Software Makers is hosting SoCraTes Crete on OpenCollective (a.k.a. July - August update)
Published on September 3, 2024 by Yorgos Saslis
Hello fellow Software Makers! o/
There was quite a lot of activity this last couple of months, so I'll list the main highlights below. If you're interested, please read on - and do feel free to leave comments, etc.
If you're looking for the short version:
The https://socrates-crete.org/ Open Space Unconference about the craft of making software, is now hosted under the Software Makers fiscal host, on OpenCollective. Fiscal Transparency, For The Win (FTW) !!
Registrations are still open on the website !! ;)
The long version:
There was quite a lot of activity this last couple of months, so I'll list the main highlights below. If you're interested, please read on - and do feel free to leave comments, etc.
If you're looking for the short version:
The https://socrates-crete.org/ Open Space Unconference about the craft of making software, is now hosted under the Software Makers fiscal host, on OpenCollective. Fiscal Transparency, For The Win (FTW) !!
Registrations are still open on the website !! ;)
The long version:
- As a non-profit entity, it is important to be able to provide full transparency into the finances of our organization. This way, it can be clear to everyone that we really are a non-profit in practice, and not just in theory / on paper. For this reason, all financial transactions for the Software Makers Association will be recorded on OpenCollective, including:
- payments for events hosted by Software Makers - an example: SoCraTes Crete 2024,
- yearly subscription fees,
- expenses for the association.
- We have added all our members (that have paid their yearly subscription) to OpenCollective. ✅ This will hopefully help others understand who is involved in this association and will allow you to receive email notifications for updates like this one (a convenient way to get in touch with you all, apart from our Discord).
- We now have a new mobile phone number for our Association. ✅ For now, we only really need this for 2-factor authentication with online services, but perhaps that will change in the future. It's a prepaid phone.
- It took a really long time to figure out whether we needed to register our entity with the Region of Crete. In the end, we came to the conclusion that only Sports and Cultural Associations (Αθλητικά Σωματεία και Πολιτιστικοί Σύλλογοι) need to be registered. All clear. ✅
- We also have a bank account! ✅ We went with Piraeus bank, as the easier for executive committee members to set up the account on. Internet banking and cards are still being set up. We would also like to open an account with the National Bank of Greece, but that is not possible online and you need to book appointments a month in advance, so ... perhaps that will happen in the future.
- OpenCollective has worked pretty great so far!
- For the first time, SoCraTes Crete organizers have been able to accept online payments ahead of the event - through a pretty smooth integration with Stripe. This makes planning for the event much easier, with some budget available for expenses in preparation for the event.
- Stripe does come with some transaction fees, but the Association doesn't have to pay any recurring monthly fees that might have been a problem.
- Getting accounts for the Association in Banks / Stripe is quite the pain. All executive committee members need to provide identification + proof of address documents and there are a bunch of other documents required for the association itself. :/
- On the plus side, OpenCollective also allows anyone to know how many people have already paid to go to the event! A verifiable number of participants for a paid event is not something you can easily find elsewhere... ;)
- Now that the first collective (SoCraTes Crete) is fully onboarded to Software Makers, we think we have cleared the path for any other Collectives who would be looking to join the Software Makers association. Please feel free to reach out to one of the Executive Committee members, to chat more about this.
- If you have a Software Maker in mind that you think would be a worthwhile addition to our Association, they can now subscribe online ! Just make sure they've read and agree with our code of conduct. ;)
As a final note, I'd like to say a big, big thanks to those who have reached out to me in private to provide their support for Software Makers. The new entity for all our volunteer work and non-profit initiatives seems to really resonate with more people than I expected! 🎉 Watch this space !