Setting up an association

[val douest]

I have read the various references in previous postings and think I understand what is involved in setting up a voluntary association; this one is basically a social network and information exchange, mainly expat but with a strong French presence too.  It has evolved over the last three years from an occasional coffee morning and the time has come to regularise it, open a bank account etc.  I have the outline requirements for what must be included in the Statut and been given examples of the Statuts of other voluntary associations.  It appears that the latter are far more complex and involved than the bare requirements as they are set out and I am wondering if I can just stick to the bare bones or whether it is expected that the whole thing is padded out to cover every eventuality.  For example, the Statuts I have seen have provision for directors, a council and a committee.  We would prefer to operate with just an elected president, treasurer and secretary who are then free to co-opt or appoint other people as and when appropriate.  Minutes will be taken in the language of the speaker they are recording but presumably the official minutes available for inspection must be entirely in French.

If anyone has set up an association recently and has any pointers or words of warning, they would be much appreciated.

Thanks,

Val

[cooperlola]

If you don't get a response you could try to contact:

http://www.charente-limousine-exchange.com/

who do roughly the same sort of thing. One of their number, Rothrugby, posts on here from time to time.

[idun]

When we did our last one we got in touch with the Mairie and the Prefecture and after that it was all quite straight forward. We just did as we were told.

We even got a subvention from our Mairie too, maybe you would too.

[val douest]

Many thanks for your responses Cooperlola and Idun.  I have contacted the secretary of the Charente-Limousin Exchange and she has been very helpful, as our two groups seem to be quite similar in aims and composition.

Val

[Polly]

Our car club (I'm the sec and treasurer) runs with just a few elected officers on the conseil d'administration.

Your satuts should state how folk can become members (so you can weed out people you don't want to join, by them having to be approved by the conseil), and what happens if they don't pay their cotisations.

Don't forget to include procedures for what happens if the club folds, especially how any money is shared out.

If you'd like to send me your email address I'll happily scan our statuts over to you as an attachment. They only run to 2 pages, but they do the biz.

[val douest]

Thanks, Polly - I've sent you a PM.

Val