Something Is Missing…

Some of you know I have a deep passion for the SQL Server community. I’ve always been extremely focused on local community building. As we started really planning for our SQLSaturday (SQLSaturday #97) I started to realize there was a gap between the user group level and the national level. We initially just wanted to turn CACTUSS into a nonprofit but I’m also involved with the San Antonio community and we want to do a SQLSaturday there too. So, I talked to some people I’ve known for quite a while and started moving to form a new nonprofit organization. The Professional Organization of SQL Server Educators was conseved.

This Ain’t Gonna Be Easy.

I started digging around for how to build the company and make it not only a federal nonprofit but a state nonprofit as well.  If you have ever filed all the paperwork for a federal nonprofit you know just how big a time and money investment it really is. Again, it isn’t easy. The IRS has a lot of information. Eventually I decided to use legalzoom.com for some of the basic stuff. Luckily I have a wife who is in the legal field and is doing the bulk of the heavy lifting. The amount of information you have to put together is pretty daunting. It isn’t just a matter of filling out a form and sending it in. You have to prove that you are serving the community and make sure you have everything in place to keep the organization from being co-opted by folks who would use it for personal gain.

Why Would Anyone Do This?

Because. That’s it just because. OK, there is more to it than that. I have complained made suggestions, for the last several years about how PASS could help local chapters. After seeing what can happen when you just do what should be done, I decided to shut up and just get it done. Even if they don’t know it Steve Jones, Andy Warren, and Brian Knight are one of the real reasons I’m doing this. Every time you go to a SQLSaturday and learn something new you need to send those guys a thank you note. They didn’t wait for someone else to do it. They didn’t ask how they could monetize SQLSaturday they structured it to be supportable by the local community. They built one of the best things to ever happen to the SQL Server community.

Now What?

We keep working to get everything squared away. Am I afraid of failing? Yep, but I’m more afraid of just doing nothing.