Hi all, I've heard various talk going on about local chapters in various places. I did a quick archive search but didn't find that much information regarding U.S. chapters. There seems to be people interested, but perhaps working separately.
Let me preface the rest of my email with the statement that I'm not a lawyer, but a geonerd. I have helped establish a non-profit in the U.S. that obtained tax-exempt status and I can speak with regards to that experience though. For the group I worked with we already were operating as an L.L.C. at the time and moved to incorporate in D.C. In order to incorporate we had to pay a small fee (roughly 100 dollars), have a registered agent in the District and have articles of incorporation. The tax-exempt status was far more work and involved proof of events we had (in this particular case it was flyers), tax records as well as filling out a 27 page IRS form. If I understand things correctly a U.S. Local Chapter could do the same thing, but we might need to file paperwork with each state we are active in (not totally sure about this, does anyone else have a better idea?). What are people's thoughts about local chapters or having 1 large U.S. chapter? I can see benefits to both sides. Advantages: - I think easily enough possible members - Pooling of resources, one set of paper work Disadvantages: -Spread out, most work would be remote (maybe not a disadvantage) -Where would we be incorporated? Thoughts? I've seen in various places such as the wiki a well as talking to people that there is interest in some sort of U.S. based chapter, but exactly how has to be worked out. Thanks, Kate Chapman
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