What is a Non-Profit Organization?
A Non-Profit Organization (NPO) is a form of organization that is non-commercial in nature. It exists to further a cause, and uses any surplus revenue to do so, rather than distributing income to its shareholders, leaders or members. NPOs are tax exempt or charitable, meaning that they do not pay income tax on money that the organization receives. Wikipedia has more information.
Why does The Fuel Rats need a NPO?
Currently, The Fuel Rats uses a significant amount of resources of a few rats - monetarily, to the tune of around USD$150 per month. We have stopped taking donations as the process was not very transparent, and the merchandise sales are no longer active due to the costs and workload associated with them. The NPO opens up some avenues for us to hold accounts bound to the legal entity of the organization itself, rather than a single person taking on that responsibility. It also allows us to apply for free software and discounts from various vendors and providers that lessens the cost to those individual rats. It will also let us do a more transparent donation and merchandise process, since the finances are not tangled into another person's personal finances.
Does that mean the Fuel Rats will be controlled by the NPO?
No. The NPO is a legal entity that supports the Fuel Rats, not an entity that controls the Fuel Rats. It's more like a fan club, providing support to the players. The NPO will have a chairman and a vice chairman for legal reasons, but the responsibilities involved there will pretty much be to have a yearly meeting, spin a bottle to see who is chairman for the next year, and then move on. The NPO will exist solely to provide additional resources to the Fuel Rats, and let the rats who currently have to pay out of pocket off the hook for the costs associated with keeping us going.
So what does the NPO mean for the average rat?
In all honesty - not much. You will get an email or two from the NPO per year, telling you about the yearly meeting and its results. If you're already a registered rat when the NPO goes live, you'll probably get an email asking you to make an action on your rat account to determine if you want to be a member or not, since the opt-out will be part of the registration process. Other than that, the rats still operate exactly the same way as before.
Hey, if the NPO is getting free software and benefits, can I get it too?
No. Most, if not all such offers from software companies, specifically designate how such software can be used. It is usually restricted to NPO management and persons designated for specific tasks. If you're looking for specifics, take a look at TechSoups eligibility rules.
What are the details with regards to the NPO?
The NPO is based in Norway, as two of our willing rats live here, Norwegian NPOs are not required to have any strict regulatory oversight, and do not cost money to form. The signatories to the establishment of the NPO are Kenneth Aalberg (Absolver) and Alex Sørlie Glomsaas (xlexious). The foundation document (translated from Norwegian) can be found below. Our organization number (For tax deduction purposes and similar) is 920216730.
Do you need help with the NPO?
Thank you for offering, but there's really not a lot of management involved in the NPO itself. Nothing that really affects the Mischief is handled in the NPOs board; it exists to give us the ability to hold a bank account without ties to the personal account of any individual rat, and cleans up any tax concerns with regards to donations, and possibly merchandise. If you want to help the Mischief more than merely through ratting, consider working towards becoming an Overseer, or if you have skills with various code bases such as C#, C++, Java or Python, consider talking to the Tech Rats about helping out on our Open Source code projects
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Foundation Document for «The Fuel Rats»
On 07.01.2018, a foundation meeting was held to create the NPO "The Fuel Rats" Present as founders were Kenneth Aalberg and Alex Sørlie Glomsaas. Kenneth Aalberg was chosen to chair the meeting. A foundation document with suggested bylaws was presented. The NPO was then formed. Membership fees were set to NOK 0,-
The NPO's founding is confirmed by the signatories below:
Elected to the board was Kenneth Aalberg as Chairman, and Alex Sørlie Glomsaas as Vice Chairman. The NPO was declared founded and the meeting was adjourned.
Steinkjer, 07.01.2018 Suggested bylaws for ”The Fuel Rats”
§ 1 The NPOs name
The NPOs name is: The Fuel Rats and was founded on 07.01.2018
§ 2 Purpose
The NPOs purpose is to support the player group The Fuel Rats, a multinational player group in the game Elite: Dangerous by Frontier Developments. The player group has several hundred members, and demands resources beyond what is normally required for such groups. The NPOs purpose is to give the player group a legal entity, rather than individual members of the player group assuming legal responsibilities for the group as a whole. Beyond representing the player group, the NPO has no control over the player group. This is retained by the players themselves.
§ 3 Legal entity The NPO is self-owned and an independent legal entity with a non-personal and limited responsibility for debts.
§ 4 Members The NPO is open for all players that are a member of the player group The Fuel Rats. Membership is free, and all members who are registered as active in the player group for the past six months is accounted as an active member in the NPO. All members in the player group are given the option to decline membership in the NPO, while still remaining active in the player group.
§ 5 Right to vote and electability All active members are eligible to vote, and may be elected to the board.
§ 6 Membership fees Membership in the NPO is free.
§ 7 Board member compensation Board members shall receive no compensation for their service.
§ 8 Yearly meeting The yearly meeting, kept in January of every year, is the highest authority of the NPO. The yearly meeting is summoned by the board with at least one months notice, direct to the members or through press release. Suggested agenda items for the meeting must be sent to the board at least two weeks before the meeting date. A complete agenda must be available for the members at least one week in advance before the yearly meeting. All members have access to the yearly meeting. The board can also invite other persons and/or media to be present.
The yearly meeting is established with the number of voting-eligible members that are present. No one has more than one vote, and voting cannot be done by proxy. Chairman for the meeting is elected by the members. The meeting can only process suggested changes to the bylaws that have been added to the agenda at least one week prior to the meeting. The meeting cannot process items that are not part of the agenda. § 9 Voting at the meeting Unless otherwise determined, a ruling, to be valid, must be made with a majority of votes. Blank votes are considered not rendered. Voting is in written form if there is more than one suggestion. Only suggested candidates can be balloted. If several candidates are to be elected at the same vote, the ballots must contain the number of different candidates that are being elected. Ballots that are blank, or do not contain nominees, or a different number of nominees than are being elected, are not counted. When an election is made singularly, and a candidate does not achieve more than half the votes, the vote goes to the person with the most votes. If the number of votes are equal, the vote is decided by lottery. When more than one person is being elected, everyone, to be considered elected, must have more than half of the votes. This does not apply to reserves. Should insufficient votes be rendered to the candidates in the first vote, those who have gotten more than half the votes are considered elected. There is then a second election between the remaining candidates, and the majority vote decides. If there is a tie, the vote is made by lottery.
§ 10 Purpose of the yearly meeting The yearly meeting shall: 1. Go through yearly report 2. Go through financial report 3. Handle agenda items 4. Set membership fees 5. Approve budget 6. Elect board, consisting of Chairman and Vice Chairman.
§ 11 Extraordinary yearly meetings Extraordinary yearly meetings are made when the board decides it, or at least 1/3 of the members eligible to vote, requires it. The meeting is called in the same manner as ordinary yearly meetings, with at least 14 days notice.
An extraordinary yearly meeting can only handle agenda items announced in the summons.
§ 12 Board The NPO is lead by a board consisting of two members. The board is the highest authority of the NPO between yearly meetings.
The board shall: 1. Carry out the decisions of the yearly meeting 2. Designate, by need, committees or persons to perform specific tasks, and instruct them. 3. Administrate and control the NPOs economy according to the current bylaws and decisions of the yearly meeting. 4. Represent the NPO. The board shall convene to meeting when the Chairman demands it, or a majority of the board members demands it. The board can make decisions when a majority of the board's members are present. Decisions are made by majority vote. On a tie, the meeting chairman's vote counts twice. Signatory rights for the NPO are held by the Chairman and Vice Chairman together.
§ 13 Changes to the bylaws Changes to these bylaws can only be made at a yearly meeting, or an extraordinary yearly meeting, after being put on the agenda. A 2/3 majority is required to change a bylaw.
§ 14 Dissolution, merger and separation Dissolving the NPO can only be done on an ordinary yearly meeting. If dissolution is mandated by at least 2/3 majority, an extraordinary yearly meeting is called three months later. For dissolution to occur, the decision must be repeated at this meeting with 2/3 majority. A dissolution board can be elected to handle the dissolution. The ordinary board can be elected as dissolution board, and is by default made dissolution board if no other election is made. The NPOs assets shall after dissolution and liquidation further the purpose of the NPO by donating those assets to a charitable foundation dedicated to providing more people with the opportunity to game. Unless changed through bylaw, or the charity has ceased to exist, the assets are donated to the charity "Special Effect".
No members have any claim to the NPOs assets or share of them. Fusion with other NPOs or separation of the NPO is not considered dissolution. Decisions on fusion or separation and necessary bylaw changes in this situation is made in accordance with §13 of the bylaws. The board shall in this event develop a plan for the merger/separation that the yearly meeting shall vote on. During fusion or separation, approval shall be acquired from the NPOs creditors.
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