[Aust-NZ] Time to move - Incorporation of OSGeo-AustNZ

[Brent Wood]

Eek...

That seems expensive, unless I'm missing something (which given my expertise in this area, is quite possible :-)

Does it matter whether the chapter is registered in Australia or NZ? If is is in Australia then it problably means less work for me :-) but I'm not really concerned either way. 

To register as a not-for-profit incorporated society in NZ is NZ$100 which I'm happy to fork out for, or could come out od initial membership fees?

If we can find a friendly accountant, annual auditing is free or pretty cheap. The running costs will be postage (mostly email anyway I'd hope) & a bank account, which I guess could well be Australian if required, like if we had an Australian treasurer.

& I figure accounts in both NZ & Australia might be cheaper than regularly transferring $$ internationally anyway...


Is it worth following up a NZ based registration if is cheaper & simpler?

As far as I can tell, NZ residency is not required, unless we require it under our own rules/charter, and normally the only officers required are Chair/President, secretary & treasurer, but it does require 15 members.

There are plenty of examples of charters available to model ours on if required.

These links give a useful how-to, one from an NZ LUG...

http://www.community.net.nz/How-ToGuides/LegalStructures/PublicationsResources/incorpsoc.htm
http://www.wlug.org.nz/NewZealandIncorporatedSocietyHowto

The official site, is at:
http://www.societies.govt.nz/cms/incorporated-societies/incorporated-societies-landing-page

The application form is at:
http://www.societies.govt.nz/cms/pdf-library/incorporated-societies-forms/form-is1-application-to-incorporate-a-society-pdf


The registered address may not even have to be in NZ, nor the postal address, but I (or someone else here from NZ I'm sure) can provide NZ ones if required. We may need to post an application form around 15 people for signing, but given signatures are on three pages, that isn't too onerous.

We can state that IRC meetings, given a quorum, are acceptable for society meetings, in our rules.


If people are interested in this option, I guess we could start by drafting the charter/rules on the OSGEO wiki? Once that is done & we have the 15 signatures, we can apply, with a result in a few days.


Cheers,

   Brent



--- On Wed, 10/15/08, Bruce Bannerman <bruce at bannerman.id.au> wrote:

> From: Bruce Bannerman <bruce at bannerman.id.au>
> Subject: [Aust-NZ] Time to move - Incorporation of OSGeo-AustNZ
> To: "Aust-NZ OSGeo" <Aust-NZ at lists.osgeo.org>
> Date: Wednesday, October 15, 2008, 11:40 PM
> Getting insurance quotes is proving to be a very difficult
> process in
> these troubled times.
> 
> 
> I propose that we proceed with the incorporation of
> OSGeo-AustNZ as a
> not for profit organisation and revisit the costs for
> insurance when
> these become available. 
> 
> 
> Costs will be:
> 
> 
> Incorporation as a Not-for-profit   $1300
> 
> Annual audit fee approx $200
> 
> 
> It will take two to four weeks to incorporate.
> 
> 
> Now, where do we find the funds?
> 
> 
> Bruce Bannerman
> 
> 
> 
> _______________________________________________
> Aust-NZ mailing list
> Aust-NZ at lists.osgeo.org
> http://lists.osgeo.org/mailman/listinfo/aust-nz