[Linux-aus] LUV considering joining LA

[Russell Coker]

On Sat, 24 Aug 2013, "Lev Lafayette" <lev at levlafayette.com> wrote:
> Volunteer insurance would be a new one for us.

It's a good thing to have.

> > $800/year was quite onerous for SLUG - we had to charge membership fees
> > and had difficulty finding enough people willing to pay. I don't know
> > what the situation is for LUV - I believe they have a much larger member
> > base, so possibly this is less of an issue for LUV.
> 
> Not even remotely an issue at all, to be honest.

We have donations that match all our current expenses.  I believe we have some 
form of insurance, also we have a PO Box and a bank account which probably has 
fees exceeding interest.  What is the total of all such expenses?  Could we 
more productively use it for running effective meetings or Linux advocacy?

One thing I'd like to do is give partial subsidies for travel expenses of 
visiting speakers to get some people from Sydney and Canberra to visit.  
That's a better use of funds than renting a PO box and having duplicate 
insurance.

> > In practice... Well, if you truly believe that these duties are not
> > onerous, and you object to LUV taking this step, I'll give you the same
> > challenge I gave people who objected to SLUG taking this step: the best
> > way to prove that you're right, and that the community doesn't want to
> > take this step, would be to win an election to the committee on a
> > platform of maintaining the status quo.
> 
> I'm pretty sure that Daniel would win election to the committee (again) no
> matter what position he took on this issue, or even none at all!

Like most small non-profit organisations the difficulty is  often in finding 
enough volunteers to fill all positions.  It's rather boring work and there 
aren't many people who are keen enough.

One of the benefits I hope to see in merging with LA is removing some of the 
boring stuff from being a member of the committee.  Then when people can 
expect that their LUV committee time will be spent on finding speakers, 
arranging training, and other things that have a more direct benefit to the 
community we will hopefully have more volunteers.

-- 
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