CakeFest 2009 Berlin Venue Dispute
A recent posting by Felix Geisendörfer of Debuggable[1] has resulted in some concerns amongst the CakePHP[2] community after payment disputes for the venue from CakeFest Berlin 2009. The Cake Software Foundation[3] would like to assure all developers and users of the CakePHP framework that the status and direction of the framework remains unchanged.
The Cake Software Foundation was formed to provide support and keep the CakePHP project going. The Foundation was intended to be setup as a 501(c)(3) organization[4], effectively operating as a not-for-profit entity. This status setup was the responsibility of the previous President of the Cake Software Foundation, Garrett Woodworth (gwoo); and was never finalized completely. As a result of the status of the Cake Software Foundation not being 501(c)(3), various fines were issued for non-payment of taxes off income earned from monetary contributions and previous CakeFest events, including CakeFest in Berlin. This ultimately resulted in the freezing of accounts for the Cake Software Foundation. After assessment from the treasurer of the Cake Software Foundation, (Larry Masters), the then President was requested to resign.
In the months since that resignation, the Cake Software Foundation has undergone extensive dealings with their lawyers to finalize the 501(c)(3) status of the organization. Throughout this process the team at Debuggable have been informed of the situation. The Cake Software Foundation requested that Debuggable assist in arranging an agreement between the venue and the Cake Software Foundation to remove Debuggable as a liable party in the CakeFest venue arrangements, and to allow the remaining amount to be paid in full. Further to this, a partial payment was made personally by Larry Masters, treasurer of the Cake Software Foundation. Further requests have been made to have Debuggable issue invoices for partial payment of 500 Euro per month, as an alternative should an agreement not be possible with the venue.
As a point of clarification, it should be noted that the Cake Software Foundation and Cake Development Corporation[5] are completely separate entities. While both entities share some staff / members, neither entity has influence or control over the actions of the other.
The Cake Software Foundation does not approve of the public posting of previously private conversations and arrangements between the foundation and Debuggable, and will continue ongoing efforts to rectify the situation with both Debuggable and the venue. The Cake Software Foundation understands and appreciates the success that CakeFest can be with local users assisting the organization and setup of the events; However the foundation will ensure that all future events are managed internally to avoid such issues.
[1] http://debuggable.com
[2] http://cakephp.org
[3] http://cakefoundation.org
[4] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/501(c)#501.28c.29.283.29
[5] http://cakedc.com
In the months since that resignation, the Cake Software Foundation has undergone extensive dealings with their lawyers to finalize the 501(c)(3) status of the organization. Throughout this process the team at Debuggable have been informed of the situation. The Cake Software Foundation requested that Debuggable assist in arranging an agreement between the venue and the Cake Software Foundation to remove Debuggable as a liable party in the CakeFest venue arrangements, and to allow the remaining amount to be paid in full. Further to this, a partial payment was made personally by Larry Masters, treasurer of the Cake Software Foundation. Further requests have been made to have Debuggable issue invoices for partial payment of 500 Euro per month, as an alternative should an agreement not be possible with the venue.
As a point of clarification, it should be noted that the Cake Software Foundation and Cake Development Corporation[5] are completely separate entities. While both entities share some staff / members, neither entity has influence or control over the actions of the other.
The Cake Software Foundation does not approve of the public posting of previously private conversations and arrangements between the foundation and Debuggable, and will continue ongoing efforts to rectify the situation with both Debuggable and the venue. The Cake Software Foundation understands and appreciates the success that CakeFest can be with local users assisting the organization and setup of the events; However the foundation will ensure that all future events are managed internally to avoid such issues.
[1] http://debuggable.com
[2] http://cakephp.org
[3] http://cakefoundation.org
[4] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/501(c)#501.28c.29.283.29
[5] http://cakedc.com
Comments
Comment
1 Thanks
Hope you work it out. The sooner the better for all parties.
As I said to Debuggable... Please set aside your pride and fix it and take it from there.
Cheers!
Comment
2 A Valuable Lesson
Becoming a 501(c)(3) organization is a non-trivial undertaking. After you fill out the many pages of forms, you must also provide the financial statements and projections for 3 business years. Throughout this whole time, you are expected to pay taxes on whatever revenue you collect. I made a major mistake. I put too much trust in the treasurer, who assured me that taxes were being paid. I should have reviewed financial statements quarterly.
What I did in the meantime was to make sure the CSF never claimed to be a 501c3 organization. To this day it does not appear anywhere on the CSF website. I communicated often to the constituents of the organization that it was no way exempt from taxes.
In the end, I realized I had put my trust in the wrong place and the only thing left for me to do was resign. I was never asked to leave the project. I did so of my own free will -- and not even for the first time -- because I could no longer tolerate misinformation and lack of follow-through.
Please, take this as a valuable lesson to learn from when setting up your own organization. Be very careful who you trust and always double check their work. Verification is the only way to save yourself from any misleading accusations.
Best of Luck.
Comment
3 Update
Comment
4 Treasurers
Perhaps this Treasurer is just bad at PR.
Put it this way, as a member of the community, this piece has only raised the concerns not lowered them in any way.