A Special Thank You 🙏 to These Supporters 👇
Published on October 3, 2024 by Yorgos Saslis
Hello everyone,
One of my biggest learnings this year is **just how much work** it is to set up and maintain a Non-Profit Organization. People had told me this was the case, but, as Terry Pratchett also points out in the beginning of Hogfather, there's just something about human nature that makes us underestimate what others tell us - until we learn it for ourselves...
At the same time, one of my biggest achievements has been helping create this Non-Profit Organization! Through the Software Makers Association, we have finally created a welcoming home for non-profit activities around software development!
We have already fully onboarded the https://socrates-crete.org open space unconference - happening later this month, by the way! ;) As a non-profit event, all of its budget is now handled fully transparently on its OpenCollective page. And, in doing so, we have opened the way for other collectives to join us!
One of my biggest learnings this year is **just how much work** it is to set up and maintain a Non-Profit Organization. People had told me this was the case, but, as Terry Pratchett also points out in the beginning of Hogfather, there's just something about human nature that makes us underestimate what others tell us - until we learn it for ourselves...
At the same time, one of my biggest achievements has been helping create this Non-Profit Organization! Through the Software Makers Association, we have finally created a welcoming home for non-profit activities around software development!
We have already fully onboarded the https://socrates-crete.org open space unconference - happening later this month, by the way! ;) As a non-profit event, all of its budget is now handled fully transparently on its OpenCollective page. And, in doing so, we have opened the way for other collectives to join us!
And we did all this together! I would like to thank all of you, our members and supporters, for all your help along the way. It may only have been a word of encouragement, an idea about what Software Makers could evolve into, a 👍 on an online message posted somewhere, or hours and hours of volunteer work to support our activities. It has all helped us get here!
I would like to take a moment to specifically acknowledge 2 important sponsors without whom the Software Makers Association would probably not have happened. Their support was happening entirely behind the scenes, and OpenCollective doesn't currently let us feature them as sponsors if they haven't donated a monetary amount - so I'd like to send a special thank you! to these 2 companies for their help and support:
Office12.gr : The Office12 co-working space for providing our official Tax Residence. Office12 has generously hosted a number of meetups in the past and they continue to support the software development community in Heraklion!
Tsoukakis.gr : The Tsoukakis accounting firm generously provided the necessary guidance and accounting support necessary for establishing our new Association. They helped navigate unclear waters with regards to registration, invoicing, expensing and all the other important areas that help our activities stay in line with regulation and legislation.
A big, big thanks ! 🙏
Happy October and hope to see you around soon! 👋