Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation
Martin EdenThe Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is the nonprofit organization established to provide a secure and permanent future for Project Gutenberg and to support the continued free distribution of electronic works. The license presents its mission as dependent on a wide public base: volunteers supply essential work, while donations help sustain that work and keep the collection available to future generations. It also sets out the Foundation’s educational and tax-exempt status, describes its offices and contact arrangements, and explains the importance of donations and compliance with charity regulations.
Mission and relationship to Project Gutenberg
The Foundation’s stated purpose is closely tied to Project Gutenberg’s distribution mission. Project Gutenberg makes electronic works available in formats readable across a wide range of computers, including older equipment. The license characterizes that distribution as free and enabled by the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and by donations from people in many walks of life. The Foundation, in turn, was created to provide a secure and permanent future for Project Gutenberg and for later generations of readers.
The license describes free access as a practical undertaking as well as an aspiration: works are to be distributed in machine-readable forms that can be used on a broad array of equipment, including outdated devices. This emphasis connects the Foundation’s long-term role to the continuity of the collection and the means by which people can reach it. Its work is not presented as self-sustaining. Volunteers and the financial support needed to assist them are described as critical to achieving Project Gutenberg’s goals and preserving free availability.
Establishment and institutional status
The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created in 2001 to provide a secure and permanent future for Project Gutenberg. The license identifies it as a nonprofit 501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of Mississippi and granted tax-exempt status by the Internal Revenue Service. It supplies the Foundation’s federal tax identification number as 64-6221541 and states that contributions are tax deductible to the fullest extent permitted by applicable federal and state law.
These details establish the legal framework within which the Foundation solicits and receives support. The license presents its educational classification and tax-exempt status alongside its public mission, linking charitable contributions to the continuation of free electronic distribution. It also cautions that tax rules depend on the donor’s jurisdiction: the extent of deductibility is subject to the laws that apply, rather than being guaranteed identically for every contributor.
Offices, contacts, and administration
The license lists the Foundation’s principal office at 4557 Melan Dr. S., Fairbanks, Alaska, and says that its volunteers and employees are scattered across numerous locations. Its business office is listed at 809 North 1500 West, Salt Lake City, Utah. The document also gives a business telephone number and an email address, and directs readers to the Foundation’s website for current contact information. These entries depict an organization with administrative offices but a geographically dispersed body of volunteers and employees.
The license names Dr. Gregory B. Newby as Chief Executive and Director and provides an email contact for him. The listing offers a specific point of contact within the organization, while the separate business-office details distinguish general administrative contact from the Foundation’s principal office. Because the document also directs readers to its website for updated information, the addresses and contacts are best understood as the particulars printed in that license rather than as a guarantee of present-day contact details.
Donations and public accountability
The Foundation’s funding model depends on widespread public support and donations. The license says that the organization cannot carry out its mission without contributions that support the distribution of public-domain and licensed works in accessible machine-readable form. It emphasizes that many small donations, ranging from $1 to $5,000, are particularly important to maintaining the Foundation’s tax-exempt status. The emphasis on modest gifts presents broad participation, rather than reliance on a single source of support, as important to the organization’s continuation.
Fundraising is also described as subject to state-by-state compliance requirements. The Foundation states that it is committed to following laws governing charities and charitable donations in all 50 states, while noting that requirements vary and demand paperwork, fees, and ongoing effort. It does not solicit contributions in locations where it has not received written confirmation of compliance, and directs readers to its donation information to check a state’s status or make a contribution. At the same time, the license distinguishes solicitation from acceptance: it says the Foundation knows of no prohibition against accepting unsolicited donations from residents of states where it has not met solicitation requirements.
This account makes legal compliance part of the practical conditions of the Foundation’s mission. Public support is essential, but the means of asking for it are constrained by differing regulations. The organization’s appeal for donations therefore rests on two connected responsibilities: maintaining the financial support needed for free distribution and conducting fundraising within the requirements applicable to charitable organizations.