Thursday, September 20, 2007

Correction about DEBIT CARDS!

This comment is from Norm Cook, DTM, PDG (Candidate for Toastmasters International Director from Region II; www.ExcellenceThroughTeamwork.com):

"You may not want to encourage clubs to have debit cards linked to their accounts (#4). There have been a couple of instances in the past where one of the officers took the money and ran. It's better to have checks that need two signatures to withdraw funds. The better way to pay dues is for a member to use his or her personal credit card and then get reimbursed by check from the club treasury."

This brings up a good point. Sometimes the club treasury is a tempting target for embezzlement. Make sure your club requires 2 signers on each check (President and Treasurer), and that these signers change with each officer election. The signature card at the bank must be completed by the new officers, who must also bear a copy of the minutes of the meeting at which elections were held. The club Secretary must sign the minutes, personally verifying the results.

If you don't already have one, request a DEPOSIT-ONLY card for the checking account. This will allow the Treasurer to use an ATM to deposit income and check balances, but will not allow cash withdrawals.

As Norm states, the best way to do club business online is with a personal credit card. Make sure the club collects the money from members and deposits it, then have the Treasurer write a reimbursement check immediately after the online transaction. Even better, use your credit card with airline miles!

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Welcome to Founder"s District Marketing Blog!

This year we are starting a new communication tool within Founder's District: this blog. We invite you to steal our ideas to improve your club by attracting new members, keeping your current members, and rebuilding your club with special events like Open Houses or Speechcraft.

We also invite you to join with us in achieving your Distinguished Toastmaster (DTM) goals. When you join a Demonstration Team or serve as a new club Sponsor or Mentor, you are helping Founder's District grow, bringing the many benefits of Toastmasters to more people throughout Southern California. At the same time, you get accomplish one goal toward your Advanced Leader Silver (ALS) - the last leadership step to the DTM!

When you serve as a Club Coach for a low-member club, you not only accomplish a goal toward your ALS and DTM, you also reap the benefits of learning how to coach, motivate and inspire a group of people to grow, thrive and help their club become Distinguished, Select Distinguished or President's Distinguished. For more information on how a club achieves one of these prestigious awards, view the Distinguished Club Program manual at the Toastmasters International website.

Let us help you achieve your personal Toastmasters goals this year! To find out more about our upcoming training programs for Demo Teams, Sponsors, Mentors and Coaches, please contact me, or visit us on the web for event information and useful files to download.

We wish you all the success in the coming year!

The Founder's District Marketing Team