On Saturday 10 Dec 2011, Binand Sethumadhavan wrote: > On 9 December 2011 17:56, Dinesh Shah (દિનેશ શાહ/दिनेश शाह) > > Yes. This is true. But as saying goes - No Pain No Gain. > > What is the "Gain" that you speak of? > > The "Pain" part is well documented - see, for example: > > http://www.ngosindia.com/resources/ngo_registration1.php > > To start with, you will have to hire an auditor on retainer and file > returns every year.
Speaking from the experience of registering ILUGD (India Linux Users' Group, Delhi Chapter) as a society, here are some observations. Take them as you please. 1. We registered a simple society based in Delhi. 2. We needed 7 founding members of the guidelines committee with address proofs in Delhi. 3. We got someone to draft a charter for us for free. It wasn't a great charter, and it was probably mish-mashed from other society charters, but it's no big deal. AFAIR the charter is available as soft copy from linux-delhi.org 4. Registration was trivial since we had a helpful CA. It cost us some Rs 5000 or so all told. 5. After registration we easily opened a bank account. This, IMO, is the single biggest advantage of being registered: organisations that will refuse to make cheques out for individuals will happily make them out to societies. 6. We haven't got 80g (I think) tax-free status yet. We haven't applied. 7. As a society, you are obliged to hold elections every year, or whatever the charter states. You are also obliged to have a formal membership list (fee structure, receipt books, etc.) 8. As a society you are obliged to submit your accounts every year. 9. As a society you have to follow some norms for formal society meetings. ILUGD only has one formal meeting, the combined AGBM and elections every year. Regards, -- Raj -- Raj Mathur || [email protected] || GPG: http://otheronepercent.blogspot.com || http://kandalaya.org || CC68 It is the mind that moves || http://schizoid.in || D17F -- http://mm.ilug-bom.org.in/mailman/listinfo/linuxers
