Going to do this as different comments for different points, for easier replies...
1) The things that work for a group of 3-13ish people are different than the ones that work for a larger group. (Or are needed)
I actually think there's a lot of potential harm to a coven (small group, no more than 10-13 people, working with or toward building a group mind) to getting too official about things.
I've got a tendency toward "Write up how things go" documentation, but have found it tended to restrict what happened with actual people in ways that didn't produce the effects I wanted. It didn't leave space for an organic growth of what we could do together.
My current approach is to be up front about what I'm up for leading/participating in, so people could figure out if that's a thing they are also interested in.
And then with my current students, once we'd gotten through the intro Seeker classes, and they became Dedicants, we sat down with a list of "Here's some stuff we should make decisions about" (costs, food at events, planning other activities, how things run, my thoughts on running ritual, etc.)
The list was a mix of 'here's the stuff I'm willing to run', 'here's some stuff where we've got several possible choices' and 'here's some stuff that we might want to have a baseline about'.
That let it be organic, and let them participate, while still letting me set some limits on how we were doing things.
Related size issues: tax-exempt status is expensive and pointless in the US unless you're looking at taking in fairly significant money in donations.
(The cost to file is several hundred dollars, plus upkeep of things like a separate bank account and mailing address you're willing to have listed in public documents - often a PO Box. And the paperwork is time-consuming and complex for the initial filing, often dozens of hours.)
For a group where you're doing "Everyone chips in for expenses", that's ridiculous, and doesn't benefit anyone.
For a group running larger public events, and especially dealing with larger space rentals (where there are often non-profit rates) then it starts making a lot more sense.
Size of group implications
1) The things that work for a group of 3-13ish people are different than the ones that work for a larger group. (Or are needed)
I actually think there's a lot of potential harm to a coven (small group, no more than 10-13 people, working with or toward building a group mind) to getting too official about things.
I've got a tendency toward "Write up how things go" documentation, but have found it tended to restrict what happened with actual people in ways that didn't produce the effects I wanted. It didn't leave space for an organic growth of what we could do together.
My current approach is to be up front about what I'm up for leading/participating in, so people could figure out if that's a thing they are also interested in.
And then with my current students, once we'd gotten through the intro Seeker classes, and they became Dedicants, we sat down with a list of "Here's some stuff we should make decisions about" (costs, food at events, planning other activities, how things run, my thoughts on running ritual, etc.)
The list was a mix of 'here's the stuff I'm willing to run', 'here's some stuff where we've got several possible choices' and 'here's some stuff that we might want to have a baseline about'.
That let it be organic, and let them participate, while still letting me set some limits on how we were doing things.
Related size issues: tax-exempt status is expensive and pointless in the US unless you're looking at taking in fairly significant money in donations.
(The cost to file is several hundred dollars, plus upkeep of things like a separate bank account and mailing address you're willing to have listed in public documents - often a PO Box. And the paperwork is time-consuming and complex for the initial filing, often dozens of hours.)
For a group where you're doing "Everyone chips in for expenses", that's ridiculous, and doesn't benefit anyone.
For a group running larger public events, and especially dealing with larger space rentals (where there are often non-profit rates) then it starts making a lot more sense.
(I laid out some thoughts about this on a page on Seeking a while back.)