Using the name of Tryton Foundation and logo on certificates for contributors

From time to time when I help organize events I make certificates for each participant to thank them and acknowledge their contributions to a project. Is it possible to use the name of Tryton Foundation on certificates? This is not a request for any funding, it is only to use the name and logo.

Would any board member volunteer to have their name and signature printed on certificates? A certificate template can be reviewed by the board before agreeing to this.

People normally attach these certificates to their CV as evidence of their training and experience. Therefore, it is likely to be seen by every employer who looks at the CV and it can be helpful publicity for Tryton.

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For me it is not in the mission of the Foundation to make certification. But also it does not have the resources to make that correctly (which is required to give such certificate some value).

The usage of Tryton® is explained at Tryton - Foundation
For the “Tryton Foundation”, you can not impersonate it as it is a legal entity.

No board member can sign in the name of the Foundation. Only the managing directors and administration delegates can sign the name of the Foundation but only for the management of the Foundation.

The project put more value on people who participates in the project and so it is more the profile on this forum or as committer (e.g: Contributors to tryton/trytond · GitHub).
Like to be listed as service provider: Tryton - Become a Service Provider

The type of certificate I’m talking about is not like a degree or qualification. It would contain a single sentence: “We thank this person for attending this event (dd/mm/yyyy) in (city) and making a contribution to Tryton”

This was not about impersonation: I’m specifically asking if the foundation would formally endorse a very simple certificate that confirms somebody made contributions.

Would the board be willing to give the director a very limited authorisation to sign certificates that confirm somebody made a contribution?

Certificates look a bit naked without any signature on them.

Please also consider how this would work for co-sponsors. If a sponsor gives some money or a room (e.g. in a university) they usually like to have their name added to all publicity materials.

Yes, this is specifically for people who make contributions. It is not only for coming to watch a talk about Tryton. Some other organizations already do this too. Fedora has badges, Debian has certificates now.

There is a very big cultural difference between different countries. In some countries it is hard for graduates to find their first internship if they don’t have any certificates. In Switzerland, for example, they like to have two signatures on a certificate.

A very large number of voluntary organizations give certificates to their members. For example, if somebody attends a first aid course, they receive a certificate. The certificate does not say they are a doctor. It says “This person spent one day at the first aid course.” This is very simple and accurate.

The links you mention could be integrated as a QR code on the certificate. It would be useful to have a single link that aggregates all the contributions. Maybe we could make links like this with a redirect:

https://contributors.tryton.org/email@example.org
→ Discourse user profile (302 Temporary redirect)

This type of URL would continue working even if Tryton stops using Discourse and changes the redirects to a different target.

I see no problem in such sentence. It does not even require any authorization.

For me the Foundation has no purpose for endorsement.
Also for me the best person to endorse and confirm that someone participated to an event is the organizer of the event.
So I do not see any problem that you sign such document with the sentence above.

We do not use such practice with Tryton. We always try to be independent and have no string attached.

I have spoken in my name here. But it will be better if board members of the Foundation speak out.

Like Cédric said, I don’t see a problem with such a statement. Even if they had just submitted a codereview, it’s a statement of a fact.

I wouldn’t mind signing something that says “Mr/Ms XXXX has contributed to Tryton” as long as it is true :wink:

I think we did that when we organized the unconference in Leipzig. @jgras does it ring any bell?

grafik

No :slight_smile: - only mention in the bottom right.

But since you are the organizer of “your” event I think you can feel free, how to show your sponsors.
I don’t know if we can find a way to officially classify events as Foundation events. But in the end, each one is a support for Tryton itself.
A small step would perhaps be to develop a kind of corporate design so that these individual events are perceived as belonging together, without immediately burdening the active community members with bureaucratic effort.

I moved the idea about permalinks for contributors to a different topic

There is a distinction between

  • a Tryton Foundation event
  • an event where volunteers make a contribution of code, translation or testing, this is effectively a non-monetary donation to the Tryton Foundation

The certificate is recognizing the latter: the combination of attendance + contribution

For Tryton Foundation to endorse or be a co-organizer of an event there may be some different criteria, for example, a decision by the board, minimum number of Foundation members in attendance or management of the event. Those are decisions for the Foundation.

To use the certificates, the threshold may be a lot lower: a contribution

If the ongoing contributions are bigger than the bureaucratic effort then it may be worthwhile. Nonetheless, as we are all volunteers, it is up to each person to decide if they want to invest their time in bureaucratic stuff or if they just want to code.

Indeed the goal of the foundation is to promote Tryton so if someone is willing to organize an event to find contributions we can help on its organization.

For me there is no foundation events (as they are always organized by volunters) but and event prometed by the foundation which can be any Tryton related event.

The Tirana event has already registered a few participants.

The whole focus of the event will be contributing to Tryton: each person will spend about an hour on the Albanian translation. Then they will test the new Chart of Accounts and VAT reporting for Albania. It is a lot like the VAT form in Switzerland.

I’d be interested to know if you have any ideas for supporting the event, if anybody can assist remotely or if anybody is keen to travel to Albania.

Where is such functionality available? Could you share the link to the related issue?

I will like to join remotly but the event schedule does not fit in my agenda.