Cohousing-L Mailing List: Re: bookkeeping programs

[Sharon Villines (sharon]

> On Nov 10, 2024, at 7:16 AM, Sean Davey via Cohousing-L <cohousing-l [at] 
> cohousing.org> wrote:
> 
> Mosaic, https://mosaicsoftware.org <https://mosaicsoftware.org/>, provides a 
> full accounting system (and much more) for cohousing communities. The 
> accounting system integrates with other modules providing things like 
> automatic invoicing for HOA dues, common meals, guest room usage, eggs (if 
> you have chickens), etc. It is simpler than QuickBooks only providing that 
> which is needed for a cohousing community. Hosting, customization, and future 
> improvements are all free. I'm happy to answer any questions you may have.

Double ditto on this. Mosaic is a quiet treasure that needs more attention and 
usage.

Takoma Village started using Mosaic to schedule community meals, make 
reservations, bill eaters, and reimburse or credit cook teams. It has greatly 
enhanced the meals program. It is so easy to schedule a meal, make a 
reservation or change one, and pay online. I don’t remember the exact billing 
schedule we chose — every few weeks, not weekly or daily. The automatically 
generated statements are very clear— full information on meals consumed, 
groceries purchased, reimbursements, etc. 

Mosaic is a huge database on related information so names, dates, prices, etc. 
are all chosen from dropdown menus or entered automatically, so data only has 
to be entered once and can then be used to print all sorts of reports. 

It is set up by household so everyone in a household can be billed together.

My hesitation for years in using this program was that it is written and 
maintained and hosted by one person. That has totally not been a problem 
because Sean responds to questions promptly. And makes changes promptly. He is 
very responsive.

What “we” need, meaning all of cohousing is a core of 2-4 people who know open 
source programming to provide more assurance that the program will still work 
if Sean decides he really wants to become a race car driver or a caveman. In 
fact, the program will run itself “forever” and is Open Source so anyone who 
knows  the underlying programs can maintain and develop it. 

One of the advantages of Mosaic over BIG programs like Quickbooks, is that it 
does everything an HOA needs done without the overhead of things you don’t 
need. AND it handles separate cash accounts for meals, food sharing, childcare, 
etc very well. 

One of our members maintains a Venmo account in his name that he uses for the 
meal program. Everything is transparent so there is no problem with wondering 
where the money goes or the overhead of preventing embezzlement.

If you use online commercial products you have to pay per person who is 
authorized to use the program. It means decentralization of power and 
transparency comes with added cost.

Sharon
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Sharon Villines
Takoma Village Cohousing, Washington DC
http://www.takomavillage.org