Cleaning woodturning club and other tasks

[Brian Deakin]

I am a member of the committee at our woodturning club

Currently the responsibility of completing all of the day to day tasks in running the club rely solely on the goodwill of the committee members and general members of the club do not volunteer to help

Do you think committee members should receive recompense for some of the tasks they undertake

Examples
Expenses they incur primarily travel costs to run training courses which generate revenue for the club and other travel costs associated with undertaking general maintenance of the club equipment example taking band saw blades to sharpening suppliers

The Monthly Deep cleaning the club, takes 2 committee members 4 hours each to complete

Please note the club has a good financial position and has about $20,000 in the bank

I would be interested to know what other clubs do

[David Walser]

Reimbursement for reasonable expenses? Yes. Compensation for services? No. Administering the club will become geometrically more difficult if you add payroll to the mix. You'll need to withhold for taxes and pay for unemployment insurance. And, of course, you'll need to comply with all the rules that apply to employers. For the monthly deep clean, I'd suggest the club should provide lunch for the cleaning team.

HTH

[Richard Coers]

Do you have club bylaws? If not you need to get them written up and passed by a majority vote by he club members. I a founding member of 2 clubs and no one ever gets compensated for any expenses except for the guy who brings the drinks and snacks. Good will is the only way a club works, and that is usually done by the 10% that really cares. I think I was president of the turning club for the first 5 years and I'm the only member of the woodworking club that has held every officer position.

[Alan Rutherford]

.... Goodwill is the only way a club works, and that is usually done by the 10% that really cares...

That's been my experience, both in organizations with nearly no funds and with money to spend. You can complain about the other 90% all you want, but that's the way it is.

Buying meals for board members is traditional and a stipend for revenue-generating events seems OK. Something bothers me about paying a board member to clean up. Maybe hire outside help or see if some member would take that on at a modest salary.

[Brian Deakin]

Thank you for your posts Having had time to reflect I agree with the comments made in particular Goodwill is the only way a club works, and that is usually done by the 10% that really cares...

The suggestion buying meals for board members is an interesting idea The only other idea I can think of is the club has a stash of wood which it has been given and sells at a modest price to members
The club could consider asking all members to volunteer to deep clean the club and offer a free lunch or free pieces of wood as a thankyou

The offer of free timber is something I always find appealing

[Richard Coers]

Thank you for your posts Having had time to reflect I agree with the comments made in particular Goodwill is the only way a club works, and that is usually done by the 10% that really cares...

The suggestion buying meals for board members is an interesting idea The only other idea I can think of is the club has a stash of wood which it has been given and sells at a modest price to members
The club could consider asking all members to volunteer to deep clean the club and offer a free lunch or free pieces of wood as a thankyou

The offer of free timber is something I always find appealing
I know exactly how you feel Brian, but be careful with this subject. I really upset a guy in the flat woodworking club when I suggested I would start charging for the demos I was doing. I was the president at the time, and doing around 7 demos a year because no one would volunteer. I was at the end of my rope with being taken advantage of. He took it personally and suggested I was taking advantage of the club and trying to make a profit at the club's expense. So I quit the club that I helped build. Lots of hard feelings all around.

[roger wiegand]

I feel for you. It's hard, in that only a small percentage of club members will volunteer to do anything, and those that don't volunteer will complain about those who do. A couple ideas:

1) we offer a free annual membership to club members that do a demo (we pay a modest fee, about the equivalent, to local non-club members who do a demo); that said no demonstrator has asked for the dues remission in my time in the club-- but it seems to be the thought that counts. Alternately start a policy of a stipend for all demonstrators, with the understanding that outside pros will get more.
2) Hire a contract agency outside cleaner to do the cleaning-- then you can tell the complainers that they are free to volunteer to help reduce club expenses.
3) Make service a condition of membership. Everyone gets assigned some set of tasks; they can negotiate among themselves if they need to rearrange their schedule-- don't put an officer in the middle of that. Most woodworking cooperatives do some form of this.
4) Hire a part time caretaker for the club, preferably not a current member and certainly not an officer, who is responsible for all of those tasks outside of demonstrating. This will create a lot of bookkeeping overhead unless you come up with a creative way of doing it.

[Brice Rogers]

Roger Wiegand had a lot of good suggestions.

In my own case, I was the president of a camera club with about 50-75 members. We shared a public building and were required to have someone as a docent a couple times a month and were required to vacuum, mop, clean the toilet, etc. It was tough to find volunteers. The administrative "stuff" got to be a real drag. During our business meeting I brought up the possibility of hiring a janitor to do the cleaning. Someone in the meeting suggested that the officers should clean the building including the toilet so that we save the $. My wife said: "I don't even clean my own toilets - - I have a cleaning person. Why would I drive 30 miles each way and clean toilets on my precious weekends?" When the ratio of fun to drudgery fell far enough, I quit the club. I was burned out and frustrated by people with ideas (only) and wouldn't volunteer. Roger's ideas are decent.