[kwlug-disc] Company sponsorship for meeting place?

[Eric Gerlach]

As someone who just finished incorporating a not-for-profit, I hope I can
provide a bit of perspective on the options.

First of all, incorporating a not-for-profit is not thousands of dollars.  It's
$255 for the express lane, and I believe $150 for the regular lane.  Second,
there's few accounting requirements for a NFP corporation.  One person could do
it in one hour per month, and be fully compliant with the laws.

The real change that would happen in the organization is that there would be an
official governance structure.  Right now, KWLUG is a do-ocracy, and nothing
more.  Those who want to see things happen make them happen.  If KWLUG
incorporates, then there needs to be a board of directors.  Now, said board
probably needs to do almost nothing.  The KwartzLab board does more than any
LUG board would do, I can just about guarantee.  But there are laws that have
to be complied with, blah, blah, blah.  So the do-ocracy would remain (we still
have one at KwartzLab), there would just be a board on top of it.

Another option in order to handle the money is to have a "club" bank account.
Most banks offer this type of account, and it's basically a cheap personal
chequing account, but with multiple signatories.  There are lots of
organizations that do what KWLUG is doing (i.e. one meeting, open to the
public, per month), that operate this way.

I will say that IMO having a bit more structure will help in securing and
maintaining sponsorships if we choose to go that route.

I agree that we should explore other options first, but I don't want people to
be scared by the prospect of incorporation.  I was six months ago, but really
it's not that bad.  Whether it's appropriate for this group though, that's
another story.

Cheers,

Eric

On Mon, Dec 21, 2009 at 01:50:31PM -0500, Khalid Baheyeldin wrote:
> In no way did I imply that KWLUG should incorporate.
> 
> This is just sponsorship by companies who can contribute towards meeting
> space rental. Nothing more. For appreciation nothing more than a link on the
> 
> web site is needed.
> 
> That is all. The questions are:
> 
> a) Do we want to go that route? I agree with John let us wait and see what
> other options are there before we explore this.
> 
> b) Getting enough companies to sponsor enough meetings for 6 months or
> a year ahead of time. I am thinking 100, 150 per company per year. The more
> companies the better since it is less per company.
> -- 
> Khalid M. Baheyeldin
> 2bits.com, Inc.
> http://2bits.com
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