FAQ

After a careful exchange of terms and the donor contract, there is the usual cooling-off period to sign the contract.

However, as soon as the contract is signed, the donor is obligated to pay the donorship, and we will have to strictly enforce that. A donor can only lay off the obligation by having another donor replace him/her.
This strict debtor management is necessary because we must deliver on our promises and need the finances to do so.

Having presented the general rule, individual cases can be discussed with the chairman of the Foundation to see if there is a way out.

Look for existing projects on our website or submit your proposal. Within a foundation project, roles will be selected for assignment, candidates will be assessed, and officers will be appointed and paid for their deliverables.

Example calculation

Suppose you suggest that Developer Y code with us. Great idea and a lovely proposal!
Suppose we agree on Y’s suitability for any vacant project roles (it could be your own freshly established KERI foundation project).

In that case, we hire Y for the same amount that Y’s gross salary involves.

The extra step is needed to keep the foundation independent of individuals and their bosses.

The KERI Foundation has a long-term and global scope. However, can direct part of the team and its agenda to a local scope, directly funded by interest groups for this particular local scope.

In terms of execution, they are the only roles you can currently translate operationally into functions.
See the other parts of the website to dive deep into their competence profiles that lay out their task, responsibilities, and rights as foundation managers.

Besides the managers of the Foundation, whose rights are laid out in the Operational Agreement (Feb 2025: status concept) and the Memorandum of Understanding (Feb 2025: status concept), we have the members of the steering L3C.

There are no veto rights for the members of the L3C should there be a draw in the votes of the L3C, and Sam Smith is still a member of the L3C; he gets the privilege to add one extra member vote to get out of the stalemate.

The KERI Foundation decided to maintain its own repositories to focus more on further maturing the KERISuite and to establish a governance structure that is clearer and more streamlined.

While the WoT community remains volunteer-driven, KF aims to manage directed funds and funded projects more efficiently. This setup allows KF to work on targeted developments while ensuring the code remains open and licensed under Apache 2.0. The decision was not made to split the community but to provide a more structured way to advance the KERISuite.

The primary concern is that newcomers may find it confusing to understand the relationship between the different repositories and their purposes.

Historically, there have been multiple overlapping initiatives like ToIP, IETF, WoT, and DIF, which already caused confusion. Adding KF repositories could further complicate things for those unfamiliar with the ecosystem. Newcomers might ask, “What lives where?” and feel that the community is fragmented. Ensuring clarity through proper documentation and syncing practices could help address this issue.

The main reason for having separate KF repositories is that the open-source code that belongs there will have an enhanced balanced legal framework and decision-making unit.

Security and reputation are key here.

A responsible tech team should manage this auditing/steering under Technical Managers’ leadership.

Compliance and API compatibility with the reference installation should be the deciding factors. More of those key criteria could be noted in the organizational regulations.

There will be a tech team managing all technical and security issues. Under the Technical Managers’ leadership, but not on a day-to-day basis. This role will be gatekeeping to ensure all operations are aligned with the strategic objectives and vision.

Technical Management of the KERI Foundation is appointed to Sam Smith as long as he wishes to perform this role and is capable of doing so. Because of his special background as the KERISuite inventor and co-founder of the KF, implementations should be in full width and non-negotiably vetoable by him for as long as he’s in a Technical Management position.
Apart from him, no other individual in this future position will have a veto right.

After a careful exchange of terms and the donor contract, there is the usual cooling-off period to sign the contract.

However, as soon as the contract is signed, the donor is obligated to pay the donorship, and we will have to strictly enforce that. A donor can only lay off the obligation by having another donor replace him/her.
This strict debtor management is necessary because we must deliver on our promises and need the finances to do so.

Having presented the general rule, individual cases can be discussed with the chairman of the Foundation to see if there is a way out.