Notes from 56th International STC Conference
Atlanta, Georgia, May 2-5, 2009

Leadership Day

Financial and Legal Issues

Session Description: How to negotiate the financial and legal labyrinth to keep STC afloat.

W.C. Wiese, outgoing STC treasurer

• God made us in 3 great tribes: picture people, number people, word people
• Chapter treasurers’ guidebook is available at web site
• Chapter treasurers’ listserv is another useful tool
• Treasurers’ community that has evolved has become self-mentoring
• Tax returns now must be filed at the chapter level; that’s a new challenge that is going to need help from experts at the Society level (Diana Burton has template for the 990EZ; some chapters have had that kicked back and been put through more hoops; differing fiscal years can be a problem)

Susan Burton, STC executive director

• IRS is also gotten interested in by-laws, forced compliance with N.Y. law
• Chapters need a template that helps them incorporate changes made at the Society level; legally, chapters also must comply with
• Three model templates for chapter by-laws exist, must be followed:
   
• U.S.-domiciled chapters
• Student chapters
• International chapters

Jackie Henson, STC counsel

• STC tried to build as much flexibility as possible into its template for chapters; take special cases to Society and they will work to help chapter achieve it … they must make sure we meet N.Y. law, which is quite prescriptive.
• In addition to by-laws, IRS will be requiring 3 more policies:
   
• Conflict-of-interest policy
• Whistle-blower policy
• Retention of documents policy
• Non-profits Sarbanes-Oxley: massive rewrites in tax policies for non-profits