The same way as in any large organization, commercial or nonprofit. There is no reason they have to have any independent legal existence, and in many organizations, they don't. They can just be informal subgroupings, organized for convenience (geographical, topical, or otherwise) of the organization as a whole, with or without whatever budgetary authority is granted by the organization's management.
Agreements about projects and funding could be mediated through the parent organization (through the Board, or whatever committee handles affiliate matters), or simply handled informally. This in addition to what James Alexander mentioned about unincorporated associations. -- Michael C. Berch User:MCB m...@postmodern.com On Dec 22, 2012, at 12:25 AM, Samuel Klein wrote: > When you have chapters and affiliates that aren't incorporated, how do you > handle agreements or grants between such entities? SJ. > > > On Fri, Dec 21, 2012 at 10:31 PM, Michael C. Berch <m...@postmodern.com> > wrote: > On Dec 19, 2012, at 6:49 PM, James Alexander wrote: >> On Wed, Dec 19, 2012 at 4:41 PM, Michael C. Berch <m...@postmodern.com> >> wrote: >> There are no legal or financial stakes, the issue of "municipalities" is an >> irrelevant triviality, and it just serves to annoy people. >> >> -- >> Michael C. Berch >> User:MCB >> m...@postmodern.com >> >> >> There most certainly are legal and financial stakes. An incorporated >> organization costs a not insignificant amount of resources and cash to >> maintain even before they do anything at all. This is especially true when >> you are spanning multiple diverse jurisdictions (such as states or >> countries) and have to know at least some of the laws of each. I don't think >> towns/cities are a major problem. I'm sure it will be an added wrinkle given >> that the jurisdiction overlaps the foundations offices itself. > > I can't speak to jurisdictions outside the U.S., but I have a fair amount of > experience and expertise with respect to both business and nonprofit entities > in the U.S. I have formed and advised a number of both as an attorney, and I > can assure you that there are no problems in operating a 501(c)(3) > organization (or similar) that operates in multiple or overlapping states, > counties, or municipalities. It is also not particularly necessary that a > "chapter" or "affiliate" of a national or global nonprofit (like Wikimedia > Foundation) be, itself, an incorporated entity. (The Board of Directors may > specify that as a requirement, but it is not a legal one.) > > Inexperienced organizations often "over-organize" when it comes to local > chapters and affiliates, drawing precise geographical jurisdictional lines or > requiring that the affiliates represent some particular level of subnational > entities. There are a number of reasons why this happens, including > intra-organizational politics and misunderstanding of legal issues. It is > almost never a good idea, and as we see, generates unneeded conflicts. > > -- > Michael C. Berch > User:MCB > m...@postmodern.com > > > _______________________________________________ > Wikimedia-SF mailing list > Wikimedia-SF@lists.wikimedia.org > https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimedia-sf > > > > > -- > Samuel Klein @metasj w:user:sj +1 617 529 4266 > _______________________________________________ > Wikimedia-SF mailing list > Wikimedia-SF@lists.wikimedia.org > https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimedia-sf
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