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77-554: FSF may refer to: Organizations [ edit ] Free Software Foundation , an American non-profit organization with a mission to promote computer user freedom Federal Security Force (Pakistan) Federación de Sindicatos Ferroviarios , a defunct Argentine trade union Financial Stability Forum , a defunct international organization of financial regulators Flight Safety Foundation , an international independent, non-profit organization for research, education, and communications in

154-456: A federal court decision in 2018. The origins of 501(c)(4) organizations date back to the Revenue Act of 1913 , which created a new group of tax-exempt organizations dedicated to social welfare in a precursor to what is now Internal Revenue Code Section 501(c)(4). The Protecting Americans from Tax Hikes Act of 2015 introduced a new requirement on 501(c)(4) organizations. Within 60 days of

231-482: A web store . FSF offers speakers and seminars for pay, and all FSF projects accept donations. Revenues fund free-software programs and campaigns, while cash is invested conservatively in socially responsible investing . The financial strategy is designed to maintain the Foundation's long-term future through economic stability. The FSF is a tax-exempt organization and posts annual IRS Form 990 filings online. Through

308-497: A "Respects Your Freedom" (RYF) hardware certification program. To be granted certification, a product must use 100% Free Software, allow user installation of modified software, be free of backdoors and conform with several other requirements. The FSF's board of directors includes professors at leading universities, senior engineers, and founders. Current board members are: Previous board members include: Executive directors include: The FSF Articles of Organization state that

385-564: A 2006 television series The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction , also abbreviated F&SF Speculative fiction (genre) containing the subgenre of fantasy/science fiction (F/SF) Science fantasy (genre), a mixed genre of fantasy and science fiction elements Festival of Slovenian Film , an annual film festival in Portorož , Slovenia Sports [ edit ] Faroe Islands Football Association (Faroese: Fótbóltssamband Føroya ) Federação Sergipana de Futebol ,

462-513: A 501(c)(5) organization, that expressly advocates for the election or defeat of a particular political candidate and spends more than $ 250 during a calendar year must disclose the name of each person who contributed more than $ 200 during the calendar year to the Federal Election Commission . The Federal Election Commission is required to enforce this provision based on a federal court decision in 2018. A 501(c)(6) organization

539-419: A 501(c)(6) organization to raise and distribute over $ 250 million during the 2012 election campaigns without disclosing its donors. The group's existence was not publicly known until nearly a year after the election. A business's membership dues paid to a 501(c)(6) organization are generally an ordinary and necessary business expense. The membership dues are tax-deductible in full unless a substantial part of

616-414: A club of individuals, and no individual may derive profit from the organization's net earnings. Examples include college alumni associations ; college fraternities or college sororities operating chapter houses for students; country clubs ; amateur sport clubs ; supper clubs that provide a meeting place, library, and dining room for members; hobby clubs ; and garden clubs . A substantial amount of

693-617: A free smartphone operating system and creating replacements for Skype and Siri . Previous projects highlighted as needing work included the Free Java implementations , GNU Classpath , and GNU Compiler for Java , which ensure compatibility for the Java part of OpenOffice.org , and the GNOME desktop environment (see Java: Licensing ). The effort has been criticized by Michael Larabel for either not instigating active development or for being slow at

770-747: A primary benefactor of this organization type, dating to the 19th century. According to the Internal Revenue Service, a 501(c)(5) organization has a duty of providing service to its members first. The organization's benefits may not inure to a specific member, but the rules for inurement vary among the three different types of organizations under this segment. A 501(c)(5) organization can make unlimited corporate, individual, or union contributions. A labor organization may pay benefits to its members because paying benefits improves all members' shared working conditions. An agricultural organization can provide financial assistance to its members in order to improve

847-417: A public charity's activities can go to lobbying, charities may register for a 501(h) election allowing them to lawfully conduct lobbying activities as long as their financial expenditure does not exceed a specified amount. 501(c)(3) organizations risk loss of tax exempt status if any of these rules are violated. A 501(c)(3) organization is allowed to conduct some or all of its charitable activities outside

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924-446: A specific type of business is also not typically qualifying, as that would usually be more of a commercial enterprise. For example, the service of managing health insurance plans for its member businesses is often a commercial enterprise if it is not substantially related to improving the business conditions for specific lines of businesses. An association that promotes the common interests of certain hobbyists would not qualify because

1001-463: A substantial number of these activities, then only the amount of dues or contributions that can be attributed to other activities may be deductible as a business expense. The organization must provide a notice to its members containing a reasonable estimate of the amount related to lobbying and political campaign expenditures, or else it is subject to a proxy tax on its lobbying and political campaign expenditures. It must also state that contributions to

1078-590: A whole, however, the organization will generally qualify if it also performs other services for its members. Much like 501(c)(4) and 501(c)(5) organizations, 501(c)(6) organizations may also perform some political activities. 501(c)(6) organizations are allowed to attempt to influence legislation that is related to the common business interests of its members. A 501(c)(6) organization may receive unlimited contributions from corporations, individuals, and labor unions. The names and addresses of contributors are not required to be made available for public inspection, with

1155-553: Is a business league, a chamber of commerce like the U.S. Chamber of Commerce , a real estate board, a board of trade, a professional football league or an organization like the Edison Electric Institute and the Security Industry Association , that are not organized for profit and no part of the net earnings goes to the benefit of any private shareholder or individual. A business league may qualify if it

1232-569: Is a fundamental difference between speaking out against policies or actions and smear campaigns", and "that if one is taking an ethical position, it is justified, and often necessary, to not only speak about the benefits of freedom but against acts of dispossession and disenfranchisement." In 2009, a license update of LibDWG/ LibreDWG to version 3 of the GNU GPL made it impossible for the free software projects LibreCAD and FreeCAD to use LibreDWG legally. Many projects voiced their unhappiness about

1309-643: Is a social welfare organization, such as a civic organization or a neighborhood association . An organization is considered by the IRS to be operated exclusively for the promotion of social welfare if it is primarily engaged in promoting the common good and general welfare of the people of the community. Net earnings must be exclusively used for charitable, educational, or recreational purposes. According to The Washington Post , 501(c)(4) organizations: ...are allowed to participate in politics, so long as politics do not become their primary focus. What that means in practice

1386-555: Is also the steward of several free software licenses, meaning it publishes them and has the ability to make revisions as needed. The FSF holds the copyrights on many pieces of the GNU system, such as GNU Compiler Collection . As the holder of these copyrights, it has authority to enforce the copyleft requirements of the GNU General Public License (GPL) when copyright infringement occurs. From 1991 until 2001, GPL enforcement

1463-618: Is an FSF-initiated campaign against DRM. It also has a campaign to promote Ogg + Vorbis , a free alternative to proprietary formats like AAC and MQA . FSF also sponsors free software projects it deems "high-priority". " Outstanding new Free Software contributor ", " Award for the Advancement of Free Software " and " Free Software Award for Projects of Social Benefit " The LibrePlanet wiki organizes FSF members into regional groups in order to promote free software activism against digital restrictions management and other issues promoted by

1540-442: Is an association of persons having a common business interest, whose purpose is to promote the common business interest and whose activities improve business conditions rather than actually conduct the business itself. Members of the organization must be of the same trade, business, occupation, or profession in order to qualify. A local chamber of commerce or board of trade could qualify for similar reasons except that they may promote

1617-493: Is different from Wikidata All article disambiguation pages All disambiguation pages Free Software Foundation The Free Software Foundation ( FSF ) is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization founded by Richard Stallman on October 4, 1985. The organisation supports the free software movement , with the organization's preference for software being distributed under copyleft ("share alike") terms, such as with its own GNU General Public License . The FSF

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1694-402: Is not required to send the notification if the organization was formed on or before July 8, 2016, and it either applied for a determination letter using Form 1024 or filed a Form 990 between December 19, 2015, and July 8, 2016. As of January 2018, the application for recognition of exemption as a 501(c)(4) organization is a new form, Form 1024-A, rather than Form 1024. Between 2010 and 2017,

1771-612: Is organized and operated exclusively for those purposes. There are also supporting organizations—often referred to in shorthand form as "Friends of" organizations. 26 U.S.C.   § 170 , provides a deduction, for federal income tax purposes, for some donors who make charitable contributions to most types of 501(c)(3) organizations, among others. The IRS explains that to be tax-exempt, "an organization must be organized and operated exclusively for exempt purposes ... and none of its earnings may inure to any private shareholder or individual." Private inurement means that

1848-562: Is related to its purpose. A 501(c)(4) organization may directly or indirectly support or oppose a candidate for public office as long as such activities are not a substantial amount of its activities. A 501(c)(4) organization that lobbies must register with the Clerk of the House if it lobbies members of the House or their staff. Likewise, a 501(c)(4) organization must register with the Secretary of

1925-402: Is related to the common union interests of its members. 501(c)(5) organizations can receive unlimited contributions from corporations, individuals, and labor unions. The names and addresses of contributors are not required to be made available for public inspection. All other information, including the amount of contributions, the description of noncash contributions, and any other information,

2002-418: Is required to be made available for public inspection unless it clearly identifies the contributor. A union membership dues paid to a 501(c)(5) organization are generally an ordinary and necessary business expense. The membership dues are tax-deductible in full unless a substantial part of the 501(c)(5) organization's activities consists of political activity, in which case a tax deduction is allowed only for

2079-520: Is solicited. Eben Moglen and Dan Ravicher previously served individually as pro bono legal counsel to the FSF. After forming the Software Freedom Law Center , Eben Moglen continued to serve as the FSF's general counsel until 2016. Most of the FSF funding comes from patrons and members. Revenue streams also come from free-software-related compliance labs, job postings, published works, and

2156-524: Is that they must spend less than 50 percent of their money on politics. So long as they don't run afoul of that threshold, the groups can influence elections, which they typically do through advertising. 501(c)(4)s are similar to 501(c)(5)s and 501(c)(6)s in that the organizations may inform the public on controversial subjects and attempt to influence legislation relevant to its program. Unlike 501(c)(3) organizations, they may also participate in political campaigns and elections, as long as their primary activity

2233-591: Is the promotion of social welfare and related to the organization's purpose. The income tax exemption for 501(c)(4) organizations applies to most of their operations, but income spent on political activities—generally the advocacy of a particular candidate in an election—is taxable. An "action" organization generally qualifies as a 501(c)(4) organization. An "action" organization is one whose activities substantially include, or are exclusively, direct or grassroots lobbying related to advocacy for or against legislation or proposing, supporting, or opposing legislation that

2310-653: The GNU Lesser General Public License (LGPL), the GNU Free Documentation License (GFDL), and the GNU Affero General Public License (AGPL). The FSF's publishing department, responsible for "publishing affordable books on computer science using freely distributable licenses." This is a list of software packages that have been verified as free software. Each package entry contains up to 47 pieces of information such as

2387-508: The board of directors are elected. The bylaws say who can vote for them. The board can grant powers to the Voting Membership. At any given time, there are usually around a dozen employees. Most, but not all, worked at the FSF headquarters in Boston, Massachusetts until August 2024 when the FSF closed its offices and switched to remote work. On November 25, 2002, the FSF launched

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2464-618: The h-node website lists hardware and device drivers that have been verified as compatible with free software. It is user-edited and volunteer supported with hardware entries tested by users before publication. FSF sponsors a number of campaigns against what it perceives as dangers to software freedom, including software patents , digital rights management (which the FSF and others have re-termed "digital restrictions management", as part of its effort to highlight technologies that are "designed to take away and limit your rights", ) and user interface copyright. Since 2012, Defective by Design

2541-439: The 1914 Clayton Antitrust Act or the 1914 Federal Trade Commission Act . IRC 501(c)(6) amendment was enacted in 1966 to ensure that a professional football league's exemption would not be jeopardized because it administered a players' pension fund. Additionally, a professional sports league's exemption is not to be jeopardized because its primary source of revenue is the sale of television broadcasting rights to its games because

2618-436: The 2012 election season. Every organization, including a 501(c)(4) organization, that expressly advocates for the election or defeat of a particular political candidate and spends more than $ 250 during a calendar year must disclose the name of each person who contributed more than $ 200 during the calendar year to the Federal Election Commission . The Federal Election Commission is required to enforce this provision based on

2695-457: The 501(c)(6) organization's activities consists of political activity, in which case a tax deduction is allowed only for the portion of membership dues that are for other activities. Every organization, including a 501(c)(6) organization, that expressly advocates for the election or defeat of a particular political candidate and spends more than $ 250 during a calendar year must disclose the name of each person who contributed more than $ 200 during

2772-477: The 990 form. 501(c)(3) tax-exemptions apply to entities that are organized and operated exclusively for religious , charitable , scientific , literary , or educational purposes; or for testing for public safety, to foster national or international amateur sports competition, or for the prevention of cruelty to children or animals . The 501(c)(3) exemption also applies for any unincorporated community chest , fund, cooperating association , or foundation that

2849-546: The FSF Associate Membership program for individuals. Bradley M. Kuhn (FSF executive director, 2001–2005) launched the program and also signed up as the first Associate Member Associate members are primarily an honorary and funding support role. In 2023, associate members gained the ability to make board nominations, along with FSF staff and FSF voting members. There is also an annual meeting of FSF members, usually during lunch at LibrePlanet, in which feedback for FSF

2926-421: The FSF aims to use only free software on its own computers. The Free Software Foundation was founded in 1985 as a non-profit corporation supporting free software development. It continued existing GNU projects such as the sale of manuals and tapes , and employed developers of the free software system. Since then, it has continued these activities, as well as advocating for the free software movement. The FSF

3003-643: The FSF. The FSF maintains a list of "high-priority projects" to which the Foundation claims that "there is a vital need to draw the free software community 's attention". The FSF considers these projects "important because computer users are continually being seduced into using non-free software , because there is no adequate free replacement." As of 2021, high-priority tasks include reverse engineering proprietary firmware, reversible debugging in GNU Debugger ; developing automatic transcription and video editing software, Coreboot , drivers for network routers ,

3080-580: The Football Federation of Sergipe, Brazil Football Supporters' Federation Fuerte San Francisco , a Salvadoran football club Sahrawi Football Federation (Spanish: Federación Saharaui de Fútbol ) São Toméan Football Federation (Portuguese: Federação Santomense de Futebol ) Senegalese Footrrball Federation (French: Fédération Sénégalaise de Football ) Other uses [ edit ] Familial Shar Pei fever Fibrin-stabilizing factor Flexible Support Fund in

3157-453: The Form 990-EZ or Form 990-PF) must be available for public inspection and photocopying at the offices of the exempt organization, through a written request and payment for photocopies by mail from the exempt organization, or through a direct Form 4506-A "Request for Public Inspection or Copy or Political Organization IRS Form" request to the IRS of for the past three tax years. Form 4506-A also allows

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3234-555: The GNU Project and in 2021, he returned to the FSF board of directors. The original purpose of the FSF was to promote the ideals of free software. The organization envisaged the GNU operating system as an example of this. The GNU General Public License (GPL) is a widely used license for free software projects. The current version (version 3) was released in June 2007. The FSF has also published

3311-647: The GPL. In May 2009, Cisco and FSF reached settlement under which Cisco agreed to make a monetary donation to the FSF and appoint a Free Software Director to conduct continuous reviews of the company's license compliance practices. In September 2019, Richard Stallman resigned as president of the FSF after pressure from journalists and members of the open source community in response to him making controversial comments in defense of Marvin Minsky on Jeffrey Epstein 's sex trafficking scandal. Nevertheless, Stallman remained head of

3388-741: The GPLv3 license selection for LibreDWG, such as FreeCAD , LibreCAD , Assimp , and Blender . Some suggested the selection of a license with a broader license compatibility , for instance the MIT , BSD , or LGPL 2.1. A request went to the FSF to relicense GNU LibreDWG as GPLv2, which was rejected in 2012. 501(c)#501(c)(3) For example, a nonprofit organization may be tax-exempt under section 501(c)(3) if its primary activities are charitable, religious, educational, scientific, literary, testing for public safety, fostering amateur sports competition, or preventing cruelty to children or animals . According to

3465-1006: The IRS Publication 557, in the Organization Reference Chart section, the following is an exact list of 501(c) organization types (29 in total) and their corresponding descriptions. Under Section 511, a 501(c) organization is subject to tax on its " unrelated business income ", whether or not the organization actually makes a profit, but not including selling donated merchandise or other business or trade carried on by volunteers, or certain bingo games. Disposal of donated goods valued over $ 2,500, or acceptance of goods worth over $ 5,000 may also trigger special filing and record-keeping requirements. Tax exemption does not excuse an organization from maintaining proper records and filing any required annual or special-purpose tax returns , e.g., 26 U.S.C.   § 6033 and 26 U.S.C.   § 6050L . Prior to 2008, an annual return

3542-423: The Internal Revenue Service does not consider hobbies to be activities conducted as businesses. An organization whose primary activity is advertising the products or services of its members does not qualify because the organization is performing a service for its members rather than promoting common interests. If an organization's primary activity is advertising the products or services of its members' industry as

3619-552: The Senate if it lobbies members of the Senate or their staff. In addition, the 501(c)(4) organization must either inform its members the amount it spends on lobbying or pay a proxy tax to the Internal Revenue Service. Lobbying expenses and political expenses are not deductible as business expenses. The use of 501(c)(4), 501(c)(5), and 501(c)(6) organizations has been affected by the 2007 case FEC v. Wisconsin Right to Life, Inc. , in which

3696-548: The Supreme Court struck down the part of the McCain-Feingold Act that prohibited 501(c)(4)s, 501(c)(5)s, and 501(c)(6)s from broadcasting electioneering communications. The Act defined an electioneering communication as a communication that mentions a candidate's name 60 days before a primary or 30 days before a general election. Contributions to 501(c)(4) organizations are not tax-deductible as charitable donations unless

3773-535: The United Kingdom Fourth suit forcing , a bidding convention in the game of contract bridge Free speech fights , a series of 20th-century labor-related conflicts in the United States Full state feedback Topics referred to by the same term [REDACTED] This disambiguation page lists articles associated with the title FSF . If an internal link led you here, you may wish to change

3850-460: The United States. Donors' contributions to a 501(c)(3) organization are tax-deductible only if the contribution is for the use of the 501(c)(3) organization, and that the 501(c)(3) organization is not merely serving as an agent or conduit of a foreign charitable organization. Additional procedures are required of 501(c)(3) organizations that are private foundations . A 501(c)(4) organization

3927-517: The assistance of Moglen, David Turner, and Peter T. Brown , formalized these efforts into FSF's GPL Compliance Labs. From 2002–2004, high-profile GPL enforcement cases, such as those against Linksys and OpenTV, became frequent. GPL enforcement and educational campaigns on GPL compliance was a major focus of the FSF's efforts during this period. In March 2003, SCO filed suit against IBM alleging that IBM's contributions to various free software, including FSF's GNU, violated SCO's rights. While FSF

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4004-536: The broadcasting of games increases public awareness of the sport. In 2013, Senator Tom Coburn introduced legislation to disallow a tax exemption for the National Football League , the Professional Golfers' Association of America , and other professional sports organizations. Coburn estimated the tax exemption cost $ 100 million, but he said he could not get other members of Congress to support

4081-600: The calendar year to the Federal Election Commission . The Federal Election Commission is required to enforce this provision based on a federal court decision in 2018. The predecessor of IRC 501(c)(6) was enacted as part of the Revenue Act of 1913 likely due to a U.S. Chamber of Commerce request for an exemption for nonprofit "civic" and "commercial" organizations, which resulted in IRC 501(c)(4) for nonprofit "civic" organizations and IRC 501(c)(6) for nonprofit "commercially-oriented" organizations. The Revenue Act of 1928 amended

4158-408: The common economic interests of all the commercial enterprises in a given trade or community. In order to qualify for a tax-exemption under section 501(c)(6), the organization must specify that it seeks to promote and improve business condition for a specific type of business. Improving business conditions for all types of businesses is not generally qualifying. Similarly, providing a service for

4235-725: The conditions of those engaged in agricultural pursuits generally. Members can benefit in incidental ways from the organization's exempt activities as long as the benefits are available to all persons. The first exemption for labor organizations from corporate income tax was enacted as part of the Payne–Aldrich Tariff Act of 1909 . The Revenue Act of 1913 excluded "labor, agricultural, or horticultural organizations" from income tax liability. Much like 501(c)(4) and 501(c)(6) organizations, 501(c)(5) organizations may also perform some political activities. 501(c)(5) organizations are allowed to attempt to influence legislation that

4312-421: The exception of a 501(c)(6) organization that makes independent expenditures . All other information, including the amount of contributions, the description of non-cash contributions, and any other information, is required to be made available for public inspection unless it clearly identifies the contributor. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce is a large political spender, and Freedom Partners used its status as

4389-410: The exclusively religious activities of any religious order; and religious organizations; and most organizations whose annual gross receipts are less than $ 5,000. Failure to file such timely returns and to make other specific information available to the public also is prohibited. Between 2010 and 2017 the IRS revoked the nonprofit status of more than 760,000 nonprofit organizations for failing to file

4466-599: The field of civil aviation flight safety Föreningen Sveriges Filmfotografer, the Swedish Society of Cinematographers Progressive Party , an Icelandic political party (in Icelandic: Framsóknarflokkurinn ) Arts and entertainment [ edit ] Folsom Street Fair , a street fair in San Francisco, California, United States Further Seems Forever , a rock band Fugitive Strike Force ,

4543-406: The first effort to give formal legal education on the GPL. In 2007, the FSF published the third version of the GNU General Public License after significant outside input. In December 2008, FSF filed a lawsuit against Cisco for using GPL-licensed components shipped with Linksys products. Cisco was notified of the licensing issue in 2003 but Cisco repeatedly disregarded its obligations under

4620-460: The legislation. A 501(c)(7) organization is a social or recreational club that is organized for pleasure, recreation, and other nonprofitable purposes. Members must share interests and have a common goal directed toward pleasure and recreation, and the organization must provide opportunities for personal contact among members. The organization's facilities and services must be open to its members and their guests only. The organization must be

4697-586: The license itself. Linus Torvalds has criticized FSF for using GPLv3 as a weapon in the fight against DRM. Torvalds argues that the issue of DRM and that of a software license should be treated as two separate issues. On June 16, 2010, Joe Brockmeier, a journalist at Linux Magazine , criticized the Defective by Design campaign by the FSF as "negative" and "juvenile" and not being adequate for providing users with "credible alternatives" to proprietary software. FSF responded to this criticism by saying "that there

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4774-423: The link to point directly to the intended article. Retrieved from " https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=FSF&oldid=1223189652 " Category : Disambiguation pages Hidden categories: Articles containing Faroese-language text Articles containing Spanish-language text Articles containing Portuguese-language text Articles containing French-language text Short description

4851-511: The number of 501(c)(4) organizations dropped from almost 140,000 to fewer than 82,000. In 2017 revocations of 501(c)(4) groups comprised 58% which usually is only 15% of the total nonprofits which have their tax status revoked by the IRS for their failure to file Form 990. A 501(c)(5) organization is a labor organization, an agricultural organization, or a horticultural organization. Labor unions, county fairs, and flower societies are examples of these types of groups. Labor union organizations were

4928-720: The organization are not deductible as charitable contributions during fundraising. A 501(c)(4) organization is not required to disclose their donors publicly, with the exception of organizations that make independent expenditures as of 2018. The former complete lack of disclosure led to extensive use of the 501(c)(4) provisions for organizations that are actively involved in lobbying , and has become controversial. Criticized as " dark money ", spending from these organizations on political advertisements has exceeded spending from Super PACs . Spending by organizations that do not disclose their donors increased from less than $ 5.2   million in 2006 to well over $ 300   million during

5005-400: The organization is either a volunteer fire department or a veterans organization. Dues or contributions to 501(c)(4) organizations may be deductible as a business expense under IRC 162, although amounts paid for intervention or participation in any political campaign, direct lobbying, grass roots lobbying, and contact with certain federal officials are not deductible. If a 501(c)(4) engages in

5082-409: The organization's assets must not unduly benefit a person. Organizations described in section 501(c)(3) are prohibited from conducting political campaign activities to intervene in elections to public office. On the other hand, public charities (but not private foundations) may conduct a limited amount of lobbying to influence legislation. Although the law states that "No substantial part..." of

5159-414: The organization's formation, a 501(c)(4) organization is required to file Form 8976 with the Internal Revenue Service as notification that it is operating as a section 501(c)(4) organization. The Internal Revenue Service will acknowledge receipt of the notification, but the acknowledgment is not a determination that the organization qualifies for section 501(c)(4) tax-exempt status. A 501(c)(4) organization

5236-418: The portion of membership dues that are for other activities. Because associations involved in fishing and seafood harvesting were having difficulties qualifying for reduced postal rates, in 1976 Congress established Internal Revenue Code Section 501(5) to define "agriculture" as the art or science of cultivating land, harvesting crops or aquatic resources, or raising livestock. Every organization, including

5313-495: The project's homepage, developers, programming language, etc. The goals are to provide a search engine for free software, and to provide a cross-reference for users to check if a package has been verified as being free software. The FSF has received a small amount of funding from UNESCO for this project. FSF maintains many of the documents that define the free software movement. FSF hosts software development projects on its Savannah website. An abbreviation for "Hardware-Node",

5390-508: The public inspection or photocopying access to Form 1023 "Application for Recognition of Exemption" or Form 1024, Form 8871 "Political Organization Notice of Section 527 Status", and Form 8872 "Political Organization Report of Contribution and Expenditures". Internet access to many organizations' 990 and some other forms are available through GuideStar . Certain organizations are exempt from filing Form 990, such as churches, their integrated auxiliaries, and conventions or associations of churches;

5467-455: The statute to include real estate boards. In 1966, professional football leagues were added to the described organizations. The Revenue Act of 1913 related to professional football leagues had both antitrust and tax provisions: The antitrust provision was enacted to permit the merger of the National and American Football Leagues to go forward without fear of an antitrust challenge under either

5544-410: The work being done, even after certain projects were added to the list. The FSF maintains a list of approved Linux operating systems that maintain free software by default: The project also maintains a list of operating systems that are not versions of the GNU system: The following are previously endorsed operating systems that are no longer actively maintained : Since 2012, the FSF maintains

5621-406: The years the FSF has had its postal address, and until August 31st 2024 when going all remote its physical headquarters, at different locations in Boston , Massachusetts , USA , as indicated in the table below. As the GNU GPL v2 included the FSF's postal address in one of the first lines of the introduction and the source code license notice template every change of address also caused updates to

5698-465: Was done informally, usually by Stallman himself, often with assistance from FSF's lawyer, Eben Moglen . Typically, GPL violations during this time were cleared up by short email exchanges between Stallman and the violator. In the interest of promoting copyleft assertiveness by software companies to the level that the FSF was already doing, in 2004 Harald Welte launched gpl-violations.org . In late 2001, Bradley M. Kuhn (then executive director), with

5775-512: Was incorporated in Boston, Massachusetts , United States, where it is also based. From its founding until the mid-1990s, FSF's funds were mostly used to employ software developers to write free software for the GNU Project and its employees and volunteers have mostly worked on legal and structural issues for the free software movement and the free software community . Consistent with its goals,

5852-440: Was never a party to the lawsuit, FSF was subpoenaed on November 5, 2003. During 2003 and 2004, FSF put substantial advocacy effort into responding to the lawsuit and quelling its negative impact on the adoption and promotion of free software. From 2003 to 2005, FSF held legal seminars to explain the GPL and the surrounding law. Usually taught by Bradley M. Kuhn and Daniel Ravicher , these seminars offered CLE credit and were

5929-858: Was not generally required from an exempt organization accruing less than $ 25,000 in gross income yearly. Since 2008, most organizations whose annual gross receipts are less than $ 50,000 must file an annual information return known as Form 990-N . Form 990-N must be submitted electronically using an authorized IRS e-file provider. Form 990, Form 990-EZ, and Form 990-PF may be filed either by mail or electronically through an authorized e-file provider. Failure to file required returns such as Form 990 (Return of Organization Exempt From Income Tax) may result in fines of up to $ 250,000 per year. Exempt or political organizations, excluding churches or similar religious entities, must make their returns, reports, notices, and exempt applications available for public inspection. The organization's Form 990 (or similar such public record as

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