The Software Freedom Conservancy and the Community for Open Source Microfinance Assume Leadership of the Mifos project

The Software Freedom Conservancy and the Community for Open Source
Microfinance Assume Leadership of the Mifos project

The Software Freedom Conservancy and the Community for Open Source
Microfinance (COSM) are pleased to announce parallel efforts to assume
stewardship of Mifos -- an award-winning Open Source and Free Software
platform that accelerates the growth and impact of microfinance -- from
Grameen Foundation.  The Conservancy, a not-for-profit organization
dedicated to developing, supporting and defending Free, Libre and Open
Source software projects, is now the non-profit home for all Mifos assets,
and will provide a range of organizational, legal and licensing services,
as well as non-profit oversight to the project.  COSM, a newly
incorporated not-for-profit organization formed to unite and serve the
open source microfinance community, will focus on software development,
deployment and community building.

"We are pleased to welcome Mifos as Conservancy's newest member," said
Bradley M. Kuhn, Executive Director of the Conservancy.  "Conservancy is
dedicated to advancing the public good through improvement and advocacy of
Free Software, and we're therefore delighted to provide an infrastructure
that enables Mifos to flourish."

"Mifos provides the software infrastructure for our community's efforts to
lift people out poverty," added Edward Cable, co-founder of COSM and Mifos
Community Manager, who has also been a member of the Mifos team since
2007.  "We look forward to working side by side with the Conservancy to
advance this technology and help our community enable microfinance
institutions to further extend their outreach to the poorest of the poor."

Grameen Foundation, a worldwide not-for-profit organization dedicated to
providing access to financial services and mobile phone-based solutions to
the world's poorest, launched Mifos in 2006, working closely with the
microfinance and open source communities to build the platform. The
software is now used by 25 microfinance institutions to provide services
to 825,000 clients worldwide.  Grameen Foundation has donated all assets
associated with Mifos to the Conservancy to facilitate the leadership
transition.

"The passion and drive of the Mifos open source team has been one of its
core strengths, and we were pleased that we had the opportunity to work
with developers and others around this world in building this critical
technology platform for the microfinance industry.  We are now happy to
pass the baton on to the Conservancy and COSM to take Mifos into its next
phase," said David Edelstein, Director of the Grameen Foundation
Technology Center, and Vice President of Technology Programs.

About Mifos

Mifos is an award-winning Open Source software platform for microfinance,
leveraging a modern stack of Open Source technology frameworks to provide
microfinance institutions with the scalability and flexibility needed to
grow. In 2009, Mifos was awarded with the Duke's Choice Award for Best
Java Technology for the Open Source Community.  For more information,
visit www.mifos.org.

About Software Freedom Conservancy

Software Freedom Conservancy is a not-for-profit organization that helps
promote, improve, develop and defend Free, Libre and Open Source software
projects.  The Conservancy is home to 28 software projects, each supported
by a dedicated community of volunteers, developers and users.
Conservancy's projects include some of the most widely used software
systems in the world across many application areas, including educational
software deployed in schools around the globe, embedded software systems
deployed in most consumer electronic devices, distributed version control
developer tools, integrated library services systems, and widely used
graphics and art programs.  A full list of Conservancy's projects can be
found at sfconservancy.org/members/current/.  The Conservancy provides
these projects with the necessary infrastructure and not-for-profit
support services to enable each project's communities to focus on what
they do best: creating innovative software and advancing computing for the
public's benefit.  Conservancy's website is http://sfconservancy.org/.

About COSM

The Community for Open Source Microfinance (COSM) is a not-for-profit
organization seeking to develop a worldwide community to build, support
and use an Open Source technology platform that enables the effective and
efficient delivery of financial services to the poor -- microfinance. COSM
provides the tools, resources and collaborative environment to educate and
support microfinance institutions using technology, and to train and equip
local companies to support and serve microfinance institutions, along with
the infrastructure and tools for volunteers to build on this platform to
create new, better means of serving the poor.  COSM's website is
http://www.openmf.org/.
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-- 
Bradley M. Kuhn, Executive Director, Software Freedom Conservancy