John P. Weiksnar Post-it® Suit • Copyright © 1990 by John P. Weiksnar
Dec 30 2014 - 11:23pm

On Finances and Fiscal Agents

Kevin and I had a good, concentrated little phone call following tonight's planning hangout. I promised I would cite some examples of what we need for the prospective April event, finance-wise:

https://groups.drupal.org/node/136494#finances

It's not surprising that the document this belongs to was posted by ultimike, who is prominent in the Community Cultivation Grants, but it's pretty remarkable that it was last updated by shrop, who patterned his first Drupal Drive-in event after WNYDUG's mini-camp format. . . .

Okay, back to the topic:

Ultimike's own event is summarized very well here, specifically “Lessons Learned,” but he also shows that a local 501(c)(3) nonprofit agency served as its fiscal agent (I guess in trade for a website):

http://drupaleasy.com/blogs/ultimike/2012/03/florida-drupalcamp-2012-wrapup

Finally, as for the Drupal Association being the fiscal agent, the first link above states:

There has been some discussion for the Drupal Association to act as a fiscal and legal agent for Drupal events when requested by local user groups. As of now, there is no official policy.

BUT, here's the gem hidden in a post about the DA's trial run at helping camps in 2010 and 2011:

https://groups.drupal.org/node/192328#comment-635708

Namely, they define the role of the fiscal agent:

  1. Fiscal agent: accept checks from sponsors and electronic payments from registrants.
  2. Fiscal agent: pay expenses via check or EBT with a clearly defined process.
  3. Fiscal agent: provide an online balance sheet (Google Doc?) for each camp/event.
  4. 501(c)3 status.
  5. Event insurance: with clearly defined limits of liability. If the camp requires something more, then it is up to them to secure and pay for.

Oh, also I'm waiting to hear back from my personal contact about insurance cost for a $2MM policy for the day, and she tends to think it will be less than $500.

I hope this helps—otherwise I can message ultimike or shrop and get a speedy response if you need any more info.

-John

Replies

#1
Jan 5 2015 - 9:22am  by Kevin J. Moll Your profile picture

I plan to talk to Appnovation about this some time this week.  I also have an insurance guy that can get us a quote.  Has there ever been any discussion about setting up an official non-profit group for the WYNDUG to be able to handle things like this.  Not sure what that involves, but it might be worth looking into.

#2
Jan 5 2015 - 10:37am  by John P. Weiksnar Post-it® Suit • Copyright © 1990 by John P. Weiksnar

Thanks for this, Kevin. Speaking from experience, WNYDUG members having to handle this role has been the greatest pain point. In other words, entrusting it to someone who does this day-in and day-out would really be a relief.

In the same vein, unless one of our members is well versed in 501(c)(3) and has the time to take on the duties associated with a nonprofit, it spells trouble. We are short-staffed as is. I think the only way we're going to pull off the April event is to beef up our volunteer count, and even have backups for each role. Otherwise, and again this is from experience, the event falls into one person's lap, and it's a disaster. Cooperation is so much better!

#3
Jan 5 2015 - 11:11pm  by Jeremy Knab

Im familiar with the basics to setting up and maintaining a 501c3 but like the example mentioned, a fiscal agent, a nonprofit can keep our organizations money without the group creating a 501c3. I know of a nonprofit that does that ... The Cattaraugus Region Community Foundation se their funds at http://CattFoundation.com/funds last i knew they use PayPal to collect donations.

Some nonprofit that acts as the bank for the group.

Doing the 501c3 ourselves would mean creating bylaws, forming a board, electing officers, and set meetings, a bank account, spending the money we raise. Not difficult but time consuming.

Imissed last weeks meeting 8{

  

#4
Jan 6 2015 - 9:42am  by Kevin J. Moll Your profile picture

yeah, that seems like too much for a group as small as ours. I was just curious. I think best case scenario is that we can get my company to act as the fiscal agent.  I'll let you guys know as soon as I speak with them.

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