[Talk-us] U.S. Local Chapters

[Sarah Manley]

Hello All,

Looks like we are getting off to a good start. We have 15 folks on the wiki,
and need 20 to start our the chapter. So please spread the word.

 I think it might be helpful for us to break into committees, so to handle
different aspects of forming, managing and advocating for the chapter.
Thoughts? It may be best for us to self identify on the wiki with what
committee we would like to be on, as well as if we have services that could
be of help (ie lawyer, accountant, experience in forming a non-profit etc).
If we plan to have an advisory board, we may also want to create a section
where people can make proposals.

>From there we can work on drafting and adopting the draft rules, as well as
decide on when and where to incorporate. If its helpful, we may want to set
a time for a conference call to iron out some of the details.

Best,
Sarah



On Wed, Sep 16, 2009 at 1:56 PM, Sarah Manley <sarah.m.manley at gmail.com>wrote:

> 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
>>
>>
>> _______________________________________________
>> Talk-us mailing list
>> Talk-us at openstreetmap.org
>> http://lists.openstreetmap.org/listinfo/talk-us
>>
>
>
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.openstreetmap.org/pipermail/talk-us/attachments/20090918/84c880f7/attachment.html>