Cached wrote:You don't need to be incorporated to open a bank account in the name of an association. The Assoc. can be called "Funding GCA Website" if you want!
Somebody write a letter, somebody sign it and the treasurer takes it to the bank and opens the account.
Is not in personal name.
Cached,
Whomever opens the account would still need to be 100 point identified. Likewise any "group" account usually requires two signatories to operate on an account. This may be difficult to achieve if it is an on-line account only.
From personal experience at my work, we use bank generated tokens which are valid for only a short period of time to create an on-line , transaction, a second signatory then does the same thing to authorise the transaction. No way can one person enter and authorise a payment.
Richary wrote:The other concern is that if the Treasurer is responsible personally for a direct debit each month and the funds aren't there due to lack of donations, do they then become personally liable for it and any fees incurred?
This is my major concern, someone out of the goodness of their heart agreeing to assist and for some reason it all falls pear shape and that person is left holding the can! As that person contracted for the service they will then have to continue making payment out of their own pocket.
As previously stated any informal association is fraught with danger. I'd rather a little short-term pain for the long-term gain. If this means reducing services for a short time to get the association model up and running so be it.
As some others advocating an association model have stated it only takes a few weeks provided your constitution is correct. The hardest thing to do is call a meeting at which the constitution is accepted and office bearers are elected. These office bearers can then proceed to lodge formal application for the association and commence to open an account.
If the entity which owns the domain (geocaching.com.au) were to create a PayPal account to receive funds (in their name) and they then donated funds (to the value of the deposits made to the PayPal account) to establish the association and transfer the domain name to the association, GCA members can commence donating and all things progressing well within a month the association will be incorporated and up and running.
The association could then create a new PayPal account to continue receiving donations and membership fees.
My background is 20 years employment as a Finance Officer.
Regards
Jardry