[Federation Name]: Resources and Links

A reference document for founding members. Verified May 2026.

Sliding-scale, donation-based legal advice by Zoom appointment. Three sessions per month. SELC specializes in cooperatives, nonprofits, social enterprises, and the kind of governance question this federation is working through.

This is the right first call. SELC will review the framework, flag issues, and either help directly or refer to a lawyer who will. Budget a $50–$200 donation if you can swing it; they survive on those.

California Secretary of State filings

Articles of Incorporation: Nonprofit Mutual Benefit Corporation (Form ARTS-MU)

Statement of Information (Form SI-100)

Business name search (check availability before filing)

https://bizfileonline.sos.ca.gov/search/business

Federal tax exemption

IRS Form 1024 (Application for Recognition of Exemption Under Section 501(a))

Used for 501(c)(6) and other non-(c)(3) classifications. $600 user fee. Filed electronically via Pay.gov. Currently 6–9 months for IRS determination.

https://www.irs.gov/forms-pubs/about-form-1024

EIN application (free, online, immediate)

https://www.irs.gov/businesses/small-businesses-self-employed/apply-for-an-employer-identification-number-ein-online

California Franchise Tax Board Form 3500A (state exemption)

Streamlined form, free, used once federal exemption is granted.

https://www.ftb.ca.gov/forms/misc/3500a.pdf

Fiscal sponsorship (the bridge option)

Open Source Collective

A 501(c)(6) nonprofit that explicitly hosts open-source projects, advocacy groups, conferences, and meetups. Excellent fit for an AT Protocol federation in its bridge phase. 10% administrative fee on funds received.

OSC supports 2,500+ projects, handles GitHub Sponsors integration, manages contracts and legal review, and provides transparent finances. The bridge option exists so the Federation can accept a Bluesky grant in June without waiting on IRS approval.

Fiscal Sponsorship Allies

Model C fiscal sponsor, broader scope, not open-source-specific. https://www.fiscalsponsorshipallies.org/

Aspiration

Nonprofit fiscal sponsor focused on community organizing and tech-for-good. Good fit if the Federation’s framing leans more “movement” than “open source.” https://aspirationtech.org/

Insurance

Nonprofits Insurance Alliance of California (NIAC)

The default provider for California nonprofits. General liability plus Directors & Officers (D&O) bundles. Understands member-organization structures and additional-insured arrangements (so a meetup in another city can be covered under the federation’s policy).

Quote request: https://insurancefornonprofits.org/

For a small federation, expect $1,500–$4,000/year all-in, depending on event activity, attendance numbers, and coverage limits.

Reference architectures (federations that work like the one we’re building)

Linux Foundation

501(c)(6) federation of organizations supporting open-source projects. Member-governed, accepts corporate funding without governance capture. The cleanest legal analog to what we’re building.

Bylaws: https://www.linuxfoundation.org/bylaws

Apache Software Foundation

501(c)(3) educational, member-elected board, project-autonomy model. Different tax classification, similar federation-of-projects governance.

https://www.apache.org/foundation/

Cloud Native Computing Foundation (CNCF)

501(c)(6) under the Linux Foundation umbrella. Multi-tier sponsor structure with strict governance separation.

https://www.cncf.io/

OpenJS Foundation

Another Linux Foundation-style member federation.

https://openjsf.org/

Skim one or two of these bylaws documents before the lawyer conversation. The patterns become visible, and the gaps in this federation’s draft skeleton become clearer.

International federation resources

Wikimedia chapter agreements and movement charter

The most thoroughly documented example of a federation-of-equals operating across ~40 country-specific affiliates. Public documents, well-tested, designed for the “no single country dominates” structure.

Mozilla Foundation international structure

A real-world example of a US (c)(3) operating with separate entities in Germany and elsewhere.

https://foundation.mozilla.org/

Council on Foundations: International grantmaking resources

The standard reference for US-incorporated nonprofits making cross-border grants.

https://www.cof.org/content/international-grantmaking

Adler & Colvin

San Francisco law firm specializing in nonprofit law including cross-border work. The right firm for a second-opinion consultation after SELC.

https://www.adlercolvin.com/

Wagenmaker & Oberly

Another nonprofit law firm with practical resources on international grantmaking, expenditure responsibility, and equivalency determinations.

https://www.wagenmakerlaw.com/blog

IRS: Grants to foreign organizations

Primary source for what US funders may require when grants are intended to flow internationally.

TechSoup Global / NGOsource

Equivalency determination services, used when US funders need a good-faith determination that an international grantee is equivalent to a US public charity. Useful to know about.

https://www.ngosource.org/

CAF America

Long-running US-based intermediary for international charitable grantmaking. Sometimes the easiest path for a US funder to give to an international member group is through CAF America rather than through the Federation.

https://cafamerica.org/

Corporations Canada: Not-for-profit corporations

Official guide to incorporating under the Canada Not-for-profit Corporations Act (CNCA). The lightest sister-entity path of any jurisdiction we evaluated. ~$200 CAD online filing.

https://ised-isde.canada.ca/site/corporations-canada/en/not-profit-corporations

Canada Revenue Agency: Charities and giving

CRA’s reference for Canadian nonprofit and charitable tax treatment. Less stringent oversight of inbound foreign funds than of outbound charitable disbursements.

https://www.canada.ca/en/revenue-agency/services/charities-giving.html

Ippan Shadan Hojin (Japan)

General Incorporated Association is the Japanese form analogous to a California Mutual Benefit Corp; created in 2008 nonprofit reform. ~$700 USD all-in. Requires a Shiho shoshi (judicial scrivener) for notarization.

International data protection

GDPR: Information Commissioner’s Office (UK) guide

Plain-English explainer of UK and EU data protection requirements.

https://ico.org.uk/for-organisations/uk-gdpr-guidance-and-resources/

EU GDPR official text

https://eur-lex.europa.eu/eli/reg/2016/679/oj

PIPEDA (Canada)

Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act. Less stringent than GDPR but applies to organizations collecting personal information in Canada.

https://www.priv.gc.ca/en/privacy-topics/privacy-laws-in-canada/the-personal-information-protection-and-electronic-documents-act-pipeda/

APPI (Japan)

Act on the Protection of Personal Information. Applies when handling personal information of Japanese residents. Updated in recent revisions to align more closely with GDPR.

https://www.ppc.go.jp/en/legal/

Iubenda

Privacy policy generator that’s multi-jurisdiction aware (GDPR, CCPA, PIPEDA, LGPD). Reasonable starting point for the Federation’s privacy policy. ~$10/month.

https://www.iubenda.com/

Banking

Wise Business

Multi-currency accounts and low-cost international transfers. The standard tool for US-incorporated international federations. Best primary banking for a federation with international member groups.

Mercury

Online business banking for US-domestic operations. Now offers Mercury Treasury and some international transfer capability, but still US-resident-first.

https://mercury.com/

Relay

Multi-account budgeting that fits federation-style fund tracking, US-domestic.

https://relayfi.com/

Bookkeeping

California Cooperative and Mutual Benefit governance reading

Free comprehensive PDF. Good background on co-op governance even though the Federation is going mutual benefit, because the underlying democratic-governance principles overlap.

https://cccd.coop/sites/default/files/resources/LegalSourcebookForCaliforniaCooperatives_0.pdf

California Corporations Code: Nonprofit Mutual Benefit Corporation Law

Statutes governing mutual benefit corps, §§ 7110–8910.

https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/codes_displayexpandedbranch.xhtml?tocCode=CORP&division=2.

Code of Conduct templates

For a federation hosting in-person meetups, Citizen Code of Conduct is the closest fit. Adapt it. Don’t ship a generic one untouched.

Things to ask the lawyer

When you book the SELC Legal Café slot, bring this list. Given the international scope, the Federation may want a second consultation with a cross-border nonprofit lawyer (Adler & Colvin in SF is the go-to in California for this).

For the California / SELC consultation

  1. Is a California Nonprofit Mutual Benefit Corporation the right vehicle for an international federation of unincorporated meetup groups, or does the international scope push toward a Delaware nonstock corp (the Linux Foundation pattern) registered as a foreign nonprofit in California?
  2. Should the founding member groups be required to formalize themselves before becoming Federation members, or can the Federation accept unincorporated associations as members regardless of jurisdiction?
  3. Does the funder-concentration clause (Section 7.5 of the bylaws skeleton) raise any IRS issues for 501(c)(6) status? Is 40% the right threshold?
  4. Does the asset-lock language in Article XI satisfy IRS requirements for 501(c)(6), including the international-affiliates provisions in Article XIII?
  5. What additional policies does the Federation need on adoption (Conflict of Interest, Whistleblower, Document Retention, Gift Acceptance, International Funds, Privacy Policy)?
  6. Are there California Attorney General registrations the Federation needs (Registry of Charitable Trusts, charitable solicitation registration), and do those change because the Federation has international members?

For the cross-border / international consultation

  1. What insurance options exist for extending liability coverage to events run by member groups in Canada, the EU, the UK, Japan, and other jurisdictions? What does the Federation owe member groups whose jurisdictions can’t be covered by a US-issued policy?
  2. What documentation does the Federation need to maintain to handle expenditure responsibility documentation when US private foundations grant to us with strings on international redistribution?
  3. What are the Federation’s tax-reporting obligations when distributing funds to non-US member groups in different jurisdictions? (W-8BEN-E, 1099, FATCA, OFAC screening, and jurisdiction-specific issues like Japan corporate-inhabitant tax: which apply and how?)
  4. Does GDPR (and UK GDPR) apply to the Federation as a US entity processing personal data of EU and UK member-group organizers and event attendees? What’s the minimal compliant posture? Are there equivalent considerations for Canada (PIPEDA) and Japan (APPI)?
  5. When the Federation eventually creates international Affiliates (Article XIII), what’s the cleanest structure for each region: a Memorandum of Understanding, a licensing agreement, a parent-subsidiary structure (typically avoided for governance reasons), or something else? How do Canadian CNCA, Belgian AISBL, UK CIC, and Japanese ippan shadan hojin compare as Affiliate vehicles?
  6. Does the Federation need to register as a foreign nonprofit or as doing business in any non-US jurisdiction merely because member groups operate there?

A note on timing

The fastest path to “we have insurance and can accept Bluesky’s grant”:

About a year from “let’s do this” to fully independent. Six months to operational coverage via the fiscal-sponsor bridge.

International expansion (Pattern B, creating sister entities in Canada, the EU, the UK, Japan, or elsewhere) is a Year 2-3 question, not a Year 1 question. The Federation will operate as a US entity with international members in its first phase, and add Affiliates only when there’s a specific reason (a major EU funder requires local incorporation, a Japanese funder relationship justifies an ippan shadan hojin). Canadian CNCA is the lightest sister-entity path of any jurisdiction evaluated.