It's worth pointing out that both ALA/LITA and DLF/CLIR would allow
Code4Lib to work with them as our fiscal sponsor for a few years, in the
lead-up to creating a legal entity of our own, should we decide we want to.
Neither requires a long-term agreement. And (having served on the fiscal
continuity working group, but speaking *only for myself*), I think this is
a far better option than trying to jump right into forming our own
nonprofit right out of the gate.

For one thing, it comes with the possibility of having a sponsorship in
place in time for the 2019 conference. Someone who worked more closely on
the nonprofit option for our report is welcome to correct me, but it seems
to me (from what I remember from our discussions, writing/editing the
document, and also some work I've done with other potential nonprofits in
the past) that jumping through those legal hoops takes a whole lot of time
and effort.

If people are really excited about forming a nonprofit of our own, I
certainly wouldn't stand in the way. It isn't a bad option. But I believe
it carries the same shorter-term risks as the "do nothing" option: we could
fail to find a temporary sponsoring organization for 2019, and I believe it
is probably more than we need to do, right this second.

The fiscal sponsorship model seems to me like our best bet, especially as a
first step into getting more organized. As our fiscal sponsor, ALA/LITA or
DLF/CLIR (or, yeah, OLF) could take the EBSCO payments mentioned earlier in
the thread, as well as letting us receive grants and donations that are
only available to nonprofit entities. They could give us financial and
organizational continuity that we lack, and neither organization has
expressed any interest in telling us how to run our affairs; quite the
opposite, in fact.

And, to be clear: I believe the "do nothing" option is wildly irresponsible
and asking too much of future conference committees; it does not give us a
reasonable risk mitigation model. Under the current model, we risk losing
our conference forever due to a natural or legal disaster (imagine
something like Hurricane Katrina or the NC bathroom bill, happening mid-way
through conference planning, one year). We only get to have conferences as
a legal non-entity, right now, because we have a solid track record of not
ever losing money--and talk to any former conference chair about how much
pressure *that* puts on them. We've been lucky to avoid disaster, and going
with the "do nothing" option is basically just assuming we will somehow
keep avoiding disasters, forever. Because, if we fail to meet our financial
obligations with a temporary sponsor? That's going to make it *really*
difficult to find other temporary sponsors.

Again, I speak only for myself, and I don't speak as clearly as I probably
would under better personal circumstances. You're getting the best I've got
to give, this week.

- Coral