money handling

[Bruce Perens]

Andrew Sullivan wrote:
> Someone else already corrected you about this.
>   
Yes, I lost the thread. Sorry. People make mistakes.
> "More important" means what it means.  Proper money handling can't be the first priority if something else is more important.
OK. Well, I've had more time to think about this. A better way to state
it would be that proper money handling is essential, but it is a means
of achieving the goals of the organization, not an end in itself.

The goal of SPI, stated as briefly as possible is /to promote Free
Software./ Take a look at the definition of /promote/ at
http://promote.bruceref.com/ (yes, it will work that way for any word in
the dictionary).

The goal of SPI is not /to manage money. /Indeed, if managing money was
not essential to the promotion of Free Software, we would not do it.

The most important thing we've done about money management in the last
several years has been to hire a professional book-keeper. The next
important task for the coming year, IMO, is hiring a CPA. Doing these
jobs with officers has had a less-than-desirable success rate, and we've
had enough different treasurers to tell it's not a problem with just one
of them. The one treasurer who actually was able to outsource the task
of book-keeping has been the most successful one so far.

And since the only path to effective money management for SPI seems to
be oursourcing, it's pretty clear that money management is not going to
be the major occupation of SPI's board.

    Thanks

    Bruce
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