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Responsibilities and issues regarding amuta status.
Although I'm not necessarily against us becoming a non-profit
organization, I'm a little concerned about the money & responsibility
involved, and the effects it will have on the group as a whole.
First of all, we'll have to collect dues, elect officers (including a
treasurer) , write up a formal contract regarding the behaviour of the
organization, etc. All money we deal with will have to be properly
accounted for via a receipt from the official receipt book, & stamped
by an elected officer.
All of this takes lots of time and effort, and it's all solely for
overhead. The money we collect in dues will not necessarily go
directly to the cause, but will have to go (maybe most of it, maybe
all of it) to the group's lawyer and accountant, which we'll probably
have to hire.
Secondly, consider the ramifications of having money and official
status involved. I'm afraid that people will try to become officers
and control the group &/or money to further their own personal goals
which deviate from the purpose of the group as a whole - such as
because it'd be good on their resume, or to further their own carreer,
or to make business contacts, etc.
Not that I'm concerned about any particular person I know doing this,
but it's the kind of thing I've seen happen in every organized group
I've seen. And it's kind of natural too, given that the officers are
going to have to do alot of work and spend alot of time on the
administrative details of running the amuta. They'll probably feel
it's only right that they get compensated in some way or other.
This might take a benign form - like the president of the Israeli
Linux Users Group using his status to get invited to conferences, or
using official group stationary for personal business letters. Or it
might take a more criminal form, such as using group funds to fly to a
conference.
Not that I expect any of this to happen, it's just the kind of thing
that often *does* happen, either on a small or large scale. Some
might even consider it the price of becoming an offical organization.
Of course there are alot of advantages to becoming an amuta. The
official status would allow us to do alot of things that we currently
can only do with great difficulty. Others have discussed these
things. I just wanted to point out some of the
political/inter-personal dangers of becoming official.
--
Dr. Harvey J. Stein
Berger Financial Research
abel@netvision.net.il
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