Hitting the Nail on the Head 

Commentary: Taking the club in new directions. Part one of a two part article. by Bill Jones

July, 2004. This May, in a nearly unanimous vote, members directed the officers to incorporate Home Craftsmen Forum. Preparing for incorporation was the vision of current club president Tom Meeker. As a lawyer, he's donated his time researching what we need to do. Filing with the state is simple. Submit the forms and pay a small recording fee. The feds, however,  will scrutinize our plan. Tom told me that, if the IRS approves our articles of incorporation, we will probably be incorporated by year's end. We will incorporate the club as a charity and  educational corporation. It gives us advantages that incorporating as a social club does not. A small benefit allows members to take their dues off their taxes. The bigger benefit gives potential benefactors an incentive to donate to the club. Last Christmas, money had to be raised to purchase dolls for the club-produced cribs and carriages. Then toy director Darrell McConnell approached Target. Target would have been willing to donate toys if we had charitable non-profit status. Our tax status would allow them to write the donation off on their taxes.  Incorporating also gives the club a legal  identity to own and manage property. Little leagues incorporate for just that reason. If the club continues to grow, a place of our own may be in our future.  That, says Meeker, will take a steady income that we just don't have yet. Until that time, he wants to concentrate on funding our programs as opportunities arise.  I see the club becoming something like the local public television station, producing programs in the public interest for the benefit of our members, and for the public in general.  Incorporation doesn't mean that the nature of the club will change, any more than the little league has to change its basic activity when it purchases its own ball field. Home Craftsmen Forum will still  be a social organization. Incorporating does bring some added responsibility to operate in the interest of the community. We've been doing that all along.

The Houston woodworkers club calls them splinter groups. Special interests and activities. We have them too, they are breakfast or lunch meetings and of course, the toyshops. Part two of this article will focus on ideas the executive committee is exploring to increase opportunities for members to get together and learn from each other's shop experience.