[Board] OSGeo vs 501c3 status - inpur required

[Jeff McKenna]

Frank,

I just feel it's time to "bring in the heavies", a funded person (if we
can budget something like $1,000 per month) to manage this.  I sit on a
provincial board that does that, hires an accountant, and yet that Board
doesn't have the international issues that we have here.  I feel we are
spinning wheels, working very hard to figure this out, but we are out of
our "wheelhouse".

I guess my comments/feelings are too general for your questions.

-jeff



On 12-11-10 11:39 PM, Frank Warmerdam wrote:
> On 12-11-10 01:32 PM, Jeff McKenna wrote:
>> For what it's worth, here are my feelings briefly:
>>
>> - keep the project sponsorship program
>> - hire a professional bookkeeper to manage the financials as of January
>> 2013 (among the responsibilities such as mentioned in this email [taxes,
>> IRS, non/profit status, financial institutions etc.], his/her main
>> responsibility will be a monthly financial report submitted to the
>> Board, preferably as short as one side of a page)
>> - create a taxable subsidiary
>>
>> I think this would lesson the load on our great (yet small) pool of
>> OSGeo volunteers, and at the same time let us continue with the
>> sponsorship program (and hopefully expand it someday).
> 
> Jeff,
> 
> Are you suggesting then that we aim for 501c3 status which implies
> at least on paper narrowing our focus to educational goals?
> 
> I believe that the responsibilities you are describing go well
> beyond that of a bookkeeper and so the pay would be substantially
> more than just for bookkeeping.  I imagine someone with more business
> experience than me should comment.
> 
> Best regards,