About the Foundation

What is the Kodi Foundation?

The Kodi Foundation is the non-profit organization that oversees and operates the Kodi media centre project. It handles all financial items as well as IP and trademark related issues and enquiries. Generally it covers all of the back-office and administrative aspects of the project, as a rule of thumb it handles everything but the code.

The Kodi Foundation is a non-profit organization, registered in the US.

Foundation Membership and Roles

The membership of the Kodi Foundation is made up of members of Team Kodi, and joining is not mandatory to be a team member.

Any Team Kodi member can apply to join the Foundation at any time, and joining is by approval of the Board. Membership nominally lasts for one year, although the Board will annually re-approve existing memberships unless the member has requested to resign their membership of the Foundation or has become inactive in the project.

The principle role of the Foundation membership is to elect the Board of Directors.

The Kodi Foundation Board of Directors

The Board of Directors are Foundation members who have been nominated and selected by vote of the membership to manage and oversee the Kodi Foundation. The Board consists of five seats, which are elected every two years by the members. There are three named officers (President, Secretary and Treasurer) with the other two directors optionally taking the title of either Director or Vice-President.

Typically the timing is staggered so that two seats are up for election in a given year, with the other three in the following year to allow for some continuity.

The Board’s responsibilities include management of funds, publicity, and all business related issues (taxes, communication with other businesses, maintaining non-profit status etc.)

The Board meets about once a month (in addition to any special meetings as required) to discuss any business that needs to be handled by the foundation. Meetings are typically conducted via teleconference using a service such as Zoom.

What is Expected of a Foundation Board Member?

Board members are expected to attend all board meetings or will otherwise be diligent in making their apologies and letting the other board members know if they cannot be present.

Furthermore, they are expected to make decisions as a group in the best interests of the Foundation and the project. The Board is accountable to the members, so will consider issues, requests and recommendations made by members during the decision making process, though they ultimately make the final decisions. Issues and requests can be raised by any team member via the board GitHub repo.

The Board meetings are recorded and made available to all team members. Minutes are also taken and issued via the Board GitHub repo.

Who Elects the Officers?

The board elects its own officers. In doing so, they may choose to take advice from the membership, but the decision is theirs. The President must be from within the board itself, though Secretary, Treasurer, and any other officers the board wishes to appoint may be from outside the board (or outside the Foundation membership).

How do Board Elections Operate?

Board elections occur as follows:

  • Nominations for the open Board seats are taken from within the existing Foundation membership via a forum thread. This lasts a total of no less than 7 days.
  • Anyone nominated can accept or decline their nomination. Anyone who accepts is placed on the ballot.
  • A vote of the membership is then taken using a trusted internet voting service using a ranking system. (usually via the Condorcet Internet Voting Service, http://www.cs.cornell.edu/w8/~andru/civs ) and the candidates with the highest ranks take office. This vote lasts a minimum of 7 days.

The election process is overseen by one of the Board members whose seat is not up for election.

Legal Representation

The Foundation is legally represented by the SFLC (Software Freedom Law Center).

Related Documentation

The Kodi Foundation Articles of Incorporation

The Kodi Foundation By-Laws