communication department

Volume XX Number 6

Communities

Community Funding

Community funding is based on each chapter’s membership as of June 30, 2007. As part of STC’s efforts to find a future dues value that provides adequate funding, a task force comprising two or three representatives—presidents, past presidents, treasurers, and past treasurers who self-selected each other—from each of STC’s six chapter size categories will be working throughout July to gather input from other community leaders about their thoughts on the dues value that chapters should receive. The task force will share this input with the Board of Directors in preparation for its August meeting.

Current chapter leaders have been informed about the formation of the task force by Cindy Currie, STC Second Vice President and Community Affairs Committee (CAC) Chair. If your chapter has not been informed, please send the updated contact information for your leaders to Lynn Anderson, Membership Manager.

Please note that chapter financial reports are due by September 30, 2007.

Chapter Financial Reports Due September 30

In July, the STC office will mail forms to chapter presidents and treasurers for their annual chapter financial reports. (Note: Student chapter financial report forms were mailed in April, and were due back to the STC office by June 15, 2007.) The form can also be downloaded from the STC Web site. Chapters must submit these forms to the STC office by September 30, 2007, to qualify for community funding.

Please fill out the form to cover fiscal year 2007 (July 1, 2006, to June 30, 2007, for professional chapters). The cash balance for the beginning of the year should agree with the cash balance reported for the fiscal year-end in last year’s report.

Chapters must include the following supporting materials with the chapter’s financial report form:

• June 2007 reconciliation statement balancing the chapter’s checkbook against outstanding items (a sample bank reconciliation form is on the STC Web site)
• Photocopies of the chapter’s bank, money market, and certificate of deposit account statements as of June 30, 2007

Those chapters that realized more than $25,000 in income are also required to complete an IRS 990 form and return it to the Society office before their funds will be issued. The 990 packages are mailed to the appropriate chapters in mid-July.

Completed financial report forms and supporting materials should be mailed to:

Society for Technical Communication
Attn: Chapter Financial Reports
901 N. Stuart Street, Suite 904
Arlington, VA 22203-1822

Ask the Office: Can My Chapter Offer Documentation Services?

Editor’s note: The following information is intended to be helpful and should not serve as a substitute for legal or professional tax counsel.

Q: My chapter would like to offer documentation services to companies for a fee. Is this permissible?

A: The following information is provided by Jacqueline Henson, STC’s legal counsel.

Associations do not typically offer such services to businesses for a price because this is clearly in competition with businesses providing the same services. The IRS would consider this to be providing consulting, and the income would therefore be considered taxable. STC was granted 501(c)3 tax-exempt status based on its charitable, educational activities. Such activity could cause the IRS to question the chapter’s tax-exempt status.

New Chapter and Special Interest Group Approved

During the June 2007 Board of Directors teleconference meeting, the Board unanimously approved the Atlantic Canada Chapter STC’s petition for provisional status as well as the Europe SIG.

For more information about the Atlantic Canada Chapter STC—based in Saint John, New Brunswick, Canada—please contact William Gill.

For more information about the Europe SIG, please contact David Farbey.