
Freenode's Parent Organization Dissolved - haven
http://blog.freenode.net/2013/03/bye-bye-pdpc/
======
pifflesnort
Hats off to the freenode folks. I feel a bit disrespectful speaking ill of the
departed, but some history would provide context. Before he passed away, Rob
Levin set up PDPC (and OPN before that) to essentially operate as his own
piggy bank, while being tasked with 'administering' freenode.

<http://www.theregister.co.uk/2003/01/29/buy_a_piece_of_net/>

The reality was that volunteers already provided the servers and most of the
IT admin duties, and the donation solicitations over IRC were incessant -- to
the point that I actually ignored all global messages coming from lilo (Mr.
Levin's nick name).

The individuals that took over from Mr. Levin are to be commended for doing
away with the full time position, the overzealous calls for donations, and
instead relying on volunteers and the community that had always been ready and
willing to chip in.

In that regard, the PDPC shutting down seems neither surprising, unwarranted,
or sad. Many thanks to the folks that keep Freenode running.

------
hapless
Another way to put it: PDPC existed to pay for Rob Levin's house/car/children.

Without the need to support Rob Levin, the other freenode volunteers didn't
have as much drive to solicit donations.

~~~
moneypenny
Really? It took six years for PDPC to disband? How come? I don't know the
whole story, but I'm a donor/got my cloak/etc, so am curious.

~~~
hapless
Reducing their level of effort in fundraising didn't mean the lights went out
overnight. It took six years for it to dwindle to where there was more cost
(the cost of incorporation) than benefit in PDPC's continued existence.

------
nachteilig
It never really made sense to have a charity on top of an IRC network anyway,
I claim.

Kudos to the volunteers who keep that place running so smoothly.

~~~
mst
It's honestly not going to make a lot of difference to us day to day.

(and I second that kudos, since while I'm technically staff I barely actually
-do- anything these days because other people always seem to get to whatever
it is before I even notice :)

------
jpadilla_
More details at
[https://plus.google.com/104326727082310562426/posts/CMW4Gst6...](https://plus.google.com/104326727082310562426/posts/CMW4Gst657v)

EDIT: Static copy at <http://planet.freenode.net/>

------
superjared
Text since the site seems to be having issues:

Bye bye PDPC

Sadly, we were forced to dissolve PDPC, freenode’s parent organisation.

When the organisation transferred across from the US to the UK we wanted to
keep the organisational structure as close to what it had been before (change
is scary, right?) — however, we made the conscious decision to no longer have
any paid employees after Rob Levin passed away. This meant that everyone
involved with the organisation were volunteers and we no longer had anyone who
could invest the time and effort required to do fundraising and similar tasks,
meaning that the organisation was unable to sustain the levels of donations
required to obtain and maintain charitable status in the UK.

Due to the massive reduction in financial support we found ourselves in a
position where being an incorporated organisation cost more than what we were
able to bring in in donations and after years of operating at a loss it was
decided that we would apply for the dissolution of the corporation in order to
drastically reduce costs. The application has been processed and the
organisation has been dissolved; to further reduce costs we have also
discontinued the majority of infrastructure services for which the
organisation paid, together with the reduced administration and organisational
fees this means that we are now in a position where our outgoings are
restricted to domain renewals! We would like to thank everyone who has
contributed to the organisation in the past, users, organisations and staff in
particular, who have always been (begrudgingly?) happy to contribute towards
the difference in order to cover the deficit. What does this organisational
change mean for freenode?

In practise it means very little, the PDPC has never been involved in the day
to day operations of the network and there will be no changes to the way in
which the network is run. freenode is staffed entirely by volunteers from all
over the globe who contribute their time and expertise to keep the network up
and running in between contributing to various other FOSS projects. What about
other PDPC projects, such as fosscon, geeknic, and the fossevents site?

These projects will continue as they have before, and we invite you to attend
fosscon for real world talks and collaboration, to join a geeknic picnic or
plan your own at <http://geeknic.org>, and to check out
<http://fossevents.org> for events in your neighbourhood and around the world.
I appreciate the work you do and I still want to contribute

The best way in which to help the network is to contribute time — help out in
#freenode or elsewhere on the network, assist users in finding answers to
their questions and help us try keep the channel and network temperature at a
nice, comfortable level which encourages collaboration! If you are low on time
but still want to help out you might be able to help us through your company
or organisation by becoming a server sponsor (See “Hosting a server” for more
information). If you feel that one particular volunteer has helped you out and
you want to say thank you — ask them if they have a preferred charity to which
you could make a small donation! With time we might update our website to
provide links and information of such preferences. Alternatively, you may
consider donating to one of the following projects:

    
    
        Software Freedom Law Center
        Electronic Frontier Foundation
        Open Rights Group
    

Existing PDPC donor cloaks

Existing PDPC donor cloaks will remain valid for a full year, after which they
will be converted to unaffiliated cloaks. Ongoing donations will be cancelled
by us. If you have previously donated to PDPC you’ll still qualify for your
donor cloak as normal. If you believe you’re due a cloak and we haven’t
processed it yet please contact us.

------
Angostura
> ...meaning that the organisation was unable to sustain the levels of
> donations required to obtain and maintain charitable status in the UK.

Speaking as the secretary of a UK Parent teacher association that raises about
£2,000 a year I think I can say that there is no minimum required to obtain or
maintain charitable status in the UK. The Charities Commission make everything
as simple as possible and are very helpful.

~~~
JonnieCache
<http://www.charity-commission.gov.uk/Publications/cc21.aspx>

_63\. The minimum requirement for registration is that a charity must have an
income of more than £5000 a year._

Sounds like something might be afoot at the PTA...

~~~
AaronI
...or, they just didn't register.

Charities with an income less than £5000/yr do not have to register, but still
maintain their charitable status.

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_cbdev
Well, seems I donated just in time :)

Mad props to the staff, I enjoy using freenode a lot!

------
Nux
Freenode FTW! Keep up the good job, guys!

