[Noisebridge-discuss] Insurance notes

[r. scott lamorte]

On Jan 24, 2008, at 3:15 PM, Paul Böhm wrote:

> On Jan 24, 2008 11:53 PM, David Molnar <dmolnar at eecs.berkeley.edu>  
> wrote:
>> A second consideration is that we will have discussions soon on what
>> kind of legal entity we want to form for the purpose of taking the  
>> lease
>> on property. [...]
>
> i'd totally avoid tying anything to individuals in the lease: i don't
> know a single space where this has worked, but plenty of stories where
> this alone sufficed to make the place fail. i've even seen domain name
> owners blackmail the club they founded, over a /technical/
> disagreement with the current staff. crazy. so transfer all assets to
> the org asap.

i see a non-profit as providing a somewhat greater degree of  
transparency and accountability than other forms of incorporation. a  
non-profit must have a mission statement on file and must act in  
fulfillment of that statement, and in the event of dissolution a non- 
profits assets need to be transferred to another non-profit. these two  
things tend to limit the ability of a small group of people to run off  
with community property. plus there's the added bonus of being able to  
request and accept tax-deductible donations.

scott