Mission

The mission of the CodePlex Foundation is to enable the exchange of code and understanding among software companies and open source communities.

Governance

The Basics

The Codeplex Foundation is a 501(c)(6) organization governed by a Board of Directors who operate according to an approved set of bylaws. The vision and policy of the foundation are determined by the Board, and any agreements entered into by the Foundation are approved by the Board. The Foundation's funding comes from the donations of Foundation partners.

Today

The Codeplex Foundation provides a framework to facilitate the participation of corporate software developers in open source projects, either through intellectual property contributions to the foundation or through time volunteered under the auspices of the foundation to enable development work on open source projects. The Codeplex Foundation also provides a channel of communication from the open source community back to Foundation sponsors and other software companies, advancing the dialog between software companies and open source communities.

To enable companies and individuals to make contributions to the foundation we have drafted the following templates to allow for both assignment and license of copyrights or patents to the foundation. Projects who wish to be a part of the foundation are welcome to use either template as a starting point for making their contribution:

• Our by-laws. These are the ground rules established by the Board of Directors for the operation of the foundation.
• Our contribution agreement. This serves as a template for how companies or individuals may license copyrights or patents to the Foundation.
• Our assignment agreement. This serves as a template for how companies or individuals may make copyright or patent contributions to the Foundation.
• Our project acceptance and operations guidelines. This serves as a policy for how projects are accepted into the Foundation, and how they are organized and managed once accepted. Currently a working draft.

The Codeplex Foundation releases intellectual property under a standard open source license. Which open source license depends on the needs and constraints of the open source project in question.

The Future

We don't have it all figured out yet. We know that corporate software developers are under-represented on open source projects. We know that software companies face very specific challenges in determining how to engage with open source communities. We know that there are misunderstandings on both sides. Our aim is to advance the IT industry for both software companies and open source communities by helping to meet these challenges.

Meeting these challenges is a collaborative process. We want your participation.

Our governance documents are deliberately sparse, because we expect them to change. The most important document, the Codeplex Foundation Charter, doesn't even exist in draft form yet. The charter will articulate the kinds of projects the Foundation works with, and what the relationship is between the Foundation and those projects. The charter will add detail to the mission statement, providing goals and approaches the Foundation will pursue.

Our Board of Directors is an interim board. While we've worked hard to see that the board has a community voice as well as a partner voice, we think one of the board's primary missions is to act as a search committee to find a permanent board of directors that brings representation from software companies and open source communities such that all parties feel confident the board can fairly represent their views.

Who should be on our board? How should our governance documents be expanded or changed? What should the Foundation's charter be? Let us know. Participate.