communication department

Communities

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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.

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 corporate sponsorships to businesses. Is this permissible?

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

Yes, offering corporate sponsorships is permissible. As part of their sponsorship, you may acknowledge participating companies by thanking them at your general membership meetings. Adding your corporate sponsors’ logos and Web site links to your community Web site is also perfectly acceptable. Funds from corporate sponsors are not taxable.

Q: What part of a corporate sponsor’s donation is tax deductible to the contributor?

A: The value of the donation depends on whether the contributor decides to designate the amount contributed as a charitable deduction or a business deduction. Our attorney and auditor strongly advise chapters to refrain from giving anyone tax advice as to what is or is not deductible.

Q: Are there certain activities for which STC chapters must pay taxes?

A: STC was granted 501(c)3 tax-exempt status based on its charitable, educational activities. Certain activities are tax exempt, such as holding educational events or publishing articles of interest. Other activities are considered “unrelated” to the tax-exempt purpose, and income from these activities is subject to being taxed. This tax is called unrelated business income tax (UBIT). For example, income from advertising and online job postings is subject to UBIT.

Q: Can my chapter sell advertising space in our newsletter or on our Web site or earn income from online job postings?

A: Yes. Associations typically offer advertising and job market opportunities, whether in person or online. However, these are not tax-exempt activities.

Q: May we offer our corporate sponsors free job postings?

A: We advise against combining corporate sponsorships with job postings. At the minimum, the IRS may determine that to “offer” such postings to corporate sponsors is a veiled way of selling advertising or generating job postings. In that case, the IRS would require tax to be paid on the income generated.

Q: May my chapter sell coupon books for fundraising purposes?

A: If these are the typical coupon books that some organizations make available to charities to use for fundraising, chapters may sell them, keep the income as fundraising income, and pay no local or state tax or federal UBIT. The activity is not considered to be a regular business, and the “salespersons” are volunteers.

Q: What forms does my chapter have to file with the IRS?

A: Chapters with $25,000 of income (from any source, including dues) must file a Form 990 with the IRS. The IRS permits STC to submit a group tax filing on behalf of all chapters with income over $25,000. The STC office will handle this for such chapters, which need to fill out an appropriate form with the required information.

There is a new rule pending at the IRS that would require chapters with incomes less than $25,000 per year to file a special 990-E form. The STC office is monitoring any developments carefully; no further details are available at this time.

If any chapter has UBIT net income over $1,000, that chapter must file a special Form 990-T (even if its total revenues are less than $25,000). The first net $1,000 of unrelated business income is exempt from taxes. The STC office will assist chapters with this form as well.

Chapters will need to calculate their net UBIT income. This means they can deduct related expenses from their gross income to calculate net income.

For example, a chapter collects $1,000 for a one-page ad in a four-page newsletter. The cost of the four-page newsletter is $400. The chapter may deduct one-fourth of the newsletter expenses from the $1,000, to get a net income of $900. The first $1,000 of net UBIT income is not subject to taxes. Therefore, the chapter would not need to file Form 990-T.

Ask the Office: Can My Chapter Hold a Senior Member-only Event?

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

Q: My chapter would like to hold an event to recognize our senior members, associate fellows, and fellows. Does STC allow us to hold an event only for members at these levels?

A: The following information is provided by Susan Burton, CAE, STC Executive Director.

The STC Bylaws prohibit chapters from holding meetings that are not open to members of all levels. According to Article III, Section 3A of the bylaws, “Individual members, regardless of grade, may at the membership rate, attend any meeting, convention, conference, or workshop sponsored by the Society or its communities.”

Your chapter should instead invite all members to the event honoring senior members, associate fellows, and fellows. Doing so adds value to these designations and is a good way to encourage regular members to advance to higher designations.

Please note that this requirement regarding opening events to members of all levels will no longer be the case once the new STC Bylaws are adopted in fall 2007.

Selling STC to the Boss

Having trouble selling the idea of STC membership to your boss? Get it paid through your corporate training budget.

Dictionary.com defines training as follows: “to make proficient with specialized instruction and practice.”

Training happens when . . .

• a chapter workshop on XML helps you develop superior company documents—faster and more efficiently.
• an STC live Web seminar teaches you and your colleagues the basics of single sourcing—and thereby streamlines your company’s production processes.
• a technical session at an STC annual conference shows you how to develop a usability plan that returns valuable feedback on your company’s product—resulting in a better product and more satisfied customers.
• an article in Intercom or Technical Communication shows you how to translate a company Web site to reach an international audience.

If an STC- or chapter-sponsored event or activity shows you how to improve your company’s products or processes, that’s training. Nonmembers often pay significantly more for STC programs, conferences, and workshops than do members. And STC membership provides training with a bonus: a vibrant professional community that offers numerous opportunities for networking.

STC helps you make career opportunities happen. For information about joining STC or renewing a membership, visit the STC Web site.

Send Contact Info to STC Office

If the STC office does not have an updated list of your community leaders, please send these names to the membership department by fax at +1 (703) 522-2075 (fax) or by e-mail.

The office must have current information on the following chapter positions: president (or student chapter advisor), first vice president, secretary, membership manager, treasurer, newsletter editor, employment manager, and webmaster. The office also tracks the following SIG positions: manager, newsletter editor, secretary, webmaster, and membership manager.

Thank you for your cooperation!

Online Leadership Training Coming Soon

The LCR Training Planning and Development team is nearing the finish line on creating STC-specific community leadership training materials for anyone currently in or considering serving in a community leadership role.

Modules include introducing leadership, leading your community to success, knowing your direction and destination, working as a team toward goals, growing volunteers, reaching out to your community, establishing local and global Society relations, and planning for the future.

For more information, e-mail Jackie Damrau.

Ever Thought about Virtual Council Meetings?

If your community has members who are geographically dispersed, virtual council meetings might be the solution for you. The Leadership Community Resource (LCR) can connect you with a SIG manager to coach you through the process. Contact Mary Kabza, Director of Marketing and Membership, at +1 (571) 366-1912 for more information.

The LCR will officially launch on May 13—the day that Leadership Day will be held at STC’s 54th Annual Conference.

Moving? File Change of Address with STC

Please remind members who are changing residences to send their new address to the STC office to avoid interrupted delivery of Intercom and Technical Communication. Some members assume that informing the post office of their new address is enough to ensure that all of their mail is forwarded. However, the United States Postal Service forwards only first-class mail; mailings such as Intercom and Technical Communication are not forwarded.

To file a change of address with STC and ensure continuous delivery of Society publications, members can use the online change address form.

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STC Election Opens

Online voting has opened for STC’s 2007 election.

Members may vote at the secure online election site. The election closes at noon ET on April 12, 2007.

Q: Our chapter is thinking about holding a raffle with door prizes and the proceeds being donated to a local charity. What are STC chapters legally allowed to do when holding raffles or lotteries?

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

Holding a Raffle without Registration

The U.S. government and local and state jurisdictions are concerned about "games of chance" involving money (whether or not the money is used to benefit a charity). Under legal definitions, a lottery has three elements: a prize, the element of "chance" to win, and consideration. Consideration is the legal term for a fee to participate. Charging any amount, even a nominal fee like $2 or $3, is not OK and automatically turns a raffle into a lottery, thus making it fall under gaming rules and regulations.

However, a raffle is not a lottery if everyone can participate for free. Therefore, you could allow anyone who attends the chapter event to fill out a form—without purchasing a ticket—and put that into the raffle.

Registering Your Chapter's Lottery

Lotteries must be registered in the local jurisdiction where the event is to be held, where the tickets are sold, and where the prize will be given. Chapters that have members in multiple states should not sell tickets online, as this would require registration in each of the jurisdictions in question. Ideally, the tickets should be sold the same day and at the event where the raffle is being held, and the prize awarded during the event in question.

If an STC chapter wishes to move forward with the raffle as a lottery, it may wish to contact STC's attorney to help with registering the event. (Please contact the STC office for this information.) The chapter would then be liable for the legal fees involved since this would solely benefit that particular chapter and would not be applicable to other chapters.

Chapters should feel free to conduct these events, as long as they intend to register them with their local jurisdiction and follow the appropriate rules and regulations.

Chapters may also donate their proceeds from a registered raffle to charity. Note, however, that no funds should be funneled through the chapter bank account to the separate charity. Instead, they should be donated directly to the charity. The charity should be registered as a legitimate charity.