[Talk-us] U.S. Local Chapters

[Sarah Manley]

As listed by Kate in her second email (and being built out on the wiki:
http://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/Foundation/Local_Chapters/United_States)
A local chapter will do more advocacy within their own nation.

In the US, if incorporated as a non-profit, the chapter would be able to
accept donations without having to pay taxes on them (and provide a tax
write off to those who donate to us), be eligible for public and private
grants, act as a separate legal entity that owns all data/material donated
(which often makes government bodies more willing to share). I know that the
OSMF can to that in the UK now, but I have the feeling the US
companies/governments would be more comfortable in supporting the project if
it had US legal status. (esp if its map data collected with US tax payer
money). I think if we want to the US mapper community to grow, this is a way
to help as well as formalize the presence here.

The cons- more paperwork, money and time.


On Wed, Sep 16, 2009 at 1:03 PM, SteveC <steve at asklater.com> wrote:

> Playing devils advocate a bit - what will the chapter do that we can't
> or aren't already?
>
> Does the aura of having an incorporated body somehow change
> everything? It certainly didn't with the OSMF, it was more that we
> needed a body to hold independent control of things like the domain
> names.
>
>
> On 15 Sep 2009, at 19:32, Kate Chapman wrote:
>
> > Hi all,
> >
> > I've heard various talk going on about local chapters in various
> > places. I did a quick archive search but didn't find that much
> > information regarding U.S. chapters.  There seems to be people
> > interested, but perhaps working separately.
> >
> > Let me preface the rest of my email with the statement that I'm not
> > a lawyer, but a geonerd.  I have helped establish a non-profit in
> > the U.S. that obtained tax-exempt status and I can speak with
> > regards to that experience though.
> >
> > For the group I worked with we already were operating as an L.L.C.
> > at the time and moved to incorporate in D.C.  In order to
> > incorporate we had to pay a small fee (roughly 100 dollars), have a
> > registered agent in the District and have articles of
> > incorporation.  The tax-exempt status was far more work and involved
> > proof of events we had (in this particular case it was flyers), tax
> > records as well as filling out a 27 page IRS form.  If I understand
> > things correctly a U.S. Local Chapter could do the same thing, but
> > we might need to file paperwork with each state we are active in
> > (not totally sure about this, does anyone else have a better idea?).
> >
> > What are people's thoughts about local chapters or having 1 large
> > U.S. chapter?  I can see benefits to both sides.
> >
> > Advantages:
> >
> > - I think easily enough possible members
> > - Pooling of resources, one set of paper work
> >
> > Disadvantages:
> >
> > -Spread out, most work would be remote (maybe not a disadvantage)
> > -Where would we be incorporated?
> >
> > Thoughts?  I've seen in various places such as the wiki a well as
> > talking to people that there is interest in some sort of U.S. based
> > chapter, but exactly how has to be worked out.
> >
> > Thanks,
> >
> > Kate Chapman
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > _______________________________________________
> > Talk-us mailing list
> > Talk-us at openstreetmap.org
> > http://lists.openstreetmap.org/listinfo/talk-us
>
> Yours &c.
>
> Steve
>
>
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