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alohapersona

26 karma · joined January 25, 2021

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alohapersona··on Matrix.org Foundation accounts filing overdue by three months
As a donor I feel that organizations should provide some details how donations are used. I'm requesting the same from other organizations I'm donating to if those organizations are more than just three persons working on a free software project in their spare time.

Originally donations to matrix.org foundation were supposed to be used to fund matrix protocol work and to hire a developer. This is still listed as a goal (that was reached) on Patreon. Only due to asking I found out that this never happened and donations are used to pay matrix.org homeserver instead, which of course is also a good cause, but should be communicated transparently.

I don't mind the accounts specifically, I just think that making them public is the easiest way to fulfill the needs of transparency. Of course a summary on the website, a blog post with explanations, etc, would also be nice, but I understand those mean extra work and there might be more important things the prioritize.

alohapersona··on Matrix.org Foundation accounts filing overdue by three months
What bothers me most is that Matthew mentioned in that issue that they did the accounts on Oct 29 (perfectly in time for the deadline) and that they plan to publish them. Yet apparently they did neither file them officially nor publish them by now...
alohapersona··on Matrix.org Foundation accounts filing overdue by three months
Contracts with govs involve the for-profit New Vector Ltd. / Element and not the not-for-profit Matrix.org Foundation.
alohapersona··on Matrix.org Foundation accounts filing overdue by three months
Normally, when the deadline is extended, this is correctly reported on the Companies House website.

One has to apply for deadline extension before the deadline. Between 25 March 2020 and 25 June 2020, every application that mentions COVID-19 as a reason was accepted. Additionally, all companies with accounts due date between 26 March 2020 and 29 September 2020 automatically got an extension under the Corporate Insolvency and Governance Bill.

There are also all kinds of temporary changes to deadlines, the one that applies here is 1.4 from https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/the-companies-etc... under which is exactly the 29 October 2020 listed on Companies House website.

alohapersona··on Matrix.org Foundation accounts filing overdue by three months
The delay can result in a penalty of ~1000 USD, which probably would be paid with user donations as this is the main source of income for Matrix.org Foundation.