[FOSS4G-Oceania] Governance

[Greg Lauer]

As usual John a great summary!  And great work on the Governance doc!

I have has a lot of experience with setting up Pty Ltd's and it is not
particularly arduous. I am not sure how a 'not-for-profit' effects this but
doubt much. There is an ongoing cost on running a 'company limited by
guarantee' and will generally include some form of professional fees
(accountants etc.). I generally budget $2500 per annum.

I think we are at the point where we should form a small
sub-group/committee to go away and further research the entity issues, and
come back and report to the group as a whole on a proposed outcome. I think
think this should include talking to other entities and professional
advisers. I feel that we should make some funds available from the
conference for this advice. Furthermore we should also reach out to those
entities (such as SSSI) that have made suggestions around forming sub
committee's and the like and solicit a formal offer. I would imagine this
would take at least 6 weeks (adding the holiday break) so expected time to
report back would be the end of Jan 2019.

In parallel we should ensure that that 2019 conference planning moves
ahead, maybe it is appropriate to name/appoint a temporary chair(s) for
2019 to keep the ball rolling until such time that the newly formed
(proposed) entity can appoint/confirm/ratify the organizing committee.
Personally I am for nominating Daniel and John to undertake this roll in
the interim as that combines local knowledge with experience from previous
committee.

 That is my 2c for a Friday afternoon. Have a great weekend!

Greg


On Fri, Dec 7, 2018 at 2:27 PM John Bryant <johnwbryant at gmail.com> wrote:

> A couple of notes from me.
>
> *Re: forming an entity*: I had a brief preliminary chat with Francis from
> the Association Specialists, they are eager to help us out if we need it.
> They are generally recommending that groups go with a 'company limited by
> guarantee', though I don't yet have a clear picture of why that is. It
> seems to be in part that such a registration would be directly through a
> national body rather than a state-level body, but it also looks slightly
> more onerous in terms of initial setup and long term maintenance, so I
> think we should approach this with some caution.
>
> This page
> <https://www.cbaa.org.au/resource/incorporated-association-vs-company-limited-guarantee>
> has a bit more info.
>
> I agree with Martin and other who have said we should consult with other
> orgs, so I've been doing a bit of this. I have a call with Kathy Reid from
> Linux Australia this afternoon and will let you know what I find out.
>
> *Re: governance more generally*: I think the more pressing task is to
> organise ourselves heading into 2019, with a new event, probably some new
> faces wishing to join our efforts, and possibly some new ideas bouncing
> around for additional outreach efforts and events beyond just the annual
> conference.
>
> The Governance doc
> <https://docs.google.com/document/d/1KkUl-qwb2pE5OomHy-0RwKSsXJDOkFx0dpW6Dhfv624>
> we've been working on for the last week or so was getting quite unreadable
> with all the suggestions and comments, so yesterday Daniel and I spent a
> couple of hours going through it and incorporating the work to date into a
> legible whole. I think it's ready for another round of comments and review.
>
> By way of a brief summary, the gist of the proposal is this:
>
>    - the organisation is called OSGeo Oceania, and in due course will aim
>    to become a local chapter of both OSGeo and OSMF
>    - it will be governed and managed by a board of directors, which (in
>    the absence of an existing membership) will be appointed by (and replace)
>    our existing committee
>    - the board will be responsible for outreach activities, and will
>    appoint and provide oversight of a conference committee
>    - the conference committee will answer to the board, and will be
>    responsible for planning and executing a successful conference
>    - in the short-to-medium term, the inaugural board will have the
>    mandate to
>       - have a voting process defined for renewal of board membership
>       - determine and formalise an appropriate non-profit structure
>
> There are more details in the doc
> <https://docs.google.com/document/d/1KkUl-qwb2pE5OomHy-0RwKSsXJDOkFx0dpW6Dhfv624>.
> It aims to provide enough clarity and guidance to help us be efficient,
> without being overly prescriptive or heavy-handed. I imagine there will be
> differing views on how well it has achieved this, but I'd say there is
> still plenty of time to discuss the merits of the proposal, and/or raise
> alternatives.
>
> Input & discussion very much appreciated!
>
> Cheers
> John
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