Ames Morning Rotary Club

Operating Guidelines

May 2013

Table of Contents

President-elect reimbursement for RI convention …………………………………… 3

Reimbursement for Rotary District 6000 District Conference ………………………. 3

Membership Categories ……………………………………………………………… 3

International Projects ………………………………………………………………… 4

Teacher Recognition …………………………………………………………………. 4

Project Funding Guidelines …………………………………………………………... 5

Speaker Honorariums ………………………………………………………………… 5

New Member Process ………………………………………………………………... 6

Ames Morning Rotary Endowment Fund …………………………………………… 7

Club Calendar ………………………………………………………………………... 7

Rotary Membership Plan …………………………………………………………….. 8

Club Meeting Cancellation …………………………………………………………... 9

Hosting an Ames Morning Rotary Social ……………………………….………….... 9

President-elect reimbursement for RI convention

Ames AM Rotary Club encourages the President-elect to attend the RI convention in the year that they will assume the office of Club President. The Club will reimburse the President-elect for actual costs of travel, lodging, conference fees, and miscellaneous expenses up to an amount not to exceed $1,200 for conventions held in the USA or Canada and up to $1,500 for conventions not held in the USA or Canada.

In cases where the incoming President will not be able to attend the RI convention, the same reimbursement will be offered to a Board designated past president, who was unable to attend the RI convention during their year of service as Club President.

In cases where neither the incoming Club President nor a past president will attend the RI convention, $1,000 will be set aside by the Board for future RI conventions that, due to location, may have extraordinary expenses. Those funds set aside by the board for this purpose may be made available to augment the stated reimbursement limits by specific action and approval of the Board.

This policy will be reviewed every three years, to verify that reimbursement levels are still valid in light of changing costs.

April 2006

Reimbursement for Rotary District 6000 District Conference

Policy: Ames AM Rotary Club encourages the President and President-elect to attend the Rotary District 6000 District Conference in the year of their terms. The Club will reimburse the President and the President-elect for actual costs of travel, lodging, conference fees, and miscellaneous expenses associated with attending the district conference to an amount not to exceed $300 each.

Ames AM Rotary Club encourages club members to attend at least one day of the Rotary District 6000 District Conference. Club members who have never attended a District Conference will be reimbursed for the conference fee for a single day registration.

This policy will be reviewed every three years, to verify that reimbursement levels are still valid in light of changing costs.

April 2006

Membership Categories

What Rotarians get out of Rotary depends largely on what they put into it. Attendance at weekly club meetings allows members to enjoy their club’s fellowship and enrich their professional and community knowledge. Membership in a Rotary club is a privilege and carries with it, the responsibility to participate in club meetings, community service, and fellowship opportunities.

But there can be times in a Rotarians’ life where professional and family commitments present challenges to their Rotary obligations. Ames AM Rotary wants to encourage long term membership and to support club members who may be experiencing short term challenges. Because of that, the Ames AM Rotary Club Board is authorized to offer assistance and alternative membership categories to members with special circumstances as follows:

Membership Category / RI / D6000 / Meals / Oper / Found / Notes
Regular / X / X / X / X / X
Leave of Absence / X / X / X / O / Up to 1 year
Senior / X / X / Pay / X / O / Retired, 10 yr member
Introductory / Club / Club / X / Club / Up to 1 year
Inactive / X / X / X / X

X = Required Payment, Pay = Pay As You Go, O = Optional Payment, Club = Club Pays

Meal payments for Senior status will be the same as what the Club assesses for a "regular" member meal.

Senior status should be applied for prior to the quarterly billing period; the status may be applied for a single quarter or a longer period of time (by quarter increments).

September 2011

International Projects

The Board sees value in having the club participate in international projects. The Board will set aside $1,000 in each budget year to be earmarked for international projects. These funds will not necessarily be expended each year, but may be allowed to accumulate to accomplish a larger project. To the extent possible, these funds should be applied to a project(s) funded through the Rotary matching fund process.

September 2008

Teacher Recognition

The Club is committed to youth education. To help demonstrate that commitment the club will annually recognize one teacher from the Ames, StoryCity and Gilbert school districts. The Club will contact each school district about our desire to recognize one of their staff. Each school district will propose a single name for recognition. Three teachers will be recognized at a May club meeting. Recognition will be in the form of a plaque and a $100 cash award.

May 2007

Project Funding Guidelines

These guidelines were developed to assist board members in allocating club funds to ensure that donations are consistent with Club objectives. Future Boards may modify these criteria as they see fit.

  1. On-going commitments will be listed in the annual budget. This includes things such as children’s literacy, international projects, teacher recognition, and Rotary Exchange Students.
  1. The annual club budget will include a line item for “Local Projects”. Requests for these funds will be considered by the Board at least quarterly. To the extent possible, board members will be provided with copies of all requests prior to the meeting where the request will be considered.
  1. Each request will be considered on its’ merits. Projects or activities may apply for funding in more than one year, but no funding awards will be renewed unless a new request is submitted and approved.
  1. Requests will be evaluated on the basis of the following considerations:
  • Top priority will be given to requests which relate to the Club’s commitment to literacy and early childhood education.
  • The next priority is requests to fund projects which raise awareness in our local communities of our Club’s commitment to service and good citizenship.
  • Consideration should next be given to requests from organizations with which Ames Morning Rotarians are actively involved.
  • The fourth level of priority would include projects which permit the Club to join with other Rotary clubs in our area to further the goals of Rotary International.
  • Preference will be given to requests for donations to organizations, rather than individual recipients.

February 2008

Speaker Honorariums

The president elect (speaker chair) of the Ames Morning Rotary Club provides weekly speakers for club meetings. The president elect (program chair) has been authorized by the Board of Directors to provide up to $600 in speaker honorariums annually subject to certain criteria. A single honorarium is limited to no more than $50. This authorization allows the Club to donate to the speakers’ organization and have the check available at the meeting.

Criteria:

  • Honorariums may be given to volunteer organizations, charities, or human service agencies.
  • An honorarium can be given at the discretion of the President elect (Program Chair)
  • Honorariums will not be given to business, political candidates or parties, or any government agency.
  • Checks must be made out to the organization – not to the individual presenter.
  • Honorariums should be $25-$50

January 2010

New Member Process

Existing members are encouraged to invite potential members to a club meeting. The meal fee for a potential new member is covered by the club budget (based upon 40 potential member meals at $8 each) and need not be paid by the potential member.

The membership process is as follows:

  • The sponsor should get a membership application from the Sargent-At-Arms or the Club Secretary.
  • The completed form should be submitted to the Club Secretary.
  • The application shall be voted on by the Board of Directors.
  • The application shall be communicated to the entire club for comments.
  • After a 7-day waiting period, the application is accepted.
  • The President will announce the new membership to the club.
  • The Club Secretary will enter the new member data into the RI database.
  • The President will send a welcome letter to the new member.
  • The MembershipChair shall contact the Induction Chair to schedule a New Member Induction, indicating several dates that work for the sponsor and the new member.
  • The goal is to complete the entire process in 2-4 weeks

The Board will assign a mentor for each new member. The mentor should encourage the new member to be active and to participate in club activities such as:

  • Be a Greeter
  • Attend a Board meeting
  • Volunteer to do the “Buck Bucket” at a club meeting
  • Do a service project
  • Bring a guest to a club meeting
  • Suggest 4-5 programs to the President-elect for club meetings
  • Join a club committee
  • Volunteer to be a Sargent-at-arms for a club meeting
  • Attend a Rotary social event

June 2012

Ames Morning Rotary Club Endowment Account

The Club will maintain endowment accounts through the Story County Foundation with funds to be invested by the greater Des Moines Community Foundation. There will be two funds: The Ames Morning Rotary Agency Fund and the Ames Morning Rotary Permanent Fund

The Ames Morning Rotary Agency Fund is a non-permanent endowment fund. The principle and interest are retrievable by the Club, contingent upon a 75% approval from the Board. Board designated funds from Club operating funds will be deposited in this fund account.

The Ames Morning Rotary Permanent Fund is a permanent endowment fund. The Club may only withdraw 5% of the fund balance annually. The remainder of the fund balance must be left in-place to grow indefinitely. This fund is currently eligible for Endow Iowa Tax credits, currently a 25% Iowa tax deduction.

An individual club member will be required to choose whether their donation will be placed into the agency fund or into the permanent fund, recognizing that tax credits are only available for the permanent fund.

Management of the endowment will be the responsibility of the Board of Directors of the Club, upon recommendation of the Chair of the Administration committee. The Administration committee shall be comprised of a Board of Director appointed chairperson and two other club members at-large as selected by the Administration chairperson.

Funds will be used for either local philanthropy projects or for international projects as designated by the Board of Directors, consistent with Club financing guidelines.

The Board of Directors has designated the Noon Rotary Club as the beneficiary in the event that the club should be dissolved for any reason.

Use of funds shall not commence until the fund balance reaches $35,000. At that balance, a five percent annual withdrawal should provide $1,750 for local or international projects.

June 2013

Club Calendar

There are some activities that repeat on the club calendar each year:

July
August
September
October
November / Rotary Foundation Month
December
January / Rotary Awareness Month
February
March / Rotary Literacy Month, District P.E.T.S, Ag Day
April / President Elect-Elect takes over programs
May / Teacher Recognition
June / Passing of the Gavel

June 2012

Rotary Membership Plan

Inviting potential members to join us is the key to gaining membership. This can happen in the following ways:

  1. A current member invites a potential member (friend, colleague, acquaintance) to one of our meetings as a guest.
  2. Names of Potential Members will be sought from Membership Committee members and from the general membership. See Attachment A. Invitations will be sent out to such nominated members to attend a specific meeting as our guest, asking for a response as to whether or not they are able to attend – “Yes, I will attend; No, I am not interested; Yes, I would like to attend, but on a different date”. With the third response, we would need to follow up.

It should be noted that guests identified as “potential members” will be guests of the club; i.e., the normal visitor fee of $10 does not need to be paid by our guest nor the member who invited the guest. This applies for up to four visits of that guest.

After a Potential Member attends, a note will be immediately sent to them thanking them for their attendance at our meeting and a brochure with information about our club will be included. Finally, they will be invited (up to three more times) to return and learn more about our club.

A list of all potential members will be kept for reference and used as needed.

If a Potential Member makes a subsequent visit we would then follow up with a personal invitation to consider becoming a member. This invitation can be verbal or with a phone call or e-mail, but a follow-up letter with details of Rotary Membership would follow. An invitation to lunch or breakfast with one or two of the Rotary board would be extended to answer any questions.

The “financial/dues” part of the membership package is to bring a new member in as an Associate Member at a price of “half or just above half” of the regular dues for the current billing quarter (in 2012 the full dues are $175 and the Associate Member price is $90). If the new member does not join until “later” in the billing quarter, then the reduced fees will be extended to the next quarter as well. This should be made clear to all, including the new member, right from the start.

December 2012

Club Meeting Cancellation

In the event that a club meeting must be cancelled for things like inclement weather, the President of the club will cancel the meeting no later than 6:00 pm the evening before the scheduled meeting. The President will then notify Ames Gold and Country Club of the cancellation and then notify the membership by e-mail and by announcement on KASI.

May 2013

Hosting an Ames Morning Rotary Social

Announce the event thru e-mails and club meeting announcements. Make sure that the spouses are somehow informed and involved.

33 people attended the January 2013 event. Hours were set to be 5:00 to 7:00. The board of directors provided the snacks. The host and hostess provided the beverages, the home, utensils etc. and were reimbursed by the club for them.

People arrived right at 5:00 and the last one departed at 7:15. People seemed to have a good time socializing. People liked the “home” atmosphere, had a really good time..

What the hosts provided (that was consumed):

  • Two large bottles of soda (7 UP and Pepsi) and a bottle of tonic water
  • Three bottles of white wine
  • One bottle of White Zin (sweet) that, surprisingly, was consumed!!
  • Four bottles of red wine
  • Eighteen beers – mix of Blue Moons, Pale Ales, Miller and Michelob
  • Hors d’oeuvres
  • Ice
  • Glasses – plastic and wine glasses
  • Plates and Napkins, plasticware

There was little time preparing. It probably took about 1 ½ hours for the hosts to “put the house back to normal” again. It was easy to host, with a variety of people bringing the snacks. There was plenty of food at the end of the night

Wines purchased were “low-cost” wines ($4-$8 per bottle), some purchased from Trader Joe’s, a few from Aldi’s.

Glasses – the hosts purchased some “glass” wine glasses at the Dollar Tree store for $1 each that are for the hosts, but are available for the next hosts to use if they wish. Other glasses that work well are the short, clear plastic glasses.

May 2013

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