The Challenges of a Scottish Heritage Society Board of Directors As all-volunteer organizations (AVOs), Scottish heritage societies live or die by their officers and boards of directors. All boards have two types of responsibilities: (1) maintaining the legal and financial aspects of the nonprofit corporation and (2) conducing the work of the organization in terms of managing, leading, and doing. In doing so, boards face many challenges: The first challenge is to set the expectations for each officer and board member. Every role should have a job description and standards for performance. As you work with your board members, you will discover that each will have different motivations. These can generally be categorize as personal reasons and altruistic motivations. The next challenge is the level of “board engagement,” which directly impacts the organization’s effectiveness and resiliency. To meet this challenge, make sure that you arrange regular meetings (monthly or quarterly) well enough in advance to ensure the greatest level of attendance. Performance is critical since board members' primary responsibility is to get the work done. Some of the volunteers you have on your current board only need a little bit of guidance to become awesome board members but some are just not a good fit. In this case, stop being so nice and find a way to respectfully help your poor performing board members to exit. One of the greatest challenges for Scottish heritage societies is recruiting and building new leadership, especially from the younger generations. Longtime leaders view the organization as ‘their baby’ and are sharply critical and undermining of anyone whose approach is different. You can attract and recruit younger people by reaching out digitally, staying in touch, providing chances to gain professional experience, asking their views, and being authentic in all your communication. If you are a Delegate of Alternate of a COSCA Organizational Member, you can learn more here: https://www.cosca.scot/board-challenges |
|
|
Surname DNA Projects A Surname Project studies the different Y-Chromosome DNA (Y-DNA) lineages associated with a surname or group of surnames. The project may be narrowly focused on one particularly spelling variant in a specific location. It may also include all known variants of a surname in any time or place. Because surnames often follow a Y-DNA lineage for many generations, surname project participants are typically men with that surname. Of course, women (and men who are interested in their ancestry beyond their direct paternal line) may have an appropriate representative of the line they are interested in testing. As of 2021, 89 clan societies have been identified has having associated Y-DNA Surname Projects, most of which are hosted by FamilyTreeDNA. If you are a Delegate of Alternate of a COSCA Organizational Member, you can more here: https://www.cosca.scot/dna-projects |
|
|
Encourage Your Members to Donate Before the End of the Year! Be sure to remind your members to donate before the end of the year if your society is a non-profit organized under section 501(c)(3) of the U.S. Internal Revenue Code or if your society is affiliated with a private charity! This is a great way to grow your charitable and educational activities -- and provide your members with a beneficial tax break, as defined by section 170(c) of the Internal Revenue Code. According to the IRS, "taxpayers who itemize can generally claim a deduction for charitable contributions to qualifying organizations." The add that "The law now allows taxpayers to apply up to 100% of their AGI, for calendar-year 2021 qualified contributions. Qualified contributions are cash contributions to qualifying charitable organizations." Eligible individuals must make their elections on their 2021 Form 1040 or Form 1040-S Please remember that societies must deduct the "fair market value" of any good or services the donor receives for making this donation. As the IRS explains: "If you receive a benefit in exchange for the contribution such as merchandise, goods or services, including admission to a charity ball, banquet, theatrical performance, or sporting event, you can only deduct the amount that exceeds the fair market value of the benefit received or expected to be received." Learn more here: https://www.irs.gov/taxtopics/tc506 For more information, see IRS Publication 526, Charitable Contributions. |
|
|
Get Access to Member Services, the Private Side of the COSCA Website Everyone can sign up for this free monthly COSCA Update! Please spread the word to other friends and family members who are members of their Scottish heritage societies. Everyone also has access to COSCA's public website with timely blogs that aim to assist all Scottish heritage organizations and to an extensive "Find My Clan" database that will help people to learn more about their clans and perhaps encourage them to join their clan societies. However, the Member Services in the private section of the website are offered only to individuals in leadership positions within current COSCA organizational members. Current Organizational Member Delegates and Alternates can request access by clicking on the "Log In" icon on the top right of the home page or select "Member Login" in the drop-down menu under Member Services." Then click "please request access here" and provide information as directed. The direct link is www.cosca.scot/member-login. If you do not yet have access to the private side of the COSCA website, please ask your Authorized Representative or Delegate to add you to their society's list of leaders. If your organization is not yet a member but would like to join, click on the "Join" link on the drop-down menu under "Member Services." The direct link is https://www.cosca.scot/join. You will be asked for information about your society and be required to pay the annual $50 organizational member dues. Please note that Member Services are not available to individual members who pay $25 per year. Learn more here: https://www.cosca.scot/connect |
|
|
Join or Renew Today Join the Council of Scottish Clans and Associations! We welcome clan and family groups, St. Andrew's Societies, local and national Scottish heritage organizations, games and festival organizers, and purveyors of Scottish goods and services. Your organization will receive our e-newsletter, gain access to the Members Services section of the website, become eligible to vote, and receive all other benefits of members. Scottish heritage societies are stronger together! Join or renew here: https://www.cosca.scot/join Please welcome the Organizational Members who have joined in November 2022: Nov 16, 2022 Clan Dunbar Please offer your thanks to the Organizational Members who have renewed in November 2022: Nov 29, 2022MacAskill Sept Society Nov 25, 2022Clan Scott Society Nov 18, 2022Clan MacLachlan Assoc of North America Nov 16, 2022Clan MacLellan Worldwide Nov 15, 2022Clan Graham Society Nov 15, 2022Clan Little Society, Inc. Nov 12, 2022Clan MacLellan in America |
|
|
|
|
