[FFmpeg-devel] [PATCH v2] doc: add spi.txt

[Stefano Sabatini]

On date Monday 2023-10-16 00:49:56 +0200, Michael Niedermayer wrote:
> This explains how to request refunds and what can be funded by SPI
> 
> Co-Author: Stefano Sabatini <stefasab at gmail.com>
> ---
>  doc/spi.txt | 73 +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
>  1 file changed, 73 insertions(+)
>  create mode 100644 doc/spi.txt
> 
> diff --git a/doc/spi.txt b/doc/spi.txt
> new file mode 100644
> index 0000000000..ff4af8f42b
> --- /dev/null
> +++ b/doc/spi.txt
> @@ -0,0 +1,73 @@
> +SPI (Software in the Public Interest) is a non-profit corporation
> +registered in the state of New York founded to act as a fiscal sponsor
> +for organizations that develop open source software and hardware. For
> +details check here:
> +https://www.spi-inc.org/
> +
> +FFmpeg is an SPI associated project and donations can be collected and
> +handled by SPI on behalf of FFmpeg. For details about the association
> +check here:
> +https://www.spi-inc.org/projects/ffmpeg/
> +
> +
> +How to request refunds from SPI:
> +--------------------------------
> +Send a mail to ffmpeg-devel with the [REFUND-REQUEST] tag and a short
> +description of the refund topic in the subject.
> +
> +In the mail, you also need to provide the amount to be refunded, with
> +a short description of how the money was spent.
> +
> +There is no need and is not recommeded to send receipts when sending
> +the refund request on the ffmpeg-devel mailing-list, but they are
> +usually needed later when the request is approved and the refund
> +request is sent to SPI:
> +https://www.spi-inc.org/treasurer/reimbursement-form/
> +
> +
> +What can be payed by SPI:
> +-------------------------
> +FFmpeg money collected at SPI can be used for any purpose which is in line with
> +501(c)3 nonprofit rules, and within our mission (Free & OSS software).
> +
> +In practice we frequently payed for travel and hardware.
> +For other refund expenses or sponsorships, it is recommended to
> +discuss them beforehand on ffmpeg-devel. If there is a community
> +agreement on their approval, the current FFmpeg liaison will followup
> +to get an approval on the SPI side.
> +
> +

> +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.)
> +-------------------------------------------------

This is a mix of a question and a title. My take:

Funding active development by SPI:
----------------------------------

The text below have been taken from multiple replies FFmpeg has
received from SPI. [...]

> +Paying for development *does* require substantial
> +additional paperwork, but it is not prohibited.
> +
> +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

needs to check about the potential contractors (...

> +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

Unfortunately, there's no one-size-fits all when dealing with
contractors, especially 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

SPI does have some contract templates which depends on the contractors
country. In case of US, Australia, France and a couple others
countries, SPI can easily provide them, 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 retains ownership rights.

[...]

LGTM otherwise and can be tweaked once in.