This is a decent idea. On the commercial model to use for a licensing body, in the UK you'd probably want this to be a Community Interest Company, either limited by guarantee or limited by shares (which could be owned by licensors). This is a company that acts in most respects like a limited liability company (i.e. it is profit making and is limited liability) BUT it has to reinvest a proportion of its profits in the community it serves (contributing devs in this case) and has various other restrictions on the disposal of assets. If its guaranteed by shares then it can pay out dividends and it can even be publicly traded. But there's a hard cap on the amount that can be paid out in dividends (35% off the top of my head in the UK). Its' a nice model for this type of endeavour because you don't have to deal with the limitations put on charities / non profits, but you also have a series of guarantees against it going full evil. In the USA I believe the nearest is a Benefit Corp or an L3C.