[pre-note, I'm always talking from experience in CH, the situation might be different in Canda¨]
On Feb 5, 2008 4:57 PM, Nicholas Moreau nicholasmoreau@gmail.com wrote:
Who are we sending things to by mail? >Other than the government, to register, what, are we sending out newsletters and membership cards?
You will probably have to answer external correspondence by mail if it arrives per mail. You might have, somewhen, members without email (we do...) You will have to deal with all government authorities (e.g. tax authorities) by mail.
And who are we handing business cards to?
To people/orgs you cooperate with. Universities. Libraries. Companies. Government agencies. Other corporations. Whomever... Especially more 'formal environments' are very keen on business cards.
Yes, running a website costs money, but we've got permission from Wikimedia to have ca.wikimedia.org as ours for the taking.
Okay. But you might want to set up a wikimedia.ca to serve as redirect somewhen
How does it cost to meet? It costs for personal transportation and food, but I'm sure there's some cafe in Canada that allows people to meet for an hour or two.
Okay. But I am yet to find a place that allows us to host a General Assembly of 2 hours without any cost. Good luck in finding one, I couldn't. Same goes for board meetings (the latter can be done in private homes, but not always).
And membership fees for 20-50 people AREN'T going to cover any amount of Wikimania's cost. As far as I know, Wikimania's costs are covered entirely by grants, sponsors, Wikimedia, and entry fees.
Yes. I'm actually talking about Canadian internal events. "Wikipedia Day Canada". "Colloque Wikipédia Canada" Whatever...
I'm not suggesting that you need loads of money at the very day of establishment. But if you think that you can have a *visible* association (that is not only a piece of paper) without any money (resp. with everything covered ad hoc by individuals), I can nearly guarantee you that this won't work.
Michael