Yesterday the OpenBSD Foundation announced its inception as a legal entity in charge of donations of money and equipment for the OpenBSD operating system and its associated projects. Today we have an interview with Ken Westerback, one of the foundation’s founding members.

Whose idea was it to establish the OpenBSD Foundation? I know that people have been talking about this idea for a long time, but I thought Theo de Raadt wasn’t agreeable to it.

Ken Westerback: The idea for The OpenBSD Foundation came from Bob Beck after several experiences with companies expressing a reluctance to donate money or equipment to OpenBSD without getting a receipt that would satisfy their accounting department. Theo has not, to my knowledge, been opposed to the creation of such an organization but has always firmly declined to put in the work to organize, complete the paperwork and run one himself. He was quite supportive of this effort but clearly reiterated his non-involvement in the running of the organization. Theo is always happy to get no strings attached support for OpenBSD.

One problem that potential donors have spoken up about in the past is that US residents can subtract donations to the FreeBSD Foundation from their taxes, but donations to OpenBSD via Theo de Raadt did not qualify. Is making a donation to the OpenBSD Foundation tax deductible in the US? (And Canada? I don’t know if such tax provisions are available in other countries.)

KW: The OpenBSD Foundation is not a registered charity, and cannot issue tax receipts. We did consider incorporating as a charity and thus gaining that capability for Canada, but the extra paperwork and organization demands deterred us. In addition, being a registered charity involves significant extra running costs and legal obligations. If The OpenBSD Foundation attracts enough donations that the extra costs could be assumed without taking a significant portion of any donations away from OpenBSD support we will strongly consider moving to a charitable status. Going further and organizing as a US registered charity presents even more hurdles and obligations and is thus that much further over the horizon. Even more so organizing in any of the other 200 or so countries in the world today.

How will the OpenBSD Foundation benefit OpenBSD and its associated projects (OpenSSH, OpenCVS, etc.)? What problems do the foundation solve?

KW: The OpenBSD Foundation hopes to benefit OpenBSD and related projects by attracting and disbursing funding and other material support from larger organizations, in particular public corporations, that need to have a paper trail with an appropriate legal entity. All funds and equipment will be distributed to the OpenBSD developers needing it. Current projected overhead is minimal. Specific plans on assuming recurring costs such as providing financial and organizational assistance to hackathons or commissioning specific larger scale projects will be developed as the level of funding available becomes clear. As mentioned above, the main problem we see being solved is providing that legal entity whose lack was often blamed for the inability to support OpenBSD in a material way.

Who are the members of the OpenBSD Foundation, and how do they relate to the OpenBSD project?

KW: The current membership consists of the founding directors – Bob Beck, Kjell Wooding, and Ken Westerback. All of us are long term OpenBSD developers of varying degrees of current activity.

Can people “buy” new features and functionality in OpenBSD through donations, such as is implemented in the concept of software bounties? There was a recent discussion on Undeadly.org about this, specifically pertaining to implementing the WPA wireless security protocol. Many OpenBSD users said (there and elsewhere) that they would be willing to donate money if it would go toward WPA implementation in OpenBSD. Are there any plans to offer software bounties or otherwise have money buy influence in OpenBSD development?

KW: This is an idea we have discussed, but we are not currently considering becoming a gathering point for smaller donations towards a specific goal. A single large donation towards a specific goal is something we would consider on a case by case basis.

What’s the question I forgot to ask? What else should people know about the OpenBSD Foundation?

KW: We currently accept cheques only. The more zeros on the end, the faster OpenBSD will progress. .

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