In light of all the things that currently unfold between the US and the rest of the world, I believe Haiku also needs a legal entity in the EU. There have been talks about it last year, but I’m not sure if anything has been done so far.
The Haiku Support Association in Germany already exists (and has existed even before Haiku was a thing). All it needs is people joining it and making it active again.
It seems no one is interested when it comes to actually doing the work?
I’d be very interesting in helping there.
It just seems that the group is quite inactive nowadays.
Any hints on what needs to be done?
Edit: I’ll probably want to join the group,but it’s not even entirely clear where to send the request for joining.
http://haiku-support.org/pdf/hsa_beitritt.pdf contains a different address than HSA - Impressum and I’m not sure which is the current one.
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Thanks for mentioning it. Anybody here a club member? The webpage seems quite dead. Or more precisely it is impossible to see when the last site update was.
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Well, I’m sure the one in the membership form is the right.
I’m considering joining it. But I don’t want to ride a dead horse, so I want to assure that this club is active.
Edit:
1.) I see now what you meant: It’s both Charlie Clark, but the street varies I think.
2.) We could found a new club if the HSA is “dead”.
I assume Charlie Clark moved some day and updated the address only at one place.
The imprint is probably more up to date as it’s a important legal document,but I’m not sure and I really don’t want to send a letter with all my personal data to some random unknown people who now live in that house since it was the wrong address.
While funding a new club isn’t impossible,it’s a lot of work (mostly boring paperwork) and I have never done something like that before,so I don’t know all the details.
I prefer joining a existing club rather than spending a lot of hours only for organizing stuff that doesn’t directly benefit Haiku.
That’s fair! I would do the organizational work, but in Germany one needs 7 people to found a club.
Well, since the club already exists, the paperwork has already been done, too.
I’m actually a member, or used to be one; since Charlie lost interest, there hasn’t happened much. But it should not be too late to revive it - all it needs are people that want that to happen.
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If you want to get this existing club active you first have to tell current status/data:
- What’s the correct address to send member applications to?
- How uptodate are the infos on the website? (Like number of members still 19?)
- Can I apply via email?
- Would you mind to uprade to HTTPS?
- When will be the next members meeting? (Can be online with Skype, Zoom etc.)
Just send him an email from the impressum, last year he answered me quite quickly. 
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Are you interested in continuing work there then? With nipos and me that would be 3 people already. I think we might need some more people.
Edit: and PeterW is 4, missed that
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If I remember correctly he tried to hand over the organization at one of the last BeGeistert but no one was very interested in taking over at the time. And he indeed seems to have moved to other things.
I think you’re likely to meet him at FOSDEM if all other ways to contact fail (but simply sending him an email should be fine).
Then interested people can decide how to progress from there, maybe vote a new president for the organization in and resume the activities (I would love to see HSA organize BeGeistert and coding sprints again, if there are people willing to attend them!).
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Not sure how much I could help, but willing to step in here too if needed.
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I am not a good C++ coder, and appart from a few translations/ports I have not been contributing much to the project despite following it since the beginning. Contributing through HSA is a good opportunity for me to assist the project.
I am directly involved in a few non-profits, so I have a bit of experience but I am not sure how that would translate to one declared under German law. But anyway, count me in!
It doesn’t quite match up, a e.V is not a nonprofit, it’s a different type of entity
But anyway That would make 5
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I sent an email to him. Awaiting the further development of this.
Edit: I already got a first response. I will apply for club membership.
Update:
Clark told me you can send the filled form via email, to info@begeistert.org
Alternatively: The current snail mail address is:
Charlie Clark
Sengelsweg 34
40489 Düsseldorf
Germany
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OK, looked quickly at the status and they are very similar to most French non profits.
Based on on my experience, a rough way forward would be :
- Contact last chairmans/treasurer committee to ensure they are still there and willing to put the effort to hand-over the responsibility (receive new members + payments)
- Become a member provided step 1 OK (membership application + payment)
- Host a new general assembly with the members to elect the new representatives (can it only be German residents???) + legal paperwork to make that official to German government
Once new chairman/treasurer status is sorted :
- Maybe rework the status? I find they refer to BeOS and its successors and not Haiku.
- Clarify financial situation (accounting)
- Update/rework/translate the website, and place a certificate for https
- Put something in place to accept online donations?
- Start planning for events (primary objective!)
- Maybe at a later point also mirroring/hosting, etc?
e.V. means registered club. Can be profit or non-profit. Your experience with non-profits will sure be useful.
If we 5 interested people join the club that’s the first step. Then we can discuss handing over the responsibility. Or assist Clark.
Clark said the membership fees named on the website are still valid.
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Yeah, that’s a sticking point. I’d support this in principle but
- I’m retired now, and the Euro is wreaking havoc on my local currency.
- A club in Germany, with all itts events in Germany, is not going to keep my interest for long. The FreeDOS guys have monthly online meetings, but there’s no formal club involved, just a mailing list to send out reminders.
Perhaps the new club management could consider a level of nonvoting associate membership for non-EU supporters.
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