Use case · Association
The association that dissolves
Fifteen years, two hundred members at peak, twelve boards of directors, a website that hosted every edition of the festival. The association is dissolving — yet what it produced belongs to collective memory as much as to the outgoing committee.
The setting
Your association was founded fifteen years ago around a purpose — cultural, sporting, charitable, professional. You set up a board, recruited volunteers, applied for grants, organised a first edition of something, then a second, then ten. The website carried the journey: event archives, articles, photos, press mentions, AGM reports.
You stop. The current board no longer has the bandwidth, the succession did not come, dissolution is voted at an extraordinary general meeting. An amicable liquidator is appointed from former board members. You have a few months ahead to settle commitments — last rents, last URSSAF payments if you had a salaried employee, final report to public funders.
Then comes the question of intangible assets. The website accumulates fifteen years of public memory. The mailboxes contain exchanges with partners that other associations might want to reconnect with. The minutes have historical value. Member lists are subject to GDPR. None of that can simply vanish with the prefectoral filing.
An association does not close like a company. It closes like a circle: what it leaves behind, it owes to its members, its publics, and to whoever may continue the work later.
- 15 years of activity
- ~200 members at peak
- ~45 GB of archives
- 12 boards of directors
What is at stake
- Minutes and bylaws. Governance documents evidencing historical decisions (admissions, exclusions, bylaw amendments, approved annual accounts). Recommended retention is at least ten years, longer if the association received public subsidies (administrative audits).
- The editorial website. Fifteen years of SEO, dozens of articles, event photos that count for the memory of participants and for the documentation of the field. For locally or thematically rooted associations, it is often the only open archive on the topic.
- Member data. Subject to GDPR. The CNIL (French data protection authority) recommends retention periods aligned with purpose (3 years after last contact for prospecting, longer for legal obligations). Members must be informed about what happens to their data.
- Office mailboxes.
contact@,board@,presidency@will receive solicitations for years — partners, former members, administrations. Without email continuity, those messages disappear. - Liquidation surplus and devolution. The 1901 Act forbids the surplus from going back to members: residual assets — including intangibles such as a valuable domain or precious archives — must be devolved to another association with a similar purpose. Provided those assets have been identified and documented.
How Archivum operates
- 1
Scoping the case
Bylaws (1901 Act or specific regime), history of received subsidies, archive perimeter, grants to be allocated (former board members, possible recipient association). Detailed quote, then a template contract adapted to associative dissolution.
- 2
Documentary archive deposit
AGM minutes, amended bylaws, annual accounts, grant agreements, event photos and videos, member registers anonymised as needed. Storage on sovereign French infrastructure, cryptographic fingerprint for each item.
- 3
Editorial site frozen as static
The site is regenerated as static HTML. Active features (membership forms, member areas) are disabled, editorial archives remain accessible. The domain is kept under contract. See site continuity.
- 4
Email taken over inbound-only
contact@,board@are taken over in inbound-only mode. The granted former board members consult incoming mail through a logged register. Out-of-band replies remain possible case by case. - 5
Conservation and member notice
The contract sets the archive durations per stratum. A notice is sent to members still identifiable, informing them about the future of their data — transfer to the recipient association if any, or deletion at term.
- 6
End-of-period arbitration
Former board members (or successors named in the contract, who may be representatives of the recipient association) decide collegially between extension, deletion and transfer — see end-of-period arbitration.
Five years on
The former officers named in the contract — or representatives of the recipient association — decide under the agreed voting rule.
Extension
A new period, often justified by the historical value of the archives or by a collective memory worth keeping available.
Deletion
Secure destruction of GDPR-bound data once statutory periods have elapsed. Possible retention of an anonymised editorial memory only.
Transfer to the trustee
Archivum inherits contractually the domain and editorial site — useful for associations whose public-facing content is still in active use.
How much it costs
For a mid-sized association — fifteen years of activity, ~45 GB of archives, a 200-page editorial site, three office mailboxes — over five to ten years, the order of magnitude is a few hundred to a few thousand euros per year, tiered by volume. For associations funded with public money, some local authorities may take on all or part of the patrimonial archiving cost — to be assessed case by case.
Scope your case
The most efficient path is to talk for an hour before the dissolution AGM. We understand the constraints specific to associations (1901 Act, surplus devolution, GDPR for members), we validate a perimeter, you walk away with a scoped quote and a draft contract to present to the board.