Becoming a
Linux Foundation
Collaborative Project
Working Together to Help
Projects Grow
Companies such as Google, IBM,
Intel, the New York Stock Exchange,
Qualcomm, HP, Samsung and
others have relied upon The Linux
Foundation to host their collaborative
software projects and provide the
organizational, promotional and
technical infrastructure needed to
make their hosted projects successful.
LEVERAGE THE ORGANIZATION THAT SUPPORTS THE MOST
SUCCESSFUL COLLABORATIVE PROJECT IN THE WORLD
Picking the right home for your project is one of the most important decisions that you can make, and partnering with The Linux Foundation can ensure your project will have success.
Hosting your project with The Linux Foundation provides the financial, operational, promotional, technical and managerial support and services needed so that your staff can focus on your
project’s technical development. With ten years of experience managing open source projects and support services, The Linux Foundation can provide the back-office, technical infrastructure and legal framework to get your collaborative project off the ground quickly and efficiently.
Most importantly, The Linux Foundation can share its expertise, networks and promotional reach with your new hosted collaborative project, but within a clear framework that ensures your independence.
Forging your own foundation can be costly and can take too long to gain the competitive advantage needed in today’s software markets. By hosting your project with The Linux
Foundation, you can get your project off the ground in a short amount of time with a repeatable and understandable business model. You also gain affinity with The Linux Foundation and get assistance from Linux Foundation executives and staff on project formation, governance, positioning and launch services.
CURRENT COLLABORATIVE PROJECTS
By collaborating together and tapping into the open source community, companies reduce costs and produce superior software more quickly. The Linux Foundation provides the infrastructure so these projects can thrive. These are just some of our Collaborative Projects.
“The Linux Foundation looks well on
its way to establishing itself as the
honest broker for managing
large-scale collaborative software projects.”
- ComputerWorld
A nonprofit consortium enabling and driving the widespread adoption of products, systems and services that support the Internet of Everything.
Code Aurora Forum is a consortium of companies with projects serving the mobile wireless industry. An organization comprised of
industry leaders in virtualization, data center, and cloud
solutions,ncreasing awareness and adoption of KVM.
OpenBEL—the open source version of the Biological Expression Language.
An open platform for network programmability to enable SDN and create a solid foundation for NFV for networks at any size and scale.
An open operating system built to address the needs of the mobile and connected device ecosystem.
A community that develops the Xen Project Hypervisor and its associated subprojects.
A project providing tools to help you create custom Linux-based systems for embedded products.
ADVANTAGES OF BECOMING A LINUX
FOUNDATION COLLABORATIVE PROJECT
The Linux Foundation is in the unique position to provide a neutral framework for collaborative projects. Why? Our experience helping Linux achieve its position as the most successful collaborative software project in history means collaborative software development is in our DNA. Advantages of hosting your project with us include:
Get your project up and running quickly under
our 501c.6 non-profit umbrella, or leverage our experience in securing your own non-profit status
Retain governance, revenue and messaging independence
Reduce, contain and be able to accurately forecast administrative costs
Utilize our neutral organization for holding trademarks and running compliance programs
Benefit from affinity with The Linux Foundation brand
Offer employees world-class health and retirement benefits immediately
Offer sponsors a high degree of financial
transparency and reporting from an organization with an impeccable financial track record
The Linux Foundation has decades of cumulative staff experience in corporate open source to help align goals with your collaborative project.
We are passionate about sharing
our best practices with projects
and industries who are newly taking
advantage of open development to
solve innovation challenges.
“WHAT TYPE OF
SERVICES DO YOU
OFFER?”
Launch Services
General Ledger
Headquarters Services
Human Resoures
Web and Technology
Management
Trademark Management
Collaborative Support
Steering Group
Management
Press and Marketing
Event and Conference
LAUNCH SERVICES
Whether your codebase is 10 years old or brand new, The Linux Foundation has already helped organizations like yours successfully transition to open source with open governance.
Develop a business plan for the critical first year of the organization
Work with your organization’s leadership to help clarify your mission, value proposition and key messages
Build governance, organizational, membership and dues structures
Work with top legal counsel to develop state-of-the-art governance documents, including bylaws, license policies, an intellectual property rights policy, rules and procedures and a membership agreement
Set up key financial systems and controls
Partner to recruit pre-launch members
Establish community communication channels
Coordinate US and worldwide trademark registration
Drive public relations and marketing activities to get your new organization airborne
Establish a source code strategy for open sourcing
proprietary code, including which components will be open and when
Identify a suitable open source license for source code
Provide a customized launch readiness audit process
Align best-in-class technical infrastructure with project goals
Perform regular check-in meetings with key stakeholders
“CAN YOU HELP WITH
CODE CONTRIBUTION?”
The Linux Foundation is able
to provide guidance based
upon direct experience with
code provenance questions
and contribution guidelines.
With over 150 corporate members,
The Linux Foundation is able to
advocate our collaborative projects to
companies and communities around
the world.
GENERAL LEDGER
With over $30M in annually managed capital, The Linux Foundation brings financial management of open source projects to an entirely new level. Services we provide include:
Manage banking relationships and reconciliation
Manage Accounts Receivable including bird-dogging late pay and no pay members
Manage Accounts Payable according to vendor contracts
Budget management, tracking, and forecasting
Contract management
Vendor relationship management
Manage currency conversion and multi-currency transactions if appropriate
Provide reports on income, vendor payments, and account balance
Oversee third-party firms’ work on tax preparation, audits and VAT recovery
“WHAT ABOUT RECORD
KEEPING AND AUDITS?”
The Linux Foundation
operates a highly transparent
financial reporting organization
with over 10 years of audited
financials.
The Linux Foundation employs staff
with expertise in all areas of financial
management and provides timely
and accurate financial reporting for
our collaborative projects and their
boards.
HEADQUARTERS SERVICES
The Linux Foundation is located in the heart of the US technology industry, with close proximity to Silicon Valley.
Maintain an office and physical address at The Linux Foundation, located in San Francisco
Provide a mailing address; receiving and distributing printed mail
Manage domain registration and renewals
Route email to appropriate staff and project members
Route calls to volunteers or staff throughout the world
Maintain electronic and hardcopy files and inventory of key documents
Provide Visitor Visa invitation letters to foreign nationals for events
“DO WE HAVE ACCESS
TO CONFERENCE CALL
LINES?”
The Linux Foundation
provides our collaborative
project partners access to
conference call lines that can
be used for meetings between
staff and team members
throughout the world.
The Linux Foundation administrative
staff provides logistical support for all
of our collaborative projects, including
day-to-day management.
HUMAN RESOURCES
With full time employees in 5 countries on 4 continents, The Linux Foundation understands the challenges of global recruitment, compliance and compensation.
Provide recruiting services, including job descriptions, screening and interviewing candidates and onboarding new hosted employees
Manage new employee training to ensure maximum alignment between member companies and collaborative project program
Provide complete HR services for hosted employees, including payroll, performance management and employee development and training
Manage payroll processing, including input, audit, and transmission
Manage payroll reporting, including GL interface, report generation, benefit accrual, vacation and sick time accrual tracking
Prepare tax deposits and filings for employees
Provide a complete benefits package including health insurance, vision and dental plans, flexible spending benefits plan, 401K plan, short and long-term disability insurance, and life insurance
Administer employee changes, including salary
adjustments, promotions, title changes, FLSA clarification, leaves of absence, etc.
Ensure compliance with U.S. and multinational employment laws
“DO YOU HAVE
EXPERIENCE WITH
TELECOMMUTING?”
Like the Linux and open
source communities, The
Linux Foundation has team
members located around
the world and can provide
collaborative project staff and
volunteers with the support
they need.
The Linux Foundation knows that
talent is the most important ingredient
for success, and we provide
world-class HR benefits for our collaborative
project team members so that they
can focus on development.
WEB & TECHNOLOGY MANAGEMENT
Tap into the shared expertise of the organization that manages kernel.org, the home of the largest and most successful
collaborative software development project in history. The Linux Foundation provides infrastructure services for kernel.org and over 50 other projects.
Provide standard web hosting services on managed infrastructure, with additional management and customization options available
Perform contract execution with solutions providers
Provide web traffic data reports
Manage online event registration systems
“WHAT ABOUT
COLLABORATIVE
INFRASTRUCTURE?”
The Linux Foundation has
a team of technical experts
who maintain kernel.org and
many other projects’ technical
underpinnings. We offer
cutting edge technology to
give our projects a complete
architecture of participation.
Projects and foundations that are
hosted with The Linux Foundation are
part of the greater network of Linux
Foundation activities and have access
to our infrastructure expertise.
TRADEMARK MANAGEMENT
The Linux Foundation actively manages over 20 trademarks, with registrations in the U.S. and 163 other jurisdictions around the world.
Coordinate the application for trademark registrations in selected jurisdictions or worldwide
Coordinate trademark office action responses
Recommend trademark policy and guidelines
Recommend managed exceptions to trademark policy
Administer trademark usage requests and approvals
Coordinate trademark challenges in jurisdictions worldwide
“IS LEGAL SUPPORT
PROVIDED?”
While The Linux Foundation
is not a law firm and does
not offer legal advice, we
have leading minds in open
source legal and compliance
matters on staff, and can help
shape or guide Collaborative
Projects in these areas.
The Linux Foundation has ten
years of experience handling risk
management and compliance issues
for technology non-profits.
COLLABORATIVE SUPPORT
Innovation loves company. The Linux Foundation brings
executive decision makers together with the best and brightest open source talent in the world, including kernel maintainers, project leads, architects, and highly skilled engineers.
Provide private meeting and conference session space at The Linux Foundation Collaboration Summit
Increase influence and offer discounted sponsorship
opportunities for LinuxCon (North America, Europe, Japan), CloudOpen (North America, Europe, Japan), ApacheCon, CloudStack,
“ARE WE ABLE TO
HOST A TRACK AT
THE COLLABORATION
SUMMIT?”
The Linux Foundation is in the
unique position to provide a
neutral environment at all of
our conferences.
The Linux Foundation is in the
unique position to provide a neutral
framework for our collaborative
projects, providing an unmatched
environment for problem solving,
future planning and collaboration.
STEERING GROUP MANAGEMENT
The Linux Foundation has years of experience customizing project governance models to fit the needs of the project. Direct relationships with senior decision makers and open source influencers at over 190 member companies can help your project recruit new members and diversify your board.
Manage member interactions in compliance with industry best practices
Answer membership inquiries
Provide information to members and prospects
Process membership applications and renewals
Provide member onboarding kits
Manage membership renewal processing
Provide monthly membership status
Additional program and member management services can be made available to your project.
“WHERE DO COMMITTEE
MEMBERS MEET?”
Collaborative Project partners
get access to meeting rooms
at our member events and
conferences for in-person
meetings with members.
The Linux Foundation understands
open source, and we are ready to
help our collaborative project partners
understand the value of the open
PRESS AND MARKETING
Member companies and collaborative projects have grown to depend upon The Linux Foundation to provide comprehensive press and marketing support. With in-house PR professionals, The Linux Foundation is able to offer these optional services:
Drive news cycles within both business and trade publications
Press releases
Direct outreach
Social media
“HOW MANY SOCIAL
MEDIA FOLLOWERS DO
YOU HAVE?”
The Linux Foundation has
over half a million followers
across social media channels,
and we use them to help
promote our collaborative
projects through innovative
outreach programs and
marketing initiatives like blog
posts, contests, infographics
and videos.
The Linux Foundation reaches tens of
thousands of people every year with
events, millions every month with its
web properties, including Linux.com,
and thousands every month with its
research and commentary on open
source issues.
EVENT AND CONFERENCE MANAGEMENT
25 annual branded events worldwide. 45 managed workshops, hackfests, developer days, and co-located events. Over 10,000 attendees last year. The ability to plan and deliver technical, legal, business, and executive level events.
From invitation-only events to global shows with thousands of attendees, The Linux Foundation is uniquely equipped to service your events and conference needs with the quality and efficiency that industry leaders have grown to expect and depend upon.
Event logistics and execution support for a consistent brand experience, from board or member meetings to international conferences for thousands of attendees
Optional events support available
