hi dave
> what i'm still missing are the advantages against just creating a
> very simple association and using an external organization (like
> the gnome foundation) to manage our funds.
"Create a simple association" implies a certain number of things in my
mind: By-laws & statutes, a membership structure, a governing
jurisdiction, a board of directors, tax returns, elections...
basically, a formal structure, registered with some government
somewhere, governed by the rules of that government (and if you want
to give tax deductible relief to sponsors, or you want to not pay
taxes on donations yourself, you have a lot of paperwork to do to
justify your organisation).
By putting yourself under an existing umbrella organisation, you avoid
that - informal elections or nominations of the people who will deal
with the umbrella folks would be useful, but you don't need to have
legally water-tight statutes & by-laws, AGMs, treasurer reports
submitted to the IRS every year, etc. You're getting all the benefits
and none of the down-side.
Plus, in general, the only reason to create an association for a free
software project is a bank account, some kind of co-ordinated
marketing/branding campaign, and elected representatives. You don't
need an association to do the 2nd & 3rd.
most of what you write in here does not apply under swiss laws and / or may not
apply depending on the type of association we want to create.
(basically, an association without commercial goals and with a revenue under a
certain level can't be registered for taxes, the paperwork is very minimal and
you don't even have to register the association anywhere; you still need an
election once a year, but -- under certain circumstances -- only one person may
have to be present).
to make the things even simplier, we agreed that -- if we decide to create an
association in switzerland and i can make sure that the whole process is legal
under swiss laws -- the bof in bruxelles will be considered as the founding
meeting of the association.
ciao
a.l.e
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