[Foundation-l] Wikimedia Pennsylvania

[Robert Horning]

Anthony wrote:
>
> Well, as I said before, you don't need to incorporate in order to be a
> tax-exempt organization.  And while I don't know PA state tax law
> offhand I'm not sure it's worth going through the WMF just so you can
> get a sales tax exemption on a few pizzas every week.  Is the WMF even
> registered with the state of Pennsylvania?  If not the paperwork would
> probably be just as bad.
>
>   
It is not just for a bunch of pizzas here, and there are some legal 
liabilities that simply put are something that one individual simply 
should not have to bear the brunt of dealing with directly.  Aka the 
"chair" of any such group taking full legal liability for the actions of 
the group.

We are talking organizing fund raisers, local college chapters, 
distributing Wikimedia content in various formats, and more.  If it was 
just for buying a pizza once a month, I would have to agree it wouldn't 
be worth the effort here, but you are missing the potential of what a 
group like this could offer for the WMF as well.
>> if we can put together a way to simplify this process and
>> allow interested groups of Wikimedia users in the USA to put together a
>> small group of like minded people that can support Wikimedia projects on
>> a local level.
>>
>> If the WMF doesn't want to get directly involved in this game, I can
>> understand, but that would mean this process of formal incorporation as
>> a non-profit group may have to happen for the Pennsylvania group, and
>> may have to be dealt with for other groups in the USA as well to become
>> completely different entities independent of the WMF.  This seems like a
>> waste of resources and effort, and especially money that could be better
>> spent on Wikimedia projects directly than to deal with legal and
>> accounting costs.  Requiring any local Wikimedia chapters to seek formal
>> incorporation is also going to slow the progress of any new group
>> significantly, and raise the bar of talent required to put together any
>> such group to the point that many potential groups like this will never
>> be started at all.  I'm not convinced that there is a need to formally
>> incorporate a Wikimedia San Francisco and Wikimedia Pennsylvania as
>> seperate entities.
>>
>>     
> I agree with this, to the extent that I'm not convinced that there's a
> need to formally incorporate anything at all at this point.
>
>   
As a businessman who is currently a sole propritor (I am looking at 
getting that changed), you are largely correct that you don't need to 
explicitly incorporate.  I'll leave the subtle points about the positive 
and negative aspects of formal incorporation to somebody else.  If you 
are the one in charge of the group and something goes wrong, without 
some legal mechanism in place it becomes a nightmare of nearly 
unimaginable proportions.

One of my chilling experiences along this line was my involvement with a 
science fiction fan club (it was actually a college campus 
organization), where this club was a co-sponsor of a Science Fiction 
convention. I wasn't the head officer at the time (thank goodness!) but 
here is where it went bad:

The convention was organized and a hotel convention facility with 
several rooms was booked.  Speakers were invited (and showed up) 
together with a small vendor area and the other usual items you find at 
a typical SF Con (if you've been to them, you know what I'm talking 
about!)  The problem about this whole thing was that nobody was 
explicitly "in charge" other than a loosely organized committee that 
talked to each other to put the various aspects of the convention 
together.  Something akin to how most Wikimedia web projects are 
organized, BTW, if you want a comparison.  No incorporated entity was 
really running the show, but there was a show "organizer" who was given 
the stripes to say he was "in charge" of everything.

After the convention was over, somehow the money collected for entrance 
fees disappeared and a bill from the hotel came his way for several 
thousand dollars.  The show "organizer" (who was just a volunteer 
himself) was stuck with the bill and ended up having to take out a 
mortgage on his home to help pay the bill.  Needless to say, that 
experience was not subsequently repeated the following year.

I've also been involved with Boy Scouting, church groups, and even just 
loosly organized groups of individuals out to have some fun.  From this 
extensive experience, I will say that having an incorporated body that 
will take responsibility for (and establish policies governing 
activities of) the actions of a group like this is a huge relief to 
anybody willing to stick their neck out and act as a leader over the group.

Frankly, I would be wary of even hosting a meet-up at a restaurant (like 
even McDonald's) if this was something that the "general public" was 
invited to without at least some sort of protection like formal 
incorporation taking place first.  It is a slightly different story if 
you are making offers to a bunch of close friends that you have already 
established personal relationships with, but they are also not going to 
do something stupid (usually) that may involve police intervention.  
That has happened to me in the past with these sort of information 
groups when stuff simply gets out of hand.

--  Robert Horning