The Document Foundation has launched an appeal to fund its legal incorporation. It needs 50,000 Euros by March 21st and is seeking online donations.

Despite having forked from OpenOffice.org in September 2010, The Document Foundation (DF) is not yet a legal entity. Instead the German association, OpenOffice.org Deutschland e.V., continues to hold its legal assets and to pay its infrastructure costs. This is to change but to bring it about DF needs financial assistance.

In launching The Document Foundation's appeal for funds Steering Committee member Florian Effenberger explained:

"After thorough investigation, the Steering Committee came to the conclusion that a foundation based in Germany would provide the best stability, not only for our users, but also for adopters, developers and enterprises. For achieving this stability, a capital stock of at least 50,000 Euros is considered best practice in Germany."  

and this is the sum that is required by March 21st.

All donations will be used for setting-up The Document Foundation, and funds that are surplus to 50,000 Euros for the purposes of incorpration will be fed directly into the future foundation's budget to cover operating costs. If insufficient funds are raised The Document Foundation will use the donations to incorporate itself in a country that requires less capital stock, such as the UK.

The Document Foundation has set up dedicated website with detailed information about the appeal at http://challenge.documentfoundation.org.

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