Opening an account for NPOC, NCUC and NCSG in Estonia

[Raphaël Beauregard-Lacroix]

Hi all

So it seems we have certain bank accounts open already, but all of them
under individual or collective names. I'm still not clear over how things
have worked for the Canadian NPOC account - is it under some form of
trusteeship?

Given the rather confusing state of affairs, I would not consider setting a
full fledged legal structure right away.

Especially, I would like to figure out what money each of NPOC, NCUC and
NCSG has handled, is entitled to handle (by charters or otherwise), and
more importantly, should handle. Is it important that NCUC/NPOC handles
"its own money" (whatever that is) separately from NCSG's "own money" (also
whatever that is?)

This is not about setting up structures or bank accounts just for the sake
of it. Our first need is that volunteers not pay administrative services
for the benefit of the N's out of pocket. I also understand that we might
want to receive donations, although I would also want to hear more on that.
Given that these donations are certainly not made for the benefit of tax
credits or the like, in what context and for what purpose were they made?

A nice day to all,





On Mon, Jan 7, 2019 at 5:21 PM Sam Lanfranco <lanfran at yorku.ca> wrote:

> Dear Farzaneh et al,
>
> I was going to post this early today but held back since it looked like
> all were hell bent for Estonia. The Canadian NPOC account story is as
> follows:
>
> The Canadian banking system will accept setting up a bank account for an
> organization that either does nor does not have a formal legal status. For
> example, I am the treasurer for a local museum's volunteer support group.
> We have no formal legal status, but we do have a bank account with a major
> National bank (Bank of Montreal). Will share process below.
>
> When Rudi in Belgium dropped out of NPOC/NCSG Joan and I opened a Canadian
> NPOC account, over a letter from NPOC at that time, stating the Joan and I
> would have signing rights (i.e., could write cheques and withdraw money).
> It took forever for NPOC to get funds transferred from Belgium and by then
> (last year) they went to Raoul in Finland, and I finally got the funds I
> had advanced to NPOC several years ago - *Thanks*).
>
> *The NPOC account exists but has never had a transaction.* We set it up
> so either Joan or I would have signing rights, at a time when we thought
> the NPOC funds would be quickly forthcoming. Usually organizations have two
> signatures but Joan and I live 150km apart so that was not practical. The
> empty account requires only one signature. Online transfers are well
> developed for Canadian banks, but for cross-currency transfers there are
> service changers.
>
> I was waiting for the NPOC/NCSG/etc banking issue to settle down and then
> get a letter from NPOC removing me as one with signature rights since I am
> no longer treasurer. I cannot just quit. The bank needs a paper trail.
>
> So, the NPOC account could be enlisted, and additional accounts could be
> created. The one sticking point is that the signatures to create the
> account, and the signatures for those with authority over the account, have
> to be submitted in person, here in Canada. No problem for Joan and I since
> the extensive branch banking system of Canadian banks has branches
> everywhere.
>
> Would that be a problem for NCSG? Not if there are one or two people to do
> the paper work here. Accountability could be maintained by only allowing
> withdrawals/payments on approval of the executive (normal practice). In my
> case with the museum, for transparency I share the monthly bank statement
> with the executive. Of course, for that to work one has to trust those
> involved..which is always the case in any event.
>
> So, the NPOC account exists and always has had a balance of zero. There is
> scope for additional accounts. Oh! The Bank now charges a $3/mo service
> change,*...unless the balance is zero (-:*
>
> *Sam L.*
>
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.ncsg.is/pipermail/ncsg-discuss/attachments/20190107/7c842813/attachment.htm>