KDE e.V.
Foundation behind the KDE community
title: "KDE e.V." type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["free-software-project-foundations", "kde", "non-profit-organisations-based-in-berlin"] description: "Foundation behind the KDE community" topic_path: "general/free-software-project-foundations" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/KDE_e.V." license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0
::summary Foundation behind the KDE community ::
::data[format=table title="Infobox organization"]
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| name | KDE e.V. |
| formation | |
| logo | Logo KDE e.V.png |
| logo_size | 150px |
| mapframe | yes |
| mapframe-coordinates | |
| founder | Matthias Ettrich and Matthias Kalle Dalheimer |
| type | NPO |
| key_people | Aleix Pol i Gonzàlez (President) |
| subsidiaries | KDE |
| website | |
| focus | Free software |
| headquarters | Prinzenstraße 85 F, 10969 Berlin, Germany |
| :: |
| name = KDE e.V. | formation = | logo = Logo KDE e.V.png | logo_size = 150px | mapframe = yes | mapframe-coordinates = | founder = Matthias Ettrich and Matthias Kalle Dalheimer | type = NPO | key_people = Aleix Pol i Gonzàlez (President) | subsidiaries = KDE | website = | focus = Free software | headquarters = Prinzenstraße 85 F, 10969 Berlin, Germany KDE e.V. is a non-profit organization that represents the KDE community in legal and financial matters. Founded on 27 November 1997, it is headquartered in Berlin, Germany. The association supports KDE through monetary, hardware, and other donations, which are used to aid development efforts without influencing the direction of the project's development. The abbreviation 'e.V.' stands for eingetragener Verein, meaning 'registered association' in German.{{cite web |url= http://ev.kde.org/whatiskdeev.php |publisher= KDE e.V. Board |title= What is KDE e.V. |access-date=2010-12-26}}
History
In August 1997, the first KDE community meeting, known as KDE One, was held in Arnsberg, Germany. The event brought together 15 participants and operated on a budget of . During the meeting, organizer Matthias Kalle Dalheimer realized that handling donations and expenses through his personal bank account was impractical. As a result, he proposed establishing a formal organization to manage financial and legal matters for the KDE community.
On 27 November 1997, KDE e.V. was officially registered as a non-profit association (eingetragener Verein) under German law in Tübingen. Matthias Ettrich became the organization's first president, and Dalheimer served as vice president. To meet the legal requirement of seven founding members, they recruited housemates and friends to join the association.
KDE e.V. has continued to support the KDE community by managing donations and organizing events. Over time, it has expanded its role, developed formal membership programs, and hired staff.
In October 2006, Mark Shuttleworth became the first individual patron of KDE, followed by Trolltech as the first corporate patron in February 2007. Additional patrons, including KDAB, Intel, and Novell, joined later that year.{{cite news | url = http://dot.kde.org/2007/07/03/kdab-becomes-patron-kde | title = KDAB Becomes Patron of KDE | author = Sebastian Kügler | date = 2007-07-03 | agency = KDE.NEWS | publisher = KDE | access-date = 2011-05-29}}{{cite news | url = http://dot.kde.org/2007/07/07/intel-and-novell-become-patrons-kde | title = Intel and Novell Become Patrons of KDE | author = Francis Giannaros | date = 2007-07-07 | agency = KDE.NEWS | publisher = KDE | access-date = 2010-11-13}} In 2008, KDE e.V. and Wikimedia Deutschland opened shared offices in Frankfurt, marking the hiring of KDE e.V.'s first employee. The organization later moved its offices to Berlin in cooperation with the Free Software Foundation Europe (FSFE).
In 2010, KDE e.V. launched the "Join the Game" campaign, an initiative that invited individuals to become supporting members without requiring a time commitment. Georg Greve, founder of the FSFE, was the first to join.
Organization
::data[format=table]
| Current board of directors | Occupation | Name |
|---|---|---|
| President | Aleix Pol González | |
| Vice President | Lydia Pintscher | |
| Treasurer and Vice President | Eike Hein | |
| Board Member | Nate Graham | |
| Board Member | Adriaan de Groot | |
| :: |
KDE e.V. includes three types of memberships: Active members, Extraordinary members and Supporting Members. Both natural persons and legal bodies may become members. The Active members have contributed to KDE community.{{cite web |url= http://ev.kde.org/getinvolved/members.php |publisher=KDE e.V. Board |title= Become an active KDE e.V. Member |access-date=2010-12-30}} The supporting members are supporting the KDE through financial contributions, consist of: basysKom GmbH, Digia, Sirius Corporation Ltd, and Google. The Patron of KDE is the highest level of supporting member, are: SUSE, Klarälvdalens Datakonsult AB, and Nokia. All association’s members are invited to attend the general assembly. The general assembly is often as part of Akademy.{{cite web |url= http://ev.kde.org/generalassembly/ |title= General Assembly |publisher= KDE e.V. Board |access-date=2010-12-26}}
The board of directors are responsible for the operation of the association. The board of directors has five members via election held by general assembly. KDE e.V. office is located in Berlin. It has 1 paid administrative employee, called business manager. The business manager is full-time responsible for daily operations, resource acquisition and managing interns. KDE e.V. offers internships to qualified students.{{cite web |url= http://ev.kde.org/resources/internship-advert_EN.pdf |title= Internship Events/Business Communication/Nonprofit organisation, KDE e.V., Berlin, Germany |publisher=KDE e.V. |access-date=2011-01-01}} In Spain, the official representative of KDE e.V. is KDE España.{{cite web | url = http://ev.kde.org/announcements/2010-07-14-kde-espania.php | title = KDE España to represent KDE e.V. in Spain |publisher=KDE e.V. Board | access-date = 2010-11-13}} KDE e.V. is an associate organization of the FSFE{{cite web | url = http://www.kde.org/announcements/fsfe-associate-member.php | date = 9 May 2006 | title = KDE e.V. Becomes Associate Member of FSFE | publisher= KDE | access-date=2010-12-28}}{{cite web | url = http://ev.kde.org/affiliates.php | title = KDE e.V. Affiliates | publisher= KDE e.V. Board | access-date=2010-12-28}} and a licensee of the Open Invention Network.{{cite news | title = KDE e.V. Joins Open Invention Network | url = http://news.kde.org/2010/12/21/kde-ev-joins-open-invention-network | author = Aaron J. Seigo | agency = KDE.NEWS | publisher = KDE | date = 2010-12-21 | access-date = 2010-12-23 | archive-date = 23 July 2011 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20110723105309/http://news.kde.org/2010/12/21/kde-ev-joins-open-invention-network | url-status = dead |title= KDE Joins Open Invention Network as a Licensee |url= http://www.openinventionnetwork.com/press_release12_21_10.php |publisher= Open Invention Network |date= 2010-12-21 |access-date= 2010-12-23 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20101224180453/http://www.openinventionnetwork.com/press_release12_21_10.php |archive-date= 24 December 2010 |url-status= dead
Activities
KDE e.V. organizes and subsidizes events including developer sprints, Camp KDE and Akademy. It handles the legal issues around the KDE community.{{cite web | url = http://ev.kde.org/activities/ | title = KDE e.V. Activities | publisher= KDE e.V. Board | access-date=2011-05-26}}
The working groups are a structure which will formalize some roles within KDE and enhance coordination within KDE, communication between parts of KDE.{{cite web |url= http://ev.kde.org/reports/2005-working-groups-discussion.php |title= KDE Working Groups Discussion |publisher=KDE e.V. |access-date=2011-01-02}} Currently, active working groups are community working group (CWG), marketing working group (MWG) and system administration (sysadmin). Disbanded working groups are human computer interaction working group (HCI WG) and technical working group (TWG).{{cite web |url= http://ev.kde.org/workinggroups/ |title= KDE e.V. Working Groups |publisher=KDE e.V. |access-date=2011-01-02}}
The System Administration Working Group is responsible for administration of KDE servers.{{cite web |url= http://ev.kde.org/workinggroups/sysadmin.php |title= KDE e.V. System Administration Working Group |publisher=KDE e.V. Board |access-date=2010-11-06}} The Marketing Working Group was founded in November 2005, help to coordination of marketing and promotion. Currently members are Troy Unrau, Franz Keferböck and Wade Olson. |url = http://spread.kde.org/handbook/mwg/charter |title = Charter of the Marketing Working Group |access-date = 2010-11-06 |url-status = dead |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20130723044815/http://spread.kde.org/handbook/mwg/charter |archive-date = 2013-07-23 |url = http://spread.kde.org |title = spread.kde.org |access-date = 2010-11-06 |url-status = dead |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20101120091718/http://spread.kde.org/ |archive-date = 2010-11-20 |url= http://ev.kde.org/workinggroups/cwg.php |title= KDE e.V. Community Working Group |publisher=KDE e.V. Board |access-date=2010-11-28}}
The Technical Working Group is to coordinate planning and release. Furthermore, they should decide what software is included in KDE or removed, as different programs will be combined into modules and the dependencies between the modules and to external software should be allowed. A further task, it is a contact point for general technical questions related to KDE to be contacts between developers of the project and produce.{{cite web |url= http://ev.kde.org/rules/twg_charter.php |title= Charter of the Technical Working Group of the KDE e.V. |publisher=KDE e.V. Board |access-date=2010-12-31}} After one year, the Technical Working Group has been replaced by the Release team, that is independent of KDE e.V..
References
References
- (August 2003). "history of the KDE project".
- "KDE Commit-Digest - 25th November 2007". KDE e.V. Board.
- Danny Allen. (2006-10-16). "Mark Shuttleworth Becomes the First Patron of KDE". KDE.
- Sebastian Kügler. (2007-02-28). "Trolltech Becomes the First Corporate Patron of KDE". KDE.
- (4 April 2008). "KDE and Wikimedia Start Collaboration".
- Jos Poortvliet. (2010-06-09). "Announcing the KDE e.V. Supporting Membership". KDE.
- "Supporting Members".
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