware there is no policy which excludes anyone from
being an FSF/FSFE patron.

 > I think that this seems cumbersome for us to do.  It would be 
 > difficult to enforce distribution in this way.  I think it may 
 > associate AFFS with undesirable advertising and having an AFFS 
 > information leaflet in amongst adverts would surely hide the message a 
 > bit.  I suspect it would be less attractive to sponsors, too.

I believe the separate advertising way is what most organisations do.
E.g. I think UKUUG and USENIX charge companies a sponsorship fee which
buys them an advertising leaflet in conference packs.

Personally as a member I'm actually interested to read advertising
about companies that support free software or make donations to AFFS.

For example, if there are hardware companies that donate to AFFS I
would certainly consider buying my next PC from them, or recommending
them to other people.

Regarding undesirable advertising, I'm sure there has to be a workable
policy where you are not obliged to distribute anything you don't want
to.

 > Of course.  I think having to promote free software would require 
 > refusing proprietary software sponsorships.  Should this be stated?

Yes.  Proprietary software should not be mentioned. 

The GNU Service directory has a clause that says

  You will not take advantage of contact made through the Service
  Directory to advertise an unrelated business (e.g., sales of
  non-GNU-related proprietary information).  You may spontaneously
  mention your availability for general consulting, but you should not
  promote a specific unrelated business unless the client asks.

which could maybe be adapted by changing the phrase "an unrelated
business" to "proprietary software".

-- 
Brian