This is a collection of questions we asked during the founding process and answered partly ourselves and partly with outside help. The answers reflect our experience, but we cannot guarantee that they are correct.
It is intended as guidance for the uncertainty you face when starting out.
How do you start?
Just start. Take one thing at a time. Questions will resolve themselves along the way (hopefully this document helps). If you need something, ask other associations or hackerspaces; they are happy to help!
Get together and look at the Hackerspace Blueprint. It is worth its weight in gold: https://github.com/0x20/hackerspace-blueprint
Also look at the Hackerspace Design Patterns; there is a lot of useful material there: https://wiki.hackerspaces.org/Design_Patterns
Run a survey to find out what people need. Meet more often, set a goal or think of a project. Boom: a hackerspace is born. The structure develops by itself, or you create it along the way.
Do we need a tax number?
No. In Austria, you do not need a tax number and should not obtain one from the tax office until you have certain revenues (those revenues do not include membership fees).
Do we need a bank account?
Yes. Having a bank account is not compulsory; you could do everything in cash. But do not make things unnecessarily difficult. We compared several banks, and it is important to choose one that does not charge per transaction. Transactions happen frequently. Volksbank was the right choice for us: low monthly costs, no transaction fees and support for the four-eyes principle (more on that later).
Can the account be in my name if my preferred bank does not offer an association account?
Yes, the account should be in the association's name to ensure a smooth process when members change. Ultimately, you only need the signatures of the authorised signatories (in our case the treasurer and chair), and you can get started.
Should we put a payment terminal in the space?
It depends. Realraum installed a card terminal. That is a good idea if you want to allow payments easily. The problem is that you pay a fee for every transaction. Ultimately, the member pays for that through membership fees or drink donations. We took some inspiration from Devlol in Linz and developed a fully digital credit system, where you can pay by phone using credit you have previously added to our system.
In other words, a digital wallet. This gives the association funds earlier, allowing us to pay for drinks in advance, and saves all transaction fees because everything happens internally.
We do not yet have an ideal solution for guests. Later there will be guest accounts with credit that can be topped up in cash or by instant bank transfer.
How do you found the association?
Ultimately, it is very simple: write statutes or borrow another association's statutes (these are publicly available in almost every case), review them with a third person, then submit a form to the police authority responsible for associations (in Klagenfurt, for example, the regional police directorate). Boom: founded.
At the founding meeting, decide who is on the board and include that in the form or report it afterwards.
At some point, hold a general assembly, where you can elect the board again through a procedure determined by the statutes.
When writing the statutes, consider what you actually want to do and whether you want non-profit status, because that changes the wording of some paragraphs. As far as I know, all the hackerspaces in Vienna are not non-profit.
Do we need double-entry bookkeeping?
No. As long as you do not have a tax number, you do not need to submit a tax return and ultimately do not need to keep accounts.
What you probably do need to do is make your expenses available to the auditor, so they can see what the association's money was spent on. They need to check this. The easier you make it for them, the happier they will be with you.
For this reason, and for traceability and future security, we chose double-entry bookkeeping. We configured hledger with suitable accounts, with support from Realraum.