Minutes of the annual meeting of the  Evergreen Woodworker’s Guild Board of Directors

Date: July 21, 2010

Board members in attendance: Michael Dresdner, Bill Cogswell, Carol Zandell, George Knutsen, Gordon Patnude.

Guests: none

The meeting was held at  3303 28^th St. SE, Puyallup, WA 98374, and was called to order at 7:10 PM.

Discussion:

We have, in the past, had an education chair who oversaw the dispersal of funds to defray the costs of woodworking classes so as to encourage members to take advantage of educational opportunities in our field. However, the board noted that there is no cohesive set of guidelines either for how much money would be spent on this endeavor, nor to which courses would be considered legitimate recipients of this help. The board felt it was important to clarify both the existence of and scope of the duties of that chair.

Action:

A motion was made and passed that the president maintain an Education Chair to oversee the dispersal of our education funds. The chair would have jurisdiction to validate reimbursement of educational fees to members for woodworking courses offered by a valid business entity or organization in the Pacific Northwest. The guild will set aside $2500 from the profits of the super raffle to create an education fund. Reimbursement will not exceed $150 per member per year, and will be paid until the yearly fund is exhausted. The dollar amount per person and total amount to be disbursed may be reviewed and adjusted as needed at the end of each fiscal year.

Adjournment

The meeting was adjourned at 8:05 pm.

Did you know that the Guild has changed our status to a 501(c)(3) non-profit? That means that we are now a fully fledged, tax-deductible charitable non-profit organization. Before, we were a non-profit, but not a charitable organization.

Why did we do this?
* In the case of legal action involving the club, individual members may not be sued. This protects the members.
* Any money donated to the EWWF is tax-deductible. This should enable us to raise money for operating funds more easily, and perhaps help us to find a sponsors for the auction and other activities.
* Allowed expenses (donations, kit, etc.) and the mileage you drive to take part in certain activities may be deducted at income tax time, if you file the long forms and deduct expenses. The value of your time, however, is not deductible. (Note: I am not a professional tax preparer and this is not to be taken as tax advice. Consult your own tax preparer or do your own research!)

Benefits bring responsibilities. The treasurer should give you a receipt for any donation you make to the club for your tax records. Also, as a corporation, the EWWGshould can chose to prepare income tax forms every April. While this is not currently necessary until we manage to raise more than $25,000 in the previous taxable year, some organization do file anyway.  So the treasurer the club elects is an important person, and must be responsible. Dick Noe is our treasurer and has been doing a great job.

Our status change is due to the tireless effort of past-president Jerry Wheeler. Jerry spent well over a year checking and filing paperwork and then dealing with the ‘powers-that-be’ to make the compelling argument that this was the best status for our group. Thanks Jerry!