Hi All I am sorry if this is a longer than usual message and I will try to be brief as there is a lot of ground to cover. And 3 questions at the end.
I have secured (free of charge) the services of Robert Tallent of Synergy Group. He is a sound person, he has a lot of experience of non-profit and charity company formation, and provides advice on registration and compliance for a range of different clients but usually small and formative. His website is available if your websearch for his name with "Synergy". As regards the conversations I have had with Bob I gave him the following brief (which was what was agreed at the last): - Which structure will protect the members and directors against legally liability, and will share the limited liability equally? - Which structure will closely match the requirements of the Foundation to be non-for-profit? - Which structure will allow for the eventual registration as a charity (enabling donations) - Which structure might in the future enable seeking a grant or employing someone Bob has outlined to me that a Limited Partnership is a dangerous option unless the lead partner is also a salaried executive director. The optimal structure to satisfy all these is a *Company Limited by Guarantee (CLG)*. The CLG once registered can then later seek charitable status from the regulator, and is also free to apply for grants or other funds. The understanding of non-for-profit with CLGs is simply to monitor that profit seeking is not the main objective of the majority of activities, and that when profits arise there is a plan to re-invest them. The DAC structure is limiting in the scope of things the company may want to do which is why CLG is not recommended. 1. What I would like to clear up before the AGM is whether the members of this mailing list wish the nominated group to proceed to form the company before the AGM, or post the AGM. It may shape how the meeting takes place. 2. Also Bob Tallent cannot attend on the 10th March and I think it would be better to have him there to facilitate questions. His real value to us is advising on what we need to assemble on us. Would the members be ok if we postpone the AGM until the 24th? I have checked with Tadeusz and it appears that Tog is available on that date. 3. Also, can those guys who were working on a constitution and memos and articles bring these to some advanced stage and propose them for the AGM? I'm sorry again for the long email. Please speak up on all three. I know you are all snowbound, so no excuses :) Ciarán _______________________________________________ Talk-ie mailing list Talk-ie@openstreetmap.org https://lists.openstreetmap.org/listinfo/talk-ie