| <?php |
| /** |
| * Copyright (c) 2017, 2018 Eclipse Foundation. |
| * |
| * This program and the accompanying materials are made |
| * available under the terms of the Eclipse Public License 2.0 |
| * which is available at https://www.eclipse.org/legal/epl-2.0/ |
| * |
| * Contributors: |
| * Christopher Guindon (Eclipse Foundation) - Initial implementation |
| * Mike Milinkovich (Eclipse Foundation) |
| * Eric Poirier (Eclipse Foundation) |
| * |
| * SPDX-License-Identifier: EPL-2.0 |
| */ |
| ?> |
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| <h1><?php print $pageTitle; ?></h1> |
| <p>Last Updated: December 19, 2017</p> |
| <p>As a benefit of membership, the Eclipse Foundation accepts funding from its members, either |
| directly or through its industry working groups, and uses these funds to organize, coordinate, |
| and oversee a funded initiative on the member’s behalf. The Member Funded Initiatives |
| Program, described herein, defines the process for accepting and managing these funding |
| contributions.</p> |
| <h2>Background and Motivation</h2> |
| <p>The predominance of development on all Eclipse projects is done by, and/or for the benefit |
| of, one or more of our member companies. Communities are built around these projects, and the |
| development work on projects happens without any action or engagement taken by the Eclipse |
| Foundation.</p> |
| <p>Individual member companies often collaborate directly with each other on common initiatives, |
| with each of those members funding the various aspects of the projects. Again, the Foundation |
| is not directly engaged in this work.</p> |
| <p> |
| The same is true for <a href="/org/workinggroups/">Eclipse Working Groups</a>, which are |
| governance structures created to enable collaborative development and promotion of Eclipse |
| projects in a particular vertical or area of interest to the benefit of the working group |
| member companies. While the rules for governance are defined by the working group’s |
| charter, the specific work done on the Eclipse projects that are related to a working group |
| does not directly involve the Foundation. |
| </p> |
| <p>However, there are times when member companies would prefer to have Eclipse Foundation, or |
| one of its working groups, lead an initiative, rather than to do so themselves.</p> |
| <p>As an example, there are often technologies or capabilities that sit outside the main thrust |
| of the mainstream projects that are important to the overall growth of the broader community. |
| This can be general capabilities, shared libraries, etc. Funding to support development of |
| these capabilities is typically not seen as the responsibility of any particular member, and |
| often it is difficult to find creative ways for these technologies and capabilities to get |
| developed. In many of these cases, it may be desirable to have the working group direct |
| funding from its annual budget to ensure the development gets done.</p> |
| <p>As a second example, multiple member companies may wish to “pool” their financial |
| resources to see a shared technology get developed for their direct benefit. That is, rather |
| than entering into a separate collaboration agreement with each other to jointly fund a |
| project, the member companies would prefer to contribute their share of the cost of a |
| development initiative managed by the Foundation or a working group.</p> |
| <p>Funding initiatives are not limited to just development tasks. There are also occasions where |
| member companies wish to contribute funds to drive, for example, marketing and communications |
| initiatives, or to drive community development activities over an extended period of time.</p> |
| <h2>Funding Mechanism Details - MFI Agreements</h2> |
| <p>Funding to support the Eclipse Foundation carrying out a particular initiative can come from |
| any of:</p> |
| <ol class="alpha"> |
| <li>an individual member company wishing to fund an initiative by itself,</li> |
| <li>a group of member companies wishing to contribute jointly to a funded initiative, or</li> |
| <li>a working group’s overall annual budget.</li> |
| </ol> |
| <p> |
| In the case of funding coming from an individual member company or a group of companies, each |
| participating member company will enter into an <strong>Eclipse Foundation Member Funded |
| Initiative Agreement</strong> (“MFI Agreement”) with the Foundation. The MFI |
| Agreement will specify, at a minimum, the amount of the contribution, the initiative being |
| supported, and the desired outcome. In the case of “pooled initiatives”, each |
| member company will enter into an individual MFI Agreement with the Foundation, with a note |
| indicating these funds are being combined with other funds to enable the common initiative to |
| proceed. |
| </p> |
| <p>In the case of funding coming from a working group’s annual budget, a representative of |
| the working group steering committee will make a formal request to the Foundation to initiate |
| the MFI. This request must be in accordance with the working group charter, and within its |
| approved budget. In this case, the request must state the amount of the commitment and the |
| initiative being supported. Unlike funding contributions made by member companies, no MFI |
| Agreement will be required when funding comes from the working group budget, as the working |
| group is managed directly by the Eclipse Foundation. Rather, a Working Group MFI Statement of |
| Work will be agreed to by the steering committee representative. As part of the formal working |
| group process, it is expected that all MFI Statements of Work be read into the minutes of the |
| working group to ensure maximum transparency among all members.</p> |
| <p>In all cases, the Eclipse Foundation will begin an associated Funded Initiative Effort, as |
| described below, once the terms are finalized and the contributions are received.</p> |
| <p>For its efforts and to help sustain and enhance the MFI Program, beginning January 1, 2018, |
| the Eclipse Foundation will charge the fees as shown in Table 1. These fees are charged |
| annually, and for each funded initiative. In the case of working groups, each working |
| group’s funded initiatives will be treated as one.</p> |
| <div class="row"> |
| <div class="col-md-12 col-md-offset-6"> |
| <table class="table table-bordered table-hover text-center"> |
| <thead> |
| <tr> |
| <th class="text-center">Table 1: Annual Fee (per initiative or working group)</th> |
| </tr> |
| </thead> |
| <tbody> |
| <tr> |
| <td>15% of the 1st $500,000 in contributions (min $4000)</td> |
| </tr> |
| <tr> |
| <td>10% of the next $1,500,000 in contributions</td> |
| </tr> |
| <tr> |
| <td>6% of any contributions thereafter</td> |
| </tr> |
| </tbody> |
| </table> |
| </div> |
| </div> |
| <p>MFI Agreements will not guarantee the delivery of any particular service or capability, but |
| instead will state the intention to do so on a best efforts basis. Note that should Eclipse |
| Foundation be unable to carry out the initiative (for example, a suitable subcontractor to |
| carry out the development effort cannot be found) within 6 months of receiving a contribution, |
| then the funds shall be returned to the funding organization, the MFI Agreement terminated, |
| and Eclipse Foundation will charge no fee for their service.</p> |
| <h2>Funded Initiative Efforts</h2> |
| <p>Eclipse Foundation will, in most cases, engage with members of the Eclipse community and |
| other experts, to fulfill the tasks associated with the initiative. For example, the |
| Foundation will subcontract with the qualified developers from the community to fulfill |
| initiatives that call for development of code.</p> |
| <p>All development work subcontracted by the Foundation will be done in accordance with the |
| Eclipse Development Process, and the work will be contributed to the appropriate working group |
| project(s). While not strictly limited, it is the intention to, whenever possible, subcontract |
| with members of the working group community to carry out the work. The reason for this is to |
| benefit those with membership, and to strengthen the ecosystem.</p> |
| <p>It is expected that Eclipse Foundation will turn to either the contributing member companies |
| or the working group itself to assist with the technical specification of the development |
| effort’s work schedules, and with the oversight of the development efforts as they |
| proceed.</p> |
| <h2>For More Information</h2> |
| <p> |
| For more information, or to engage with Eclipse Foundation in a member funded initiative, send |
| email to <a href="mailto:membership@eclipse.org">membership@eclipse.org</a>. |
| </p> |
| </div> |
| </div> |