Forming an (academic) association

Yellow_Fern

Hi all,

I am interested in forming an international academic association/society. I am at a loss to find a guide on how to do this in Ireland. Anyone can organise conferences but I believe you need a legal basis if you want to have membership fees and have multi year budgets? Is that true? Does anyone know of any guides to do this? GRMA

hullaballoo

an association is by definition unincorporated meaning it is just that, a group of people who have decided to come together as an association for a particular reason. it has no separate legal personality so the members are all legally/financially liable if something goes wrong.

depending on the purposes, you might be required to register the association with any number of regulators (particularly if you are fundraising) so be careful with that. being subject to regulation creates a massive administrative burden not just in terms of accounting and finance but also compliance and reporting obligations.

it can be a royal pita to establish an association particularly because one of the things you usually need to do is have a bank account. if you have had any reason to try and talk to a bank in the last 10 years you will know they don't exactly lean into customer service anymore. there is endless form filling and data collection by the banks (again for good regulatory reasons) but it is increasingly difficult to get to talk to someone who knows what kind of account is needed for an association. many banks refused to even entertain the thoughts of opening an account for an association. i think it was one of the older irish banks that did eventually find someone who knew what kind of account was needed.

if you somehow manage to navigate the labyrinth of setting up a bank account for your association, the rest of it is quite straightforward and can be done low cost if you have a few people with their brains switched on. being involved in the management roles (chair, secretary, treasurer) is no laughing matter however so make sure you have the right people for those.

there's a fairly rudimentary guide here which might be a good starting point, although i'd caveat it by saying i haven't assessed the reliability of this at all: https://www.citizensinformation.ie/en/travel-and-recreation/sport-and-leisure/setting-up-a-new-club/

Lenar3556

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/2058367303/forming-an-academic-association

Depends on what this group plans to do?

A company limited by guarantee may be a suitable legal entity within under which the group can operate.

Peregrinus

If you're planning on operating internationally some formal legal structure (like, as Lenar3556 suggests, a company limited by guarantee) might a good idea. Unincorporated associations can do quite a lot in Ireland without too much formality (but there will be some formality; what hullabaloo says is correct) but once you start trying to do things in other countries (like organise a conference or meeting there) it really helps to have the official basics, like a certificate of registration with the name of the association on it, and a registered office.

Your best bet is to try to talk to someone who is involved in running an existing association that is vaguely similar. It doesn't have to be an academic association; other associations — professional, cultural, whatever — face similar issues and what has worked for them will likely work for you too.

hullaballoo

I should point out that even though my reply is longer than the others, I admittedly missed the international aspect to the OP.

Lenar and Peregrinus are correct, if dealing on an international basis, a formalised structure is preferable like a company limited by guarantee. It would also give you an easier run with setting up a bank account and facilitate other bureaucratic dealings you might have.

Yellow_Fern

Thanks very much. It is real food for thought.