Administration Section Guidance 

The ultimate goal for the SME Server community should be to support itself - pay our own bills, invest in our own initiatives, and support our own activities. Until this goal is reached, the community will depend on a Corporate Steward (and possibly other sponsors) to fund and provide a certain level of services.  Any activities beyond the scope of what is donated by the sponsor(s) will have to be funded internally.  The following items are some suggestions to help obtain these funds.


Voluntary Licensing Program for the SME Distribution

In order to provide some modest revenue stream to support development and enhancement of the SME distribution and the community website(s), it is proposed that we establish a voluntary 'licensing' scheme for for-profit commercial entities only.  The licensing scheme will have the following rules:
- A voluntary annual donation of a modest amount (suggestion - $50) is to be requested from all for-profit commercial entities during the installation process.  It is expected that any VAR's or independent consultants will include this fee in any RFP, bid or quotation for an SME server deployment.  The entity will receive an installation CD for the base version that has been registered for re-installation purposes.
- It is suggested that the distro is enhanced to provide for a registration process.  This brief registration process will be completed during the installation of SME server (which is bypassed if the installer indicates that this is a non-commercial install OR that the user objects to the fee).  The information provided during the registration will be used for renewal invoices.  If the install is done by a VAR or consultant, a place will be provided for the installer to indicate their email address to which the invoice will be submitted instead.  In this way, the installer can forward the invoice and use the renewal as an opportunity to promote a continuing business relationship with the client.  The installer will be entitled to a royalty of 20% of any renewals collected on behalf of the community.
- Any renewal invoices will clearly state that they are non-binding, but are used to support ongoing development, security and bug patches.
- The business manager will manage or oversee the management of the licensing and renewal process.
- The licensing text will clearly state that the distribution is provided as is and without warranty.  All liability will be waived and damages will be limited to $10 per PAID installation or replacement of the distribution CD as per common license agreements as permitted by the UCC.

Any funds received by this scheme will be deposited in the general working fund and may be used at the discretion of the leadership committee.  It is expected that any expenses above and beyond what is donated by the Corporate Steward will be paid from this fund.  The balance of the fund may be spent in accordance with the constitutional guidelines to fund any future reward, bounty and recognition programs, etc. in addition to any operating expenses.


Other Programs

Other programs were proposed during the drafting of this constitution that would generate income for the community. They are provided for your consideration in the accompanying document entitled 'Administrative Fundraising'.