[FFmpeg-devel] [PATCH 3/3] doc: add spi.txt

[Michael Niedermayer]

This explains how to request refunds and what can be funded by SPI
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+How to request refunds from SPI:
+--------------------------------
+Send a mail to ffmpeg-devel with [REFUND-REQUEST] in the subject
+
+
+What can be payed by SPI:
+-------------------------
+FFmpeg money collected at SPI can be used for any purpose which is OK by
+501(c)3 nonprofit rules, and within our mission (Free & OSS software).
+
+In practice we frequently payed for Travel and Hardware.
+For other things, it is recommanded to disscuss them beforehand
+on ffmpeg-devel and if the community agrees to fund them, also with
+SPI through stefano before starting with anything.
+
+
+Is it possible to fund active development by SPI:
+(the texts below have been taken from multiple
+ replies FFmpeg has received from SPI, they have been edited
+ so that "I" was replaced by "SPI" in some cases.)
+-------------------------------------------------
+Paying for development *does* require substantial
+additional paperwork, but it is not prohibitied.
+
+Several SPI projects pay contractors for development
+efforts.  SPI needs a contract in place which describes the work to be
+done.  There are also various things SPI needs to check (e.g. are they a
+US person or not, as with GSoC mentor payments; are they really a
+contractor and not a employee).
+
+SPI can't deal with employment at the moment because that involves a
+lot of work, like health insurance, tax withholding, etc.  Contractors
+are easier because they have to take care of that themselves; Whether
+someone is a contractor vs employee depends on various factors (that
+of course are different in every country) and can be disputed (see
+e.g. the debate about whether Uber drivers are employees); SPI has a
+questionnaire about their circumstances.)
+
+Unfortunately, there's no one-size-fits all when dealing with contractors.
+As already mentioned, without knowing the contributor's country
+
+SPI does have templates, but they depend on the contractors country. If it's
+US, Australia, France and a couple others SPI could provide them next day,
+otherwise SPI would need to ask their attorney to draft one, which would
+take some time
+
+Also, SPI has two models, MSA (which transfers ownership) and CSA (which
+grants a license instead). SPI usually sends the MSA (it's better for most
+purposes), but for development purposes, some projects prefer that the
+contractor retain ownership rights.
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2.17.1