Plug - Who is it?

[Keith Smith]

Organizing as a 501c3 would limit political involvement.  As far as I 
know the only advantage to being a 501c3 is those who give to the 
organization can deduct their giving from their taxes.



On 2014-12-02 17:23, trent shipley wrote:
> The issue of either making the group a charitable organization or a
> professional organization comes up from time to time. There seems to
> be very little actual support for either option. My impression is the
> core members of PLUG are very happy with it as an informal association
> of individuals. Putting together a charity or charity with lobbying
> rights (like if you wanted to advocate more CS education dollars)
> would involve starting another group.
> 
> On Tue, Dec 2, 2014 at 3:49 PM, Gilbert T. Gutierrez, Jr.
> <mailing-lists at phoenixinternet.net> wrote:
>> I have been a lurker and attendee of meetings on and off since the mid 
>> 90s.
>> I attended my once every several years meeting 2 months ago. Before 
>> you read
>> this whole message, know that I am not trying to put anyone out or 
>> agitate
>> in any manner.
>> 
>> I have learned a bit about the group with these discussions which were
>> launched after a message from Lisa. Some members do not get it in my 
>> book.
>> And from looking at one of the comments, I think der.hans bounced her 
>> from
>> the email list (I think her comments were getting redundant and that 
>> is I
>> guess in his power). I met Lisa once, probably 10 years ago at a 
>> function
>> hosted at a site on 12th St and Northern. My impression was that she 
>> was
>> nice and knew her stuff. I am not to say if she is right or wrong with 
>> her
>> complaints, but I see no way for her to bring her complaints to the
>> leadership of the group. A public message list I believe is the wrong 
>> way to
>> go but really one of the only avenues through the website.
>> 
>> I know nothing of how the group functions or who the leadership is. I 
>> can
>> obviously guess and probably guess correctly because of how long I 
>> have been
>> on the list. This group is a volunteer group and not everyone will
>> participate and usually only a handful of people will want to take the 
>> bull
>> by the horns and lead. However, leadership information should be 
>> posted on
>> the website if you want to call this a group. Examples of things that 
>> would
>> be helpful...
>> 
>> 1. List of names of the leadership committee
>> 2. A path for members to suggest directions for the group to the 
>> committee
>> 3. A path for members to send complaints to the group for the 
>> committee to
>> review and address as necessary
>> 4. Minutes for any committee meetings
>> 5. A way to nominate people to be on the committee
>> 6. An election cycle to populate the committee
>> 
>> From looking at the posts on the mailing list and the website, the 
>> group
>> comes across as a hobby site of 1 or 2 people (old boys club) who 
>> manage
>> every meeting and what goes on. That is fine by me, but if the group 
>> wishes
>> to be able to address some of the concerns that were mentioned in the
>> messages over the last couple days, they need to publish a structure 
>> to
>> abide by. I don't see how the group could consider something like an 
>> 801c3
>> filing without that structure. It is like putting a cart in front of a
>> horse.
>> 
>> I appriciate this group, specifically the mailing list which has 
>> provided me
>> help in the past and allowed me to help others. I want to see this 
>> group get
>> better and meet the needs of its members and that is why I provided my 
>> 2
>> cents.
>> 
>> Thanks,
>> Gilbert T. Gutierrez, Jr.
>> Phoenix Internet
>> https://www.facebook.com/gilljr
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-- 
Keith Smith