Re: AUGD: Bylaws comment
Re: AUGD: Bylaws comment
- Subject: Re: AUGD: Bylaws comment
- From: Jerome King <email@hidden>
- Date: Fri, 7 Mar 2008 19:31:57 -0500
The Naples MUG has not been incorporated or certified as a 501c x for
its existence. We have operated under a set of by-laws for reasons
similar to those expressed by others of having a structure to operate
and test concepts.
Currently NMUG is undertaking the evaluation and expect to change over
to a 501c (educational) because of changes in our 'operating
environment'.
NMUG has, since its inception, been able to use the facilities of our
County Library system for meetings. A nice sized meeting room with
WiFi and projection equipment. NMUG has been making donations to the
library regularly that is used by the library for library materials,
upgrading the library for WiFi, etc
This year, because of State mandated Property Tax rollbacks, the
operating budget of County services like the Library has been reduced
AND they are required to charge for use of their facilities. We meet
at the library about 50 times / year and around 2 hours / meeting.
The library has two rates: non-profit / tax exempt and others. The
Others rate is twice the non-profit rate. Given the path of the State
legislature, I expect the library to have to raise its usage rates in
the future.
We can save over $1,500 this year by getting to the lower rate
Jerry King, President & Ambassador Naples, FL MUG
On Mar 7, 2008, at 6:39 PM, Paul Richards wrote:
On Mar 7, 2008, at 3:50 PM, Michael Horton wrote:
But I wonder - if a new group was starting now, would it still be a
good
idea to structure it as have always been done in the past? Meaning,
Not for
Profit, BOD, 501c3 and all the paperwork and rules and fees
associated with
that status. Why not a benevolent dictator?
Why does a group need Non Profit Status? What are you trying to
achieve here
with this? What would happen to the group if you decided to
dissolve that
status and make up your own rules/bylaws?
I've been taking a back seat and just reading so far, but I'll jump
in with a couple of comments on this one.
The Syracuse Macintosh Users Group is not 501C3. We have talked
about it periodically over many years and each time backed away,
deciding that the small cost savings for our group would only come
at the price of a great deal more mandatory record keeping, labor,
and loss of some of our freedom which has been derived from
informality. Recently we decided to (almost completely) drop our
dues altogether except for a small "membership processing fee"
because we have reduced our costs to practically nil. We believe we
can survive comfortably off our small bank account for a long time
like this, and we can always shift back to a dues structure if we
need to do so.
Meanwhile, our sister group (not officially but just in function,
and a group we often work with closely) on the Windows side has been
a 501C3 for many years. They have grown and then shrunk along
similar lines to our own group and are now a little smaller than we
are. Their mandatory expenses, many apparently directly associated
with that 501C3 status, are slowly bleeding them. There has been
some discussion of dropping their 501C3 to reduce their expenses to
rock bottom as we have and to weather their shrinking membership
better. One of their directors told me just the other day that this
is a bit of a problem because they would have to divest ALL of their
assets, to another non-profit if I understood her correctly, before
they could file for a change in status - at the cost of about $500.
I am no legal beagle and so can't comment on the accuracy of that,
and might well have misunderstood some of it, but it seems like
quite a trap they have gotten themselves into. Get rid of all their
money and then come up with more money without taking in any money?
Am I missing something? Are they?
Paul Richards
Ambassador
Syracuse Macintosh Users Group
Syracuse, NY, USA
http://www.iSMUG.com
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