hi dave,
On 3 June 2010 22:27, a.l.e <[email protected]> wrote:
in countries like germany, france and switzerland it is very easy to set up an
association.
Right - same as UK.
Correct me if I'm wrong, but in the UK you'd still need to, after
registering, write and agree on a constitution that defines how
elections are done, run an election to set up a committee with a
chair, membership secretary, treasurer, and perhaps other roles. Then
the treasurer needs to open a bank account and file a tax return (or
pay an accountant to file one) - and all the members and the public
need to trust that the committee will use the money legitimately and
fairly.
in switzerland (and i think in germany and france, too) you don't need
to register an association. there are also standard ways to write a
minimal constitution and we only need to fill three roles (by reading
the law it's not clear if the same person can fill all three roles. the
association needs at least three members).
the bank account is not needed for an association. and if we want to
externalise our finances, we don't need a bank account.
creating the bank account is the most difficult step in my country. and
it basically just needs the signature from three person done
correctly... so it's not black magic, either.
for a non profit association with a revenue under a given amount there
is not way to be registered for taxes (in switzerland. i checked this
three weeks ago with the federal VAT office for an association i'm
leading here in switzerland).
what is harder to do, is to be recognized as a public interest non
profit organization (since free software is not so well known as
charitable activity and most of us refuse to exclude profits from the
uses of our software)... but: do we really need it?
Using a surrogate organisation means the administration of the bank
account, filing a tax return, and the constitutional decisions are all
taken care of by a recognised entity that the members and the public
can trust to do things legitimately and fairly.
So no matter what the goals of the LGA are, I suggest starting out
with a surrogate organisation and later founding our own entity when
we really need to :-)
yes
ciao
a.l.e
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