Suncoast Chapter Meeting Minutes for July 13, 2017

 

AIBD Suncoast Chapter

July 13th, 2017

 

Meeting called to order at 11:56 a.m. by Jenni Lewis-Boucher (Chair).

 

AIBD Chapter officers:

Chair, Jenni Lewis, Dreamcatcher Building Designs

Vice Chair, Paul Glaser, Glaser Designs

Secretary, Renato Carotti, Carotti Engineering

 

AIBD members present:

Kristen Bryant – Carotti Engineering

Steve Johnson – Origin Doors & Windows

 

NON-AIBD Members present:

None

 

Business:

  • Jenni went over updates from AIBD
    • August 10th-11th AIBD has a Summer Conference
    • August 11th AIBD has an Award Gala
  • AIBD changed the position names of the chapters as follow:
    • President is now Chair
    • Vice President is now Vice Chair
    • Secretary stays the same
  • Reni talked about our new blog which Paul Glaser wrote the first one for us (We will get info out about it soon, via email. Kristen is still trying to work out some of the technical details).
  • Kristen updated everyone on who is coming up in the next few months for presenters…
    • August – Tubular Skylight (their product)
    • September – Unlicensed contractors
    • Joe from Phantom Screens had to cancel and is looking forward to doing his presentation in the near future.
  • Ren Carotti started his presentation on wind load at 12:09 pm and went till 1:06 pm
  • Kristen will make postcard size “flyers” to hand out for AIBD
  • Annual Report – We have to fill out a report for AIBD on our chapter’s info on the following: (if you would like to see the report, let Kristen know and she will email it to you).
    • New Officers (staying the same for 2017-2018 year)
    • Meeting History
    • Financials
      • 0 (zero) Income
      • 0 (zero) expenses (because Carotti Engineering has covered them, food & rental estimated at about $200 each meeting).
    • Fundraising
      • We started a 50?50 raffle this meeting and we will NOT be able to continue to have it, because it goes against Florida Law, per Steve Mickley from AIBD.
        • Ren Carotti won the raffle & Paul Glaser donated $20.
      • Kristen has a list of a few fundraisers hopefully will be approved to be able to do. (Heard from Steve at AIBD, see last 3 pages of the minutes to see his reply and guidelines) – We will need to discuss further in the future.
        • Golf Tournament
        • Shareholders: Arrested for a Cause
        • Opportunity Drawing Basket
          • Basket Auction
        • Wine tasting Event
        • Calendars
        • Game Night
        • Family Picture Day
        • Classic Car Show
        • Casino Night
        • Silent Auction
        • Trivia Night
        • Basket Raffle Bingo

Next Meeting:

 

Our Presenter of August’s meeting on Thursday the 10th is Tublar Skylight

 

Our presenter for September’s meeting on Thursday the 14th, 2017 is

 

 

 

 

***Bring someone with you.  Invite people!  Let’s grow our chapter!***

 

 

Meeting adjourned by Jenni Lewis-Boucher at 1:08 pm.

 

 

 Response from Steve Mickley about fundraising…

Before I answer your questions, there is one word that you haven’t used that is a huge fundraiser in our industry – Sponsorship. AIBD relies heavily on getting product manufacturers and service providers involved and they have budget for sponsorships. Your challenge to convince them that sponsoring your event will be worth their ROI. To make it a little easier, I’ve had local reps tell me that their company expects them to “do” a certain number of lunch and learns each year. I don’t have data, but I would say 75% of all AIBD chapter meetings are paid for by sponsorship fees or direct payment of the lunch by the presenter.

Example #1: If you pay for the meeting space and secure the food, charge a presenter a sponsorship fee ($250, $300, $500, $1000…you be the judge based on supply and demand). The Cape Fear Chapter rents a local country club for their meeting location. The rental includes the buffet. They sell 12 sponsorships per year, which allows the rep to set up a table top, or booth if there’s space, and do a one-hour lunch and learn presentation.

Example #2: The Central Orlando Chapter uses the local home builder’s conference room at no charge. They ask their sponsors to arrange the food for them. Some sponsors have done some pretty extensive catering. Others just buy Jimmy John’s. This is nothing new to the product reps. We do their work for them if we’re the ones buying the food, in some cases.

Example #3: The Palm Beach Chapter has a standing 3rd Friday reservation for a private room at a local restaurant. When there’s a lunch sponsor, everyone orders and theirs one bill delivered to the sponsor. If there’s not a sponsor, everyone orders and they are responsible for their own lunch.

Here’s another fundraising word you didn’t mention – Advertising

Advertising is acceptable. For example you could print up your calendars and give them away and fund them by selling advertising space. You can also provide place mats for your lunch and learns and sell advertising space on the place mats. You could sell advertising at your meeting in the form of a short video that you play somewhere on your agenda.

BUT! Advertising is considered an “Unrelated Income” when it comes to business associations. That means AIBD will have to pay taxes on your profits form the advertising. There would have to be an addendum added to your annual report that would break down your advertising revenue and expenses…just like a profit and loss statement. AIBD already sells advertising on a national level. So, our accountants are already filling out the necessary forms. But the chapter must be aware of the additional information that would be needed for us to report the local advertising and they you’d be responsible for paying the taxes due.

All the other chapters are using one or more of the above examples. So far I haven’t heard of any doing a fundraising events, yet. But with that, here’s my answers to your questions.

We can fund-raise as long as we do not give back cash as a prize?

Correct: You can fundraise.

Correct: Avoid cash prizes like the plague.

And we cannot ask for donations?

Incorrect: Yes, you can ask for donations. But they are not tax deductible for the contributor. We have to make that clear. A better word is contribution.

Contribution vs. Donation. Donation refers to a gift to a charitable organization whereas a contribution is generally associated with a gift to a common fund or collection. Basically, contributing is asking for an individual’s far share of something they will benefit from.

We could sell something (calendars) for a profit?

Correct: You can sell things, but I’d rather you didn’t. It may enter into what’s called unrelated income too. But more importantly, selling things means charging, reporting and paying sales tax. This is not something the chapter can register for and handle on their own. I would envision that your sales will not be high enough to cover the staff time and accounting expenses.

Tip: As far as calendars…make them available for a $__ “contribution.” Budget in for some to be taken without the “contribution.”

Note: When it comes to publishing anything using AIBD intellectual property, the book of rules guides us…

“Upon request by the Institute, the local chapter will submit to the Institute for review any and all materials in which the copyrights, trademarks, logos and other intellectual property appear. The Institute will have the right to require changes to such materials for the purpose of insuring proper use of its property.”

Therefore, it is best to get materials intended to be published approved before you go to any expense.

Could we have a basket donated and people pay for a ticket to have a chance to win the basket?

Questionable: Giving away non-cash prizes but charging a contribution for the ticket to win is a slippery slope. It’s less slippery if the prize was donated and not purchased.

Tip: If you charge $10 to attend a meeting, you can then hold a raffle to give out the gift basket to someone attending. This is because the money was for attending the meeting and the prize is a result of attending the meeting.

Golf tournament would be OK?

Correct: You may host a golf tournament. Hopefully it’s on a date I can attend.

Tip: It would be great if the chapter only had to host one fundraising event per year and made enough money to make it through the year…such as the AIBD, Suncoast Chapter’s Annual Golf Tournament.

Here’s what authority is given to the chapters according to our the Chapter Constitution.

ARTICLE VIII – Finances
1. The Fiscal Year of the Chapter shall begin July 1.
2. In addition to the AIBD national annual dues the Chapter may charge annual dues.
3. The Chapter may charge fees for special events and projects.
4. The dues and fees shall be fixed by a majority vote the leadership board.
5. All expenditures shall be for Chapter activities only.

Conclusion: Donations are not mentioned because AIBD is not a charitable organization. Dues and Fees are mentioned because those are what will be tax deductible for the members.

Case Study #1: BNI is a business organization I’ve been involved with in the past. The only fundraising they do is to charge for their weekly meetings. Let’s say it’s $10. They ask for $520 annually. Some may refer to it as dues, but the premise, is, you’ve paid $10 to attend 52 breakfast (or lunch) meetings. If you miss a meeting, you’ve basically lost $10 of your benefits, plus the business opportunities you may have missed. This is an approach the AIBD chapters can take too. AIBD Chapters can charge dues AND charge for meetings. But nearly all, have chosen to forgo dues. Pretty much because there aren’t really a lot of expenses outside of the lunch and learns. Therefore, instead of “punishing” a member for not attending, most of them charge by the meeting so they only are on the hook for what they’ve participated in. And these types of expenses, i.e. business lunches (or breakfasts, or dinners), are acceptable business expenses.

Case Study #2:
The local home builder affiliates usually host one or two fundraisers each year. But pay close attention to what they are raising funds for. Usually it’s “BuildPac.” There must be a Political Action Committee (PAC) as a separate corporation established for the sole purpose of funding political campaigns and lobbying. Unlike charitable organizations, PACs donations are not tax deductible but the NAHB affiliates host hundreds of fundraisers throughout the country to raise money. Usually, the other activities by the home builders are home parades, which they charge a fee to participate in. Design award programs, which they charge a fee to participate in. And, fundraising dinners, which they charge by the plate to attend.

The bottom line: AIBD chapters are outreach committees of the organization. The chairperson is the ambassador. We don’t expect them to make a profit. But to be sustainable, they do need to cover their expenses. Other than meeting expenses, chapters should not be incurring many others.

A good weekend read, eh?

I hope the extreme detail helps and didn’t confuse you more. If it did, I promise the next email will just be yes and no answers. 😉

Have a triumphant day,

Steve Mickley
Executive Director

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