[Osmf-talk] Beta Volunteer Auditor sought for OSMF

Mark Obrembalski mark at obrembalski.de
Thu Jun 30 21:34:42 UTC 2016


Am 21.06.2016 um 18:53 schrieb Frederik Ramm:

> It might be that German law has some default provisions for the job
> since it is very usual to have a "Kassenpruefer" in German nonprofits.
> Also, they are usually elected by the membership so it's the member's
> fault if they elect someone who doesn't treat the information with the
> confidentiality required.

Hi Frederik, hi mappers,

sorry for being a bit late with my answer but I hope it doesn't matter 
that much whether OSMFs books are audited a few weeks sooner or later.

Indeed, my position was usually an elected one when I looked into the 
finances of other organisations. Although there is no specific statute 
law about "Kassenprüfer" in Germany, more general rules probably lead to 
certain obligations for the holder of the elected post. And, as you say, 
the members can choose who they want to look into the books.

> When checking our bank accounts and Paypal statements, you will get to
> see the real names - sometimes also residential and e-mail addresses -
> of all members and donors (and how much they gave to us and when). This
> is confidential information and these people have not agreed to this
> data being distributed. I feel that it would be improper to give this
> information to someone without having them sign a document that explains
> what they are allowed to do with the data and what not; if you decided
> to use the data to (e.g.) send spam to our biggest donors then I think
> they would be right in blaming OSMF for not being careful enough with
> the data.

You're right, and I'm quite happy with signing a document where I 
promise to respect the privacy of members and donors. On the other hand, 
I want to be able to tell OSMFs members in case someone on the Board 
really bought himself a car with OSMFs money or promised to ensure a 
public road would be tagged with access=private in exchange to a major 
donation of a resident.

> I haven't set up the NDA and I'm willing to negotiate the wording;
> essentially it needs to say that you will see a lot of confidential
> information and that you will use that information exclusively for
> checking the books and preparing a report.

This sounds sensible, but leads to another question: who is the audience 
of the report? A German Kassenprüfer usually reports to his 
organisation's members - literally: he tells them about his findings on 
the annual meeting without having to get green light from the board to 
do so. Will I report my findings directly to the members, or to the board?

Happy mapping,
Mark

-- 
falls es militärisch dringend erforderlich ist, dürfen NATO Soldaten
auch mit dem Fahrrad in der Fußgängerzone fahren...
[Martin Koppenhöfer legt in der OSM-Mailingliste de-talk die StVO aus]



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