Travel costs keep rising, but you'd still like to be able to host great programs at your local society's meetings by using the best speaker talent in the world. So how do you do it without breaking the bank?
The Southern California Genealogical Society is sponsoring a free webinar, presented by DearMYRTLE, on June 12. In this webinar, you'll learn how your society can use GoToWebinar at an inexpensive rate. Want to know more? You'll find details here.
Showing posts with label tips. Show all posts
Showing posts with label tips. Show all posts
Sunday, April 18, 2010
Tuesday, April 13, 2010
Get Ready for the Holidays!
It's not too soon to start planning for the December holidays! They'll be here before you know it.
Consider promoting within your society the idea of giving a society membership as a holiday gift. We all know people who are thinking about getting involved with genealogy. Now is the time to consider helping those people to get started. Those people who are just thinking about genealogy or who may have attended one of your society's meetings may be ready to start the process!
Talk to your society's treasurer about buying a gift membership to your society for a year. You can purchase an annual membership and enclose the new membership card in a holiday card or a gift box. It's a tremendously thoughtful gift, and it also helps to draw you and your friend closer together.
Consider promoting within your society the idea of giving a society membership as a holiday gift. We all know people who are thinking about getting involved with genealogy. Now is the time to consider helping those people to get started. Those people who are just thinking about genealogy or who may have attended one of your society's meetings may be ready to start the process!
Talk to your society's treasurer about buying a gift membership to your society for a year. You can purchase an annual membership and enclose the new membership card in a holiday card or a gift box. It's a tremendously thoughtful gift, and it also helps to draw you and your friend closer together.
Monday, April 12, 2010
Is Your Society Right with the IRS?
This is a reminder that EVERY non-profit society needs to file an information return with IRS no matter how small your budget is.
If your income is less than $25000 a year it is very easy to file a 990N. Go to the IRS website's Charities and non-profits page http://www.irs.gov/charities/index.html?navmenu=menu1, for information on filing the different 990 returns.
To actually file a 990N return go to http://epostcard.form990.org/. If you haven't filed a return before you will have to register. Have your FEIN in hand as well as current contact information. It's quick, easy and painless.
The consequences of not filing are not painless, however. This is the third year of the requirement. If a society does not file for three years they can lose their non-profit status. This might result in having to reapply for that status.
So, please take the time to file your return.
If you are not the person responsible for filing the return, but would like to make sure that it has been done, you can search on this page http://www.irs.gov/app/ePostcard/
If your income is less than $25000 a year it is very easy to file a 990N. Go to the IRS website's Charities and non-profits page http://www.irs.gov/charities/index.html?navmenu=menu1, for information on filing the different 990 returns.
To actually file a 990N return go to http://epostcard.form990.org/. If you haven't filed a return before you will have to register. Have your FEIN in hand as well as current contact information. It's quick, easy and painless.
The consequences of not filing are not painless, however. This is the third year of the requirement. If a society does not file for three years they can lose their non-profit status. This might result in having to reapply for that status.
So, please take the time to file your return.
If you are not the person responsible for filing the return, but would like to make sure that it has been done, you can search on this page http://www.irs.gov/app/ePostcard/
Wednesday, April 7, 2010
Creating a Member Handbook
Your genealogical society is a business and it has a service to sell. It has a story to tell about its purpose, projects, programs, and plans. That story can best be told through a Member Handbook given to all new members and to prospective members who express serious interest. It also can be posted on your society's website for anyone to access to learn more about your organization.
The preparation of a member handout benefits the reader and the society. A handbook educates new members about how your society works and can motivate prospective members to join. It's easier to be involved in an organization when you understand its goals.
Your by-laws represent the operations of the organization, and they can be placed on your society's website, but a friendly handbook can be written to more easily engage the interest of the reader.
What should be included in a member handbook? A welcome letter from the group's leadership is a great start, followed with a list of current officers, their positions, and contact information. A compelling mission statement and clearly stated goals help people understand your society's purpose. A list of accomplishments can illustrate your society's productivity and successes.
Membership benefits are an important feature of every society's story. Share a full list of benefits. Discuss the types of programs and field trips that are offered and describe the educational and recreational benefits. Help readers also know what special interest groups exist, and describe the opportunities to volunteer.
Your Internet resources, such as web page, blog, and other online facilities, can help communicate your message to the reader. Share links with other genealogical resources in your area such as libraries and archives.
Your member handbook can be published online to save money associated with printing, storage, and mailing. It also allows you to keep the publication up to date, and eliminates production and maintenance of a stockpile of quickly outdated materials.
Learn more about other best practices from the FGS Society Strategy Series papers. The papers are free to FGS Members in the Members Only area of the FGS Web site, or printed copies can be ordered using the order form at the FGS Store on the FGS web site at fgs.org.
The preparation of a member handout benefits the reader and the society. A handbook educates new members about how your society works and can motivate prospective members to join. It's easier to be involved in an organization when you understand its goals.
Your by-laws represent the operations of the organization, and they can be placed on your society's website, but a friendly handbook can be written to more easily engage the interest of the reader.
What should be included in a member handbook? A welcome letter from the group's leadership is a great start, followed with a list of current officers, their positions, and contact information. A compelling mission statement and clearly stated goals help people understand your society's purpose. A list of accomplishments can illustrate your society's productivity and successes.
Membership benefits are an important feature of every society's story. Share a full list of benefits. Discuss the types of programs and field trips that are offered and describe the educational and recreational benefits. Help readers also know what special interest groups exist, and describe the opportunities to volunteer.
Your Internet resources, such as web page, blog, and other online facilities, can help communicate your message to the reader. Share links with other genealogical resources in your area such as libraries and archives.
Your member handbook can be published online to save money associated with printing, storage, and mailing. It also allows you to keep the publication up to date, and eliminates production and maintenance of a stockpile of quickly outdated materials.
Learn more about other best practices from the FGS Society Strategy Series papers. The papers are free to FGS Members in the Members Only area of the FGS Web site, or printed copies can be ordered using the order form at the FGS Store on the FGS web site at fgs.org.
Thursday, March 25, 2010
Society Strategies Tip: Create and Maintain a Policies and Procedures Manual
Your society's bylaws provide the underlying structure that supports the way your society is supposed to work. Think of it as your society's skeleton.
But to be truly effective, your society needs more than a set of bylaws. It also needs a policies and procedures manual. Such a manual outlines the way your society functions in more detail. It's like the muscles that attach to the skeleton and that do the real work.
For instance, your policies and procedures manual might give the details as to how you conduct a board meeting (especially if you like to do it a little bit different from the way it's done in Roberts Rules). It might set a maximum value for how much your program chair can spend on a monthly program before having to ask the board for permission to spend more. It might give a set of steps for finding people to run for office (e-mailing them, making announcements at monthly meetings, etc.).
If you write all of this down in a manual (and these days, it can be purely electronic, maybe stored as a PDF file), then it can be copied and given to all of your officers. You can even put it in a members-only area of your society's website so that everyone in the society knows the details of how your society runs.
Without a P&P manual, you may waste a lot of time looking up things in your archive of minutes, trying to remember how you did something the previous year. With a P&P manual, you can feel confident that you're acting consistently, month after month, year after year.
But to be truly effective, your society needs more than a set of bylaws. It also needs a policies and procedures manual. Such a manual outlines the way your society functions in more detail. It's like the muscles that attach to the skeleton and that do the real work.
For instance, your policies and procedures manual might give the details as to how you conduct a board meeting (especially if you like to do it a little bit different from the way it's done in Roberts Rules). It might set a maximum value for how much your program chair can spend on a monthly program before having to ask the board for permission to spend more. It might give a set of steps for finding people to run for office (e-mailing them, making announcements at monthly meetings, etc.).
If you write all of this down in a manual (and these days, it can be purely electronic, maybe stored as a PDF file), then it can be copied and given to all of your officers. You can even put it in a members-only area of your society's website so that everyone in the society knows the details of how your society runs.
Without a P&P manual, you may waste a lot of time looking up things in your archive of minutes, trying to remember how you did something the previous year. With a P&P manual, you can feel confident that you're acting consistently, month after month, year after year.
Sunday, March 21, 2010
Society Strategies Tip: Robert's Rules
Whether you're starting a new genealogical society or maintaining an existing one, it's important that your general meetings and your board meetings be conducted in a way that is fair to all of your members and that keeps things organized and understandable.
Ideally, your society's secretary or parliamentarian should have a copy of Robert's Rules of Order, so that the officers can refer to an authoritative source when there is a question of proper procedure. Also, your society's bylaws should specifically refer to Robert's Rules by name as the go-to source when there is a question of procedure that is not covered under the society's bylaws.
By the way, the most recent version of Robert's Rules is also available on CD-ROM, and can be installed on a computer, making it easy for an officer with a laptop to have it instantly available and quickly searchable as needed during meetings.
Ideally, your society's secretary or parliamentarian should have a copy of Robert's Rules of Order, so that the officers can refer to an authoritative source when there is a question of proper procedure. Also, your society's bylaws should specifically refer to Robert's Rules by name as the go-to source when there is a question of procedure that is not covered under the society's bylaws.
By the way, the most recent version of Robert's Rules is also available on CD-ROM, and can be installed on a computer, making it easy for an officer with a laptop to have it instantly available and quickly searchable as needed during meetings.
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