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Do your bylaws allow you to meet online?
If not, first check your state statutes. We’re in a Catch-22 position right now; if your bylaws don’t allow you to meet online, you can’t amend them to say so until you meet in person. If incorporated in the State of California, the statutes do say you can meet online.
Should you conduct business online?
The solution will depend on your rules, your officers and members, and the
general atmosphere of your group (contentious or harmonious). The following guidelines may help guide you if you want to meet online in lieu of an in-person meeting*:
Option #1: Bylaws authorize electronic meetings
If your guild’s bylaws currently authorize you to hold electronic meetings, you should consult the specific language of the bylaw provision to determine what is necessary to call and hold a meeting via electronic means.
Option #2: Bylaws authorize absent members to participate via electronic means, but do not authorize the meeting itself to be held entirely via electronic means
There is a difference between an electronic meeting and electronic participation in an in-person meeting. If your guild’s bylaws are worded so as to require in-person meetings, but also authorize members to participate in those meetings via electronic means, the guild should check the quorum and location requirements to determine whether the meeting can be held at one member’s house with only one member in attendance, while other members attend via electronic means.
Option #3: Informal electronic meeting without the transaction of business
Guilds whose bylaws do not authorize the holding of meetings via electronic means may hold an informal gathering of members via electronic means. At such a gathering, the transaction of business would NOT be in order, but the gathering could incorporate workshops and/or programs, etc. If the members decided to transact any business
under the name of the guild, such action would NOT be the action of the guild unless it was later ratified at a meeting in accordance with the guild’s governing documents.
Option #4: Bylaws authorize business to be transacted without a meeting
If your guild’s bylaws authorize business to be transacted without a meeting (e.g. by email, by telephone, etc.), or if your board is given the power to conduct business between meetings, this is a way for your guild to tend to pressing affairs without a meeting in person. Matters could be discussed informally as shown in Option #3 above, and the actual business could be transacted in the alternate form prescribed in the bylaws.
A suggested bylaw amendment (when you’re able to amend your bylaws) to meet and vote via the internet:
Meetings Held Electronically. Except as otherwise provided in these bylaws, meetings of the board (and/or membership) shall be conducted through use of internet meeting services, designated by the president (and/or board) that support visible displays identifying those participating , those seeking recognition to speak, showing (or
permitting the retrieval of) the text of pending motions, allowing members to vote, and showing the results of votes. There are also apps available that allow you to vote anonymously if you choose to add them.
These guidelines are very general and might not fit every group’s needs. If you have any questions or need help, feel free to contact me!
Vicki Walter, Registered Parliamentarian
*National Association of Parliamentarians, Corona Virus and Electronic Meetings
Sac Parliamentarians Revised July 13, 2020
In California, gambling is illegal under its constitution and the Penal Code. Raffles are considered gambling: a person pays a price for a chance to win a prize or prizes. Note: It does not matter if you do not use the word “raffle” in describing your prize drawing (e.g., opportunity quilt). If the event meets the definition, it is a raffle and illegal.
However, California has created an exemption for nonprofit organizations to conduct raffles as a fund raising tool. There are a number of requirements with respect to what organizations can conduct and raffle and the raffle is conducted.
Note: Under both California and federal law it is illegal to sell raffle tickets online. You may advertise your raffle online, such as having a photo of your opportunity quilt and a caption “Win this quilt.” But may not actually sell the tickets or receive payment online.
Organization requirements:
The organization must be a private, tax-exempt nonprofit organization that has been qualified to do business in California for at least one year prior to conducting the raffle. In practical terms, that means that the organization must apply to be a Charitable Trust in the State of California. A California Charitable Trust is a private, tax-exempt, nonprofit organization. Information regarding applying to be a Charitable Trust can be found at https://oag.ca.gov/charities/
Raffle Requirements:
In order to hold a raffle, your organization must obtain a Raffle Permit from the State of California.
The State raffle year runs from September 1 to August 31. You have to apply for, and obtain, a Raffle Permit before beginning any “raffle activities.” Raffle activities include advertising and promoting the raffle, offering tickets for sale, and selling tickets. You have to request the permit at least 60 days before the raffle and you must receive your letter of confirmation prior to beginning an raffle activities. Generally, for most organizations that means the application must be sent in no later than July 1. It is OK to file earlier, as long as it isn’t more than 11 months earlier. If the selling of tickets and the drawing for the raffle prize cross the raffle year (e.g., you begin selling in June and the drawing is in September), then you need to have a raffle permit for both years.
1. The application for requesting a raffle permit can be found at: https://oag.ca.gov/charities/raffles. It is Form CT-NRP-1.
Information you will need to file Form CT-NRP-1:
The name and address of the organization; email address*; phone number*; fax number*; State Charity Registration Number; the organization’s tax exempt status (for quilt guilds, that usually is the box labelled 23701d); and the proposed date of the raffle(s). Note: Don’t worry if you get the dates wrong; it just needs to be the best information you have at the time of completing the application. The person signing the application needs to be an officer or director and needs to be able to certify the statements made in the application are true and correct. The application gets printed and signed. It is mailed to the address on the application along with the fee (currently, $20) and a copy of the organization’s tax exempt status determination letter.
To obtain the organization’s tax exempt status (and get a copy of the letter), go to: www.ftb.ca.gov/help/business/entity-status-letter.asp. Click on the button that says “Check Status.” You will be given the option of finding status information using either the organization’s official name or the organization’s state corporation number; then click on “perform search.” The next screen should list your organization. Click on the organization’s entity number and it will tell you entity status and exempt status. It should read “Active” and “Exempt.” If it does, you can get the necessary letter. Just below the status information, there is a box that says “Generate Letter.” Click on that and you will get a pdf document that certifies your organization’s status. Print the letter and include it with the Raffle Permit application.
2. At the end of every raffle year for which you have a permit, a raffle report must be filed no later than October 1. Earlier is fine.
The Raffle Report form can be found at: https://oag.ca.gov/charities/raffles. It is Form CT-NRP-2.
Information you will need to file Form CT-NRP-2:
The name and address of the organization; email address*; phone*; fax*; State Charity Registration Number; the organization’s Raffle Registration Number (located on the permit); the date of the raffle(s); and the gross receipts from the raffle. The person signing the application needs to be an officer or director and needs to be able to answer a number of questions relating to the use of the raffle funds. Note: By law, at least 90% of the gross proceeds must go to charitable purposes. It is mailed to the address on the report.
* For information marked with an asterisk, “none” is an acceptable answer.
For more information, see: https://oag.ca.gov/charities/raffles
Resource created for Northern California Quilt Council by:
Alys Hay, President of Moonlight Quilters of Sonoma County
July 2020
A Guild's NCQC Representative is the person who is asked to:
Each year, we sponsor a $100 monetary award for "Best Use of Color" at the State Fair. The fair's quilt judging committee determines the quilt that should receive the Best Use of Color award on our behalf.
Dues are $25 for one year or $40 for two. This applies whether you are a guild, teacher, quilt shop, vendor, long-arm quilter, judge, or show organizer. If you are more than one (such as teacher and judge) you need only pay one set of dues. If you belong to a member guild you may come to any NCQC meeting and do not need to be an "individual" member.
Dues apply to a calendar year and are not pro-rated.
To find the appropriate form to join or renew your membership, click on the Forms tab (under Membership) and you will find the "guild membership form" or the "non-guild membership form." They should be self-explanatory.
Guilds and their mailing addresses are on the Membership-Guilds page.
As an alternative,your NCQC rep can go to the Membership-Forms page and use the contact form to request such a list from our Membership chairperson. She will send you an Excel file with the guilds and their mailing addresses. Be sure to tell her where you want it sent (or emailed).
Even though most - if not all - quilt guilds participate in community service, making and donating quilts and other items to other non-profit organizations in their areas, some are designated by the IRS as 501(c)3 and others aren't.
One of our member guilds recently applied for 501(c)3 status and was turned down. Their application emphasized that the two major items the guild focused on were education and community service, both of which are exempt activities. Aside from a small amount for administrative overhead - like meeting place rent, storage, newsletter, website - nearly all the money the guild raised went to their exempt activities.
Although we don't believe the law has changed, it appears that the IRS may be interpreting - and implementing - it more stringently than they have in the past. This guild was told that because the guild offered activities to its members, such as camp, block exchanges, fabric exchanges, challenges, etc., it was not formed solely for charitable purposes but also benefited its members. They were determined to be a 501(c)4 organization (tax exempt, and performing social welfare functions), and decided they could not expect to win an appeal of that determination.
The IRS representative who was queried about the difference in the way guilds have been treated opined that the ones currently designated (c)3 are essentially "grandfathered in"; if they were to apply now they should not get the same designation and were they ever to lose their status and have to re-apply, they should not get it. It's hard to say, though, if that is universally applied.
The primary difference between (c)3 and (c)4 are that donations to 501(c)3 organizations are tax-deductible to the donor but donations to 501(c)4 organizations are not. Guilds receive a lot of donations (often fabric) and those who are not (c)3 need to be sure the donees know their donations are not tax-deductible.