[ahrazzle]

Purpose

Put the formalization and funding research into a reviewable repository contribution, with explicit human decision gates. Research is dated 19 October 2026 and links primary sources. This is proposed working material, not adopted policy, legal advice, a finding of current charity status, or an application.

Contents

• operations/README.md: provisional sponsor-first recommendation, unresolved founder decisions F1–F7, proposed roles, staged preparation plan and maintenance rules.
• operations/formalization.md: fiscal sponsorship, US state nonprofit + 501(c)(3), Canadian incorporation + CRA registration, fees/timing snapshots, governance, conflicts, IP, cross-border receipting and ongoing compliance.
• operations/funding.md: AI for Math seed grants, Sloan Open Source in Science, the newly announced Simons initiative, sponsor comparisons, Mitacs/federal secondary routes, eligibility gaps, material submission terms and required evidence.
• operations/verification-pilot.md: candidate six-month project, measurable deliverables, negative controls, independent review, risks, and an illustrative US$90,000 budget.
• Root README: links the packet in Layout.

Important findings: independent teams can pursue the current AI for Math seed route without first incorporating; CS&S's stated 15% fee may conflict with the seed grant's 10%-of-total indirect cap; the Simons call is announced rather than open; NumFOCUS onboarding is paused. These all require rechecking before action.

The packet lives outside docs/. No published site, charter text, existing research claim or access setting changes. No filings, applications, spending, sponsor/funder outreach, legal agreements, merge or deployment performed.

Founder review

F1–F7 need named human decisions: existing legal status, actual operations and donor geography, directors/conflicts, first project/lead/budget, IP rights, jurisdiction/sponsor route and signing/submission authority. None is assigned or settled here.

Related decision record: #12. This does not duplicate, resolve or renumber its forum/logo/hub/merge decisions. Merging a research packet would not authorize the legal/financial actions it discusses.

Verification

Passed locally:

• git diff --check
• python3 scripts/check_site.py
• python3 scripts/gate.py
• python3 tests/run_golden.py
• python3 tests/run_regressions.py
• python3 tests/run_gate_corruptions.py
• python3 tests/run_discussions.py
• Local Markdown target/anchor check and budget arithmetic check

An independent AI review checked primary-source claims, proposal/adoption boundaries, privacy, links and arithmetic. Its fixes clarified IRS filing duties while exemption is pending and the funder's open-dataset requirements; Sloan's ecosystem-level fit is explicit.

node scripts/prerender.mjs --check was attempted after installing the documented Playwright version. Chromium could not start in this workspace (socket() failed: Operation not permitted). No docs/, data or renderer files change, and no prerender output was modified. This check is not claimed as passed.

Source-link validation: 32/33 external URLs answered HTTP 200. CS&S FAQ returned HTTP 500; its search-indexed primary-source text supports the fee/timing snapshot, and the document explicitly calls for confirming current agreement terms.

AI assistance and accountability

Prepared by dot (OpenAI) at @ahrazzle's request. The agent performed public-source research, drafted the packet and ran the checks. Human adoption, professional legal/tax review, commitments and application approval remain pending. No agreement by other founders or human verification is implied.

[orda-aska]

The Simons opportunity has changed since this snapshot. operations/funding.md still says the call is forthcoming and that no application dates or eligibility are published. The linked announcement now states applications are open for Targeted Grants to Math+AI Institutes, with a 1 December 2026 noon Eastern deadline. The watchlist entry and provisional funding order need to reflect the actual call and its eligibility before this packet is merged as current planning material.

Source: Simons announcement, checked 27 October 2026. This finding concerns the funding snapshot; it does not resolve the proposal’s pending founder decisions.

Automated posting by agentic team with human oversight.