Geocaching Australia Society

Geocaching Australia governance issues
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dcr
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Post by dcr » 10 August 07 12:52 am

Pesky! wrote:Perhaps we could set up a contributions scheme that used google ads, or paypal donate, or some simmilar, but in a nice separated, hidden behind a link, page so you had to choose to go to the page and click through the ads to have the advertisers pay GCA on our behalf.
I like the paypal donate idea, this would make the payment quick and easy ... and therefore more likely. If this was on a page showing items that need payment/purchasing so if people feel the need they could target their donation it may have some more appeal (?).

It should probably also be possible for people to supply 'in kind' donations, for those people who can donate hardware, configuration, repair and maintenance items to keep the back end glued together There should probably be a list of what is required so when people see a suitable piece of kit they can appropriate it ;)

cheers Darren :)

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andiamo
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Post by andiamo » 10 August 07 10:17 am

We would certainly have no objection to making a small donation to assist in this endeavour. Unfortunately we don't have any skills which could be of assistance.

This may be OT but we have been impressed with the dedication of those involved with the GCA site who have been so generous either by making available the hardware necessary to host the site or have given freely of their valuable time to the development and maintenance of the site. Many of these people probabaly run businesses as well.

We're not sure whether it has been discussed in previous threads, but we have often thought that where possible, it would be nice to be able to return the favour and be able to support them in a tangible way eg if a codecutter owns a computer business, purchasing our next computer from them. Some might see this as a Pandora's Box but it would be nice if the GCA community could support each other.

rediguana
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Post by rediguana » 30 December 07 11:37 pm

I thought I'd jump in from across the dutch and add some brief comments based on the NZ Recreational GPS Society that we incorporated back in 2003, and is quite similar in philosophy to gc.com.au - except we don't have the whole alternative geocaching site thing going on. We just use yours :) (I could draw an analogy to other things that Kiwi's use of Australia's but better stop here ;) )

Initially we formed a Society from completely different drivers. Some of us, as individuals, had been engaged by the Crown's primary landowner to discuss the issue of placing caches on Crown owned land. They though it was a commercial activity and that we needed to pay the Government concessions to be able to cache on Crown land. After a number of meetings I was able to get it through to them that it wasn't a commercial activity (although there were commercial opportunities around it such as gc.com). So the motivation for us was that we potentially needed to form a Society to form a legal relationship with our Department of Conservation.

Then things went quiet and we were not really sure what we were going to do for a couple of years. Over the last year, we have been getting an increasing number of requests to take geocaching to groups like Scouts, Guides and even some commercial team-building. The Society is just about to purchase some GPS units to support this and develop some promotional and educational material including a training pack. At the same time we are seeing landowners in NZ becoming interested in geocaching again, both from a positive perspective of utilising taxpayer funded facilities, but also in terms of how landowners manage geocaches. Indeed even just communicating to landowners what geocaching is and how it works is still something that we need to work on. This will probably be a guideline for local government and the like to explain everything to them. Better we do that now and help shape how local government manages geocaching, rather than have them develop a policy based on their own possibly poorly-research understanding.

From our perspective, the website is a relatively small part of what we should be doing. But during the quiet years, the membership of the Society was about keeping our websites running and building up some cash reserves for when we needed it.

For us it is much more about taking the geocaching message to the public and landowners and promoting geocaching as an activity. Naturally there is funding available for this - of course, we have to be an incorporated society to be able to apply for Govt funding. I imagine it is the same in Aussie.

Of course, it is not just geocaching for us, but also the promotion of GPS for any recreational purposes.

If you are solely wanting to fund the website, then a trust may be a suitable vehicle for investing funds, and then covering costs out of income etc. But if you want to get out in the community more, then you may have to go down the Society path. (I've been involved over the last year in the decision and helping to set up an incorporated society in Australia - unrelated domain.) If you want something democratic, then you really have to go down the Society path with elected officials and annual meetings. A bit of a pain, but it is necessary.

The first step you really need to take is to scope out exactly what you want to do. That will then guide you as to the most suitable vehicle to achieve it.

Cheers Gav

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ideology
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Post by ideology » 01 February 08 10:43 pm

bumping this thread as there are some good points in it

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riblit
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Post by riblit » 01 February 08 11:35 pm

caughtatwork wrote:So FoGCA could be a legal entitiy that owns the funds that get raised to keep GCA going handing them out as necessary to support the server, rental and bandwidth costs?

I doubt there is any need for any other costs than keeping the server running, so until we know what we want we don't know what we're asking for.

Does anyone have experience in setting up a legal entitity that would hold the funds?
To be a legal entity it will have to be either an incorporated association or a company.

I can chase some information up from the president and treasurer of another friends group to which I belong. I will be applicable to incorporation in NSW, simply because the other group is incorporated in NSW.

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Cached
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Post by Cached » 01 February 08 11:58 pm

As an association, you don't have to incorporate.

You just need a consitution, and an initial meeting which provides a letter saying a bank account needs to be opened for the association.

The signatories have to provide the 100 point check.

The benefit of incorporation is that it protects members from being sued.

Mix
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Post by Mix » 02 February 08 12:18 am

riblit wrote:
caughtatwork wrote:So FoGCA could be a legal entitiy that owns the funds that get raised to keep GCA going handing them out as necessary to support the server, rental and bandwidth costs?

I doubt there is any need for any other costs than keeping the server running, so until we know what we want we don't know what we're asking for.

Does anyone have experience in setting up a legal entitity that would hold the funds?
To be a legal entity it will have to be either an incorporated association or a company.

I can chase some information up from the president and treasurer of another friends group to which I belong. I will be applicable to incorporation in NSW, simply because the other group is incorporated in NSW.

http://www.fairtrading.nsw.gov.au/busin ... tions.html

http://www.fairtrading.nsw.gov.au/corpo ... ation.html

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riblit
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Post by riblit » 02 February 08 12:22 am

Cached wrote:As an association, you don't have to incorporate.

You just need a consitution, and an initial meeting which provides a letter saying a bank account needs to be opened for the association.

The signatories have to provide the 100 point check.

The benefit of incorporation is that it protects members from being sued.
True, incorporation is voluntary and limits the liability of members to the amount they owe the association - usually the annual fee or subscription.
It also adds the power to hold, acquire and deal with property and allows the association to continue regardless of changes to membership.

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mundoo
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Post by mundoo » 02 February 08 7:57 am

Information on Incorporated Associations in South Australia can be found at

http://www.ocba.sa.gov.au/Associations/

I also have a business/agent relationship with a credit union and the requirements of opening a bank account for a group are a written constitution, minutes from a meeting showing the decision to open a bank account with the names of the signatories listed. Depending on the type of incorporated association a copy of a Crown Seal may also be required. Then all the signatories must become members of the credit union and satisfy the 100 point identity check requirements. This usually means that the signatories must front up to a branch with their documentation (they don't all have to go together or to the same branch though)

Seeing this is for a large credit union then I can see that banks would have similar criteria. The days of fronting to a bank with a letter I think have changed.

Another consideration is that if any deposits are made by cheque then the cheque MUST be the same name as the bank account to be deposited.
I am seeing difficulties at present in 'Strata Title' housing groups trying to deposit where the cheque isn't made out exactly as the bank account name with strata number etc. or in individual office-holder names.

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