<html><head><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html charset=us-ascii"></head><body style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space; "><div>Hi all,</div><div><br></div><div>At the last meeting we were discussing registering the hackspace as a non-profit organisation (also known as a company limited by guarantee). Why? So that we can apply for grants/funding, get a bank account and rent a physical space.</div><div><br></div><div>However, we realised that the model articles of association (<a href="http://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2008/3229/schedule/2/made">http://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2008/3229/schedule/2/made</a>) are not really suitable for the formation of a hackspace. For example, we would like to limit the power of the directors and not pay them any remuneration. I've had a look at London Hackspace - they have open sourced their articles of association (also known as a constitution) and I think it will be the easiest to adopt and modify theirs for our own purposes.</div><div><br></div><div>Things that need attention:</div><div>- 13(b) they require a quorum of 10 members at a general meeting - we may need to reduce this for the time being</div><div>- 24(b) "the number of directors shall not be less than three, nor more than nine" - I think we could change this to a minimum of two, but then we need to modify (26) as well</div><div>- 35(d) London Hackspace uses a web based system for the decision making process - if we're not going to do the same, we should remove this clause</div><div><br></div><div>I forked the documentation from London Hackspace's Github account into our own Swansea Hackspace account. There you can view the changes I've made so far:</div><div><a href="https://github.com/swanseahackspace/documentation/tree/master/constitution">https://github.com/swanseahackspace/documentation/tree/master/constitution</a></div><div><br></div><div>You can download the latest version of the .PDF document at the bottom of the page. Please comment and/or make suggestions, so that we can get it sorted out before the next meeting.</div><div><br></div><div>Kind regards,</div><div>Gerrit Niezen</div>
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