Messages in ICG #boardofdirectors (Slack) <2019-10-09 2019-10-11>
Mera Rose 5:17 AM
In other ICG news - we have 3 chapters submitting documents to be approved this
week: Old Dominion Costumers Guild covering the Tidewater section of
Virginia, Blue Ridge Costuming Society covering the SouthWestern
VA Blue Ridge from Lynchburg to Bristol and down the 220 corridor to the NC
line, and CosInternational covering Central Virginia
from Williamsburg to Lynchburg and up to Richmond/Fredericksburg
area.
I
have also been working with members of an online group known as CosAbility and several members of fan based groups from DragonCon who would like to form their own chapters as
well. The CosAbility members are
interested in forming a chapter that allows members from all over the country
who focus on disability accommodating costumes. I discussed a Sig
with them, but they would prefer not to be an “interest group” but a chapter
open for international members as they’re existing group currently
functions. Currently, they have over 3,000 members online and there
are about 40 who have expressed interest in joining the ICG.
Also,
the other group would be based out of Atlanta but would take members from any
locality as they would like to call the convention their home
area. The vast majority of those interested are centered in GA
however and share a love for a certain carpet pattern, which is how their
groups have founded. I’d like input on these other two chapters
before I help them with their documentation, as they’re geographic areas are
loosely defined. Currently, there are 120 members who have expressed
interest in the ICG, and their online membership totals around 7,000 people.
Cordially,
Mera Babineaux (edited)
Jeanine
Swick 2:08
PM
The reason why there has been no discussion on things until recently is becasue there were no reminders sent out to get anyone on
board or to take charge of starting one. The 5 year plan should have
been presented one section at a time for discussion. Something that large can not have a sensible or reasonable discussion when
presented as one huge mass. One section at a time with a synopsis of the points
brought up whould have made a heck of a lot more
sense, before moving on to the next. Don't club the members to death with
something unwieldy. Make it manageable.
Jeanine
[9 reply Last reply 2019-10-11 10:58 AM]
Jacalyn Boggs 2 years ago
Hindsight is 20/20. I agree the five year plan was a lot and dropping it all at
the meeting was too much. At the very least the Board should have had it for
review. It was a lot to take in and it took me some time looking at
it this summer to truly understand what was going on. There’s
actually some really good stuff in there.
While the elected officers didn’t make topics
of conversation, given the method of our communication, any of us could have
started a discussion at any point. There were things I wanted to discuss and
was just getting around to putting it together when we had the motion to move
forward on the guidelines (which was one of the things) and for whatever
unknown reason that causes certain elements decide to attempt to start
Armageddon.
Spend some time with the five year plan.
There’s important information in there and it’s a solid idea to have a plan if
we want this organization to grow instead of languish and die. Having no plan
means haphazard growth at best if not allowing for more attrition and
eventually collapse.
Jeanine Swick 2 years ago
Asatown meeting attendee, the presenter has to speak
to it first and the discussion. And as I said it should have been presented in
sections so people could take it in in manageable amounts. It is not too late
to to that and mayhelp
smooth things a bit. (edited)
Jacalyn Boggs 2 years ago
Then maybe we should do that. I was loathe to do anything with certain elements
completely obscuring what should have been a solid discussion on the guidelines
for 15 days so we could have voted. There was too much negativity and
filibustering to attempt to start any other conversations as far as I was
concerned. But if you think taking the 5-year plan being broken up in to
chunks, bring it up. Marianne would likely agree to that. Have
you thought to ask her seeing as though she’s president and the originator of
the plan?
Mera Rose 2 years ago
Well, the original presentation was designed to be done in a flow that stacked
nicely and made the info palatable in 35 minutes. It got derailed quickly
because we wanted to make sure questions were answered, although we initially
expected that people would hold questions to the end.
We had hoped there would be discussion on ANY
part of the plan... And we still hope that occurs.
Jeanine Swick 2 years ago
If you didn't allow for questions that was poor planning on your part. Did you
think folks would just sit back abd say yes?
Mera Rose 2 years ago
As I stated above: We expected that people would hold questions
until the end, allowing for an hour of questions AFTER the material was
presented. That’s not poor planning, that’s actually typical
presentation protocol.
Jeanine Swick 2 years ago
Except there was not an additional hour available for that before the room went
to con scheduling. Poor planning.
Mera Rose 2 years ago
Well, there was a 3 hour block actually, between the BoD
and members meetings, so you’re correct that we expected it to run according to
the agenda for the BoD meeting, with questions from
the BoD beginning at the end of that meeting, then
providing a slightly shorter brief to the general members in addition to the
other info so that they could ask questions and get involved, then go back to
the BoD meeting, confirm the vote and answer or
consider as many more questions as we could for the time remaining in the room,
then move the discussion to the online forums for at least 6 months or more to
see what proposals would develop.
Again, this whole process was derailed, and has
been ever since, by the idea that Marianne and I have some ill intent. Our
intent is pretty simple: recruit members and chapters, provide
resources and benefits, get people more active in committees, improve
communications and tech, and make sure we stay financially solvent so that we
can support the archives.
I’m not sure why that’s been deemed as
malicious, but we really didn’t intend it that way.
Now, I think it’s probably time to move on to
the actual business of trying to get some of that done instead of debating how
it should have been presented. Lesson learned... let’s
discuss what’s in the plan.
Jacalyn Boggs 2 years ago
I do remember we ran out of time and decided to just give the whole
presentation to the general membership instead of going over it as a board
first.
I agree. Hindsight is 20/20 and we can keep
harping on the mistakes of how this presentation was given or we can move
forward with actual productive conversation and implementing good and positive
changes for the future. I’m one for discussing moving forward.
Jeanine
Swick 2:18
PM
Just so you know I am still waiting for the Tech budget request.
The
same thing happens every year with different committees. It is not like the
budget request is a new thing for the committes. Plus
multiple reminders go out stateing it is due by Sept
30th every year.
And
you wonder why you can't get a discussion going on something with a large group
of people? I can't even get small select groups to respond to the
annual requests for their budget line item.
[5 reply Last reply 2019-10-10 4:25 PM]
Jacalyn Boggs 2 years ago
I’m trying to find out what’s going on with that. Technically I’m not the chair
of it so my hands are kind of tied. Can you tell me what we normally get and
what expenses we usually have? You can message it to me if it is too much for
the channel. I know we have some things we need to do, but I don’t
know if we can get that done or not.
I wish this was an easier process but honestly
I don’t have an answer on how to fix it since I’m just a member of committees.
I am feeling like we are worse than congress and that is just not cool.
Also sent to the channel
Jeanine Swick 2 years ago
It is the website hosting, domain name renewals as they come up and the
occasional web design program upgrade. Never more than $500 in a given year.
Who about when the first announcemnt
goes out try starting the discussion about it. You don't have to be achair to start a discussion and keep it moving.
Jacalyn Boggs 2 years ago
Well the problem with the tech committee is I literally have zero idea what
anything costs. I also don’t even really know what our web hosting package
includes. So it’s hard to even know where to start with helping with the budget
creation for the year. I’ve been on this committee for a number of years and
have no idea.
Betsy R. Marks 2 years ago
We have a bigger problem on our hands, statistics for which are coming in about
10 minutes.
Jeanine Swick 2 years ago
I have the Tech budget request!
Jeanine
Swick 2:42
PM
It
is the website hosting, domain name renewals as they come up and the occasional
web design program upgrade. Never more than $500 in a given year. Who
about when the first announcemnt goes out try
starting the discussion about it. You don't have to be achair to start a discussion and keep it moving.
Betsy
R. Marks 4:20
PM
Jeanine, before I submit the report I'm working on, have you received any
treasurer's reports not included in the data I requested last night? Thanks!
Jeanine
Swick 4:24
PM
No new updates. And I have a budget request for Tech!
Betsy
R. Marks 4:49
PM
Thank you.
Betsy
R. Marks 5:10
PM
The attached report represents a complete picture of the ICG's membership by
chapter, broken down by Individual/Head of Household, Member of Household,
expired and non-primary members. It also shows when the chapter last reported
to the ICG Treasurer.
As
a reminder, ALL chapters are supposed to report their members to the ICG on the
first of every month.
The
figures at the bottom represent the income received annually per ICG member,
whether I/HH or MH.
Furthermore,
for each member, $2 is set aside for the Archives per membership year.
That
breaks down to 25% of I/HH memberships and 50% of MH memberships ($546 + $162 =
$708 earmarked specifically for the Archives)
Without
donations, which cannot be counted as regular income, the ICG cannot afford to
spend the money on an annual audit.
Claims
that this is necessary are both extravagant and questionable, when the
paperwork required to be filed with the IRS is readily available, as are the
bank statements.
Furthermore,
there are chapters which are so far in arrears, action should have been taken
to warn the chapters of impending deactivation, and three of those chapters
should already have received final warnings that they will be deactivated for
failure to meet reporting and membership requirements. Roughly one-fifth of our
memberships of record have already expired off the rolls.
While
it is especially exciting to see the interest in our organization in the form
of new chapters, I am wondering whether these potential chapters are aware of
the reporting requirements and are prepared to step up with the required
payment and monthly reports to the ICG Treasurer.
Having
served in that capacity for over five years, and as Corresponding Secretary for
additional years where such notices were required prior to deactivation, and
having lived through the formation of the T-Chapter and the exits of both CGW
and the GBACG, I am concerned that these organizations might have questions
regarding what they will receive in return for their memberships.
I
would LOVE to see that discussion played out in full before inviting new
organizations to the ICG because this is a very old issue and it remains just
as problematic as it was almost 30 years ago.
I
am truly interested, in particular, in the opinions of our Canadian members,
since as Dawn pointed out, the IRS umbrella is not useful to their members. We
lost chapters in the UK and Australia, as well as chapters in Canada over the
same question of what an ICG membership gets them.
At
$6 per person per year ($2 for MH), what are members hoping to receive, aside
from the knowledge that they are supporting a worthy cause in the form of our
Archives?
I
intend to forward the 5-year plan to my chapter members tonight, now that I am
reasonably sure everyone who should be subscribed to our chapter list is on
board. I will open the conversation and set a time limit of the end of October
for feedback from the chapter members.
If
you have questions concerning the attached report, please let me know. I've
reviewed the numbers with Jeanine Swick, ICG Treasurer, so I know they are
accurate as of today.
Thank
you.
Betsy
R. Marks
[1 reply Last reply 2019-10-10 7:38 AM]
Jacalyn Boggs 2 years ago
With $33in our bank account, an occasional audit is not an “extravagant” or
“questionable”. It simply needs some open and honest
discussion, research to find what it will entail, decision on what level is
desired (if at all), and then funds appropriated to it.
If anyone is interested, here is a helpful link
on different types of things that can be done, with the “Audit -Highest Level
of Assurance” being the most expensive.
I hope that this information proves useful for
the members of the Board.
Jeanine
Swick 5:16
PM
What we really need to be doing is working with the current chapters who are in
trouble to get them reactivated and active before doing a big push for new
chapters that won't get the support they need either.
Betsy
R. Marks 5:18
PM
Yes, exactly my concern. I can't count the number of chapters who "joined"
only to discover there wasn't actually interest at the local level, and never
bothered to pay their dues as a result.
I
know that data is in the Five Year Plan because it flew by. A deeper analysis
isn't possible because the paperwork that was collected is gone, thanks to
years of treasurers who couldn't be bothered to pass on paperwork. We've been
lucky to have Bruce and Jeanine involved in the last ten years, because they've
been able to restore a great deal of what was lost in California.
Jeanine
Swick 5:24
PM
In the consideration of a person as a Member in Good Standing. Do they need to
have complete contact information (full mailing address) on the chapter's
membership roster? There are a number of members with that information missing.
It would be good to have that cleared up once and for all. (edited)
And
before anyone goes off on why the grand total of members is different. There
are many with multiple NP memberships. If a person so desired, they could be a
NP in every remaining chapter after they join a Primary chapter.
Betsy
R. Marks 6:28
PM
Standing Rule 7: Each chapter shall send to the Corporation Treasurer monthly, by
the 7th day of each month, an updated list of the names and addresses, (where
provided) electronic mail addresses and phone numbers of all new and/or
renewing members. The chapter shall remit the dues set in Standing Rule 3 for
all new and/or renewing members included with each monthly update.
Effective
January 1, 1995, all new members whose dues are received by the Corporation
Treasurer will be assigned a membership expiration date which shall be the last
day of the month, one (1) year after the dated payment. Renewing members’
expiration dates will be extended one (1) year from their current expiration
dates, unless the membership has lapsed more than three (3) months, in which
case the member will be assigned a new expiration month, in accordance with the
new member policy as stated above.
Such
updates shall also include changes of names and addresses, (where provided)
electronic mail addresses and phone numbers, and any changes in membership
status of existing members. Annually, on January 7, each chapter shall provide
a complete list of all members of record, including all contact information as
listed above, for review by the Corporation Treasurer.
[Adopted
2/15/1990; Amended: 5/25/1992, 2/15/1993, 5/29/1995, 01/31/2004; Renumbered
04/29/2005]
The
"where provided" comment is for email addresses.
...and
phone numbers.
(I
was responsible for drafting the original, as well as assisting with the
language in 1992, 1993, and 1995.)
Jacalyn
Boggs 6:30
PM
Excuse me, under what authority was it decided to send Betsy what sounds like
possibly the personal data of everyone in the guild? I for one am not
comfortable with this being done without the president or board discussing it?
Betsy
R. Marks 6:31
PM
There was NO personal data, Jacalyn. Only numbers. The stats. Head counts.
Please
back off. Or certain elements will report the bullying behavior. You could have
asked for the same data at any time.
Jacalyn
Boggs 6:33
PM
That’s not how that read and it was greatly disturbing as that sort of data
should not be breached. We had already discussed this. As for
bullying behavior, a query in concern about people’s private data is hardly
bullying. That sort of thing is taken very seriously. However, your
constant attacking of people really needs to end. Please start responding in a
more courteous fashion.
Betsy
R. Marks 6:33
PM
"Jacalyn Boggs [9:30 PM]
Excuse me, under what authority was it decided to send Betsy what sounds like
possibly the personal data of everyone in the guild? I for one am not comfortable
with this being done without the president or board discussing it?"
Perhaps
you should try reading it again.
I
quoted directly from the published Standing Rules located here:
http://costume.org/wp/about-the-international-costumers-guild/standing-rules-of-the-corporation/
I
am not the one flying off the handle here.
Mera Rose 6:37 PM
Ok! That’s enough for tonight! Everyone stop typing and
take a cool down. Tensions are high and its best to walk away and
come back later. There is nothing emergent that MUST be conveyed
tonight that can not be given a cooling off period.
[1 reply Last reply 2019-10-10 6:38 PM]
Jacalyn Boggs 2
years ago
Thank you very much, Mera! I appreciate this!
Mera
Rose 2 years ago
Everyone just take a breath and get some rest. It will still be here
tomorrow.
Jacalyn Boggs 2
years ago
It is clearly needed. I’m going back to working on a baby quilt! :) it’s all
good and snuggly and I’m getting excited about.
Jeanine
Swick 6:43
PM
All that was sent was the same information on chapter counts and last reporting
that is regularly posted to the BoD list. Not my
fault if you don't pay attention to my report. The only chapter
information she has is SiW's as chapter president.
A
full report has not been submitted yet as there are checks in the mail and
until they are received a person is NOT a new or renewed member. Dues have to
be in the treasurer's hands first.
And
don't go on about a need for chapters to pay dues electronicly.
PayPal was in place as a form to make payments well before I became
treasurer.
That
was written in the Standing Rules ages ago and passed by the Board long before
our time here. Addresses are required for all members. The Standing Rules state
it.