Melissa, We can get Public Liability Insurance through Linux Australia !!! How does that work ? How are we affiliated with them? This is an example of valuable information that could be a topic for an Ubuntu-au council meeting. (if there was one to be created) I agree that going down an incorporated association is a hard path and should be avoided. (however it does preclude us from carrying out certain activities, like fundraising but this could be overcome buy utilising existing LUGS that have that capacity) Cheers. Andrew. <div class="gmail_quote">On Mon, Mar 8, 2010 at 5:13 PM, Melissa Draper <<a href="mailto:melissa@meldraweb.com">melissa@meldraweb.com</a>> wrote: <blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="border-left: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); margin: 0pt 0pt 0pt 0.8ex; padding-left: 1ex;"> <div class="im">On Mon, 2010-03-08 at 17:45 +1100, Norm, VK3XCI wrote: > Folks, > > I've had a fair bit to do with "committees" over a vast range of involvements, > from Radio Clubs to rural Progress Associations and Distance Education parent > Committees. All have a couple of things in common. Dissent (is that the word you > were looking for Scott?) and egos. From an almost outsider (Lurker!) looking in > and still involved in radio club committee, I'll make a few observations. > > ...The best person for the job usually gravitates there(eventually) > ...Extraneous positions are often introduced to sooth bruised egos. > ...In an "Inc. Assoc." a degree of formality is required to satisfy the law. > ...Excessive formality kills organisations! > ...I'm unsure of Ubuntu-au's formal standing; how much "committee" do we need? </div>In regards to legal formality... ugh. I really don't want us to go there. I really really don't. There's various LUGs around the country (at least 2 capital LUGs I'm aware of) who are currently looking to one day getting the heck out of the paperwork overhead by dissolving the legal orgs. <div class="im"> > Which begs a few questions > ...What is the LoCo's mission? What are we trying to achieve? > ...What is the relationship with the "Mother Company"? > ...How is it all funded? > ...What are the legal obligations. </div>The team is a Local Community Team just like any other across the world. In essence - a promotional fanclub. We're the grunt to represent the ubuntu project at expos and stuff, but we do /all/ the organising. The relationship with the "mother company" is that if we ask nice enough and not too often, they'll send us a stack of CDs and brochures for us to hand out for them. In return, they host our website stuff. This of course is a simplified explanation of the arrangement and would change (we'd get fewer cds, no web hosting) if we ceased to be an approved team. Basically, we have no funding outside what folks are willing to pool from their own resources, and PLI we can get through Linux Australia if needed. This is also why we really don't have legal obligations either. Which is good. Legal obligations are a pain for a small volunteer organisation. -- Melissa Draper w: <a href="http://meldraweb.com" target="_blank">http://meldraweb.com</a> & <a href="http://geekosophical.net" target="_blank">http://geekosophical.net</a> p: +61 4 0472 2736 <div><div></div><div class="h5"> -- ubuntu-au mailing list <a href="mailto:ubuntu-au@lists.ubuntu.com">ubuntu-au@lists.ubuntu.com</a> <a href="https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-au" target="_blank">https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-au</a> </div></div></blockquote></div>