Who we are today
WHO WE ARE TODAY:
Our club today is a group of about 80 women in Brantford, Brant County and beyond, who say that our club has provided them with a wonderful community of friends, engaging activities, and stimulating conversation. We have an overarching vision of supporting the rights, freedoms and education of women and girls, locally, nationally, and internationally, implemented through our affiliation with CFUW National and Ontario Council, as well as through our own club’s Scholarship Trust (awarding scholarships to new high school graduates who are pursuing post-graduate education and to women who are returning to school and need assistance in getting the credentials they need to pursue a career).
We support Nova Vita, our local Women’s Shelter, usually with a fund-raiser in December that helps the women and children in the shelter to navigate the difficult holiday season. We support local events such as Take Back the Night and International Women’s Day. Every year, we invite members who are interested in advocacy to review the resolutions submitted by CFUW clubs across Canada, provide support, recommendations and/or feedback through the resolution process (see page 4 CFUW National).
We are not a fund-raising club, except for our own Scholarship Fund and initiatives that are approved by the membership – typically Nova Vita.
Also, each year, we choose how to allocate the portion of our dues that are for international projects.
Our members, “who are involved with an international charity that charity focuses on the rights, freedoms and education of women and girls”, present details about their charity at a General Meeting or a special meeting, typically in the Fall. Our membership then votes on how to allocate our international funds for the year.
We also offer a Notice Board at our general meetings where members can post any events that they would like to advertise. Our members are very active in everything from World Vision, CUSO, various local arts and music events, to local feline rescues – and a host of other worthwhile charities, so the Notice Board allows our members to “peruse – and pursue” as they choose. The notice board saves a lot of time at meetings with such an active and generous group of women all passionate about their causes.
We are proud to be a member of CFUW National and the Ontario Council (OC) which also has sub groups so that clubs can focus on local or regional topics of interest.
GOVERNANCE:
Our Club formalized our Articles and Bylaws (constitution) in 2013 guided by CFUW National after they completed a major revision of their Articles and Bylaws. Our document needs to be updated based on some changes at National, revisions to Robert’s Rules, and to better reflect how our club manages its Executive duties. Section 5. OUR LEADERSHIP TEAM on page 9 and 10 provides an overview of how we are currently structured and some key duties of the Executive positions and Committees.
FINANCIALS:
Our annual budget is less than $13,000 per year. We have about $17,000 in reserves, which is prudent for contingencies in general and in the event that the club ever ceases to operate and needs to shut down its charitable status and Scholarship Trust.
CFUW BRANTFORD ANNUAL DUES:
Our annual dues are collected during the membership renewal process in the Spring of each year. Our fiscal year goes from May 1st to April 30th, and payment is due by the AGM in May so that members are ‘in good standing’ (meaning their dues are paid in full) and therefore eligible to vote at the AGM. The dues for a Student membership is 50% of the annual dues.
Any increase to National or OC dues is voted on at the respective AGMs (usually held each summer), advised to our membership in the Fall, and implemented the following Spring.
As of May 2023, dues are $121.00 and are broken down as follows:
$106 for General Membership and $15 for Scholarship.
A charitable receipt is issued for the Scholarship portion including any additional Scholarship donations made at time of renewal or throughout the year.
The General Membership amount of $106.00 is allocated as follows:
$55 to CFUW National,
$6.25 to Ontario Council,
$21.52 for International initiatives, and
$23.23 for operating expenses including but not limited to meetings, speakers, Zoom, Drop Box, website, postage.
PAYMENTS:
Our members have requested that we accept e-transfers as many move away from cheques and cash as forms of payment. Our Trivia Night fund-raiser collected the majority of its funds through e-transfers this year.
We bank with Tandia because of the approximate $50 per month that we save in administration fees compared to banking with one of the big Canadian banks. The downside is that Tandia does not yet offer e-transfers to ‘community building accounts’ or accounts beyond single signature personal accounts. Tandia assures us that expanding their e-transfer service is a priority and hopes to offer e-transfer service to accounts such as ours by the end of 2023.
As an interim measure, e-transfers are accepted by our Treasurer or the Chairs of the Initiatives to cover payments such as annual dues, and donations/payments to our two Initiatives: Nova Vita’s Hope for the Holidays, and Scholarship’s Trivia Night. Meticulous accounting is kept by spreadsheet to ensure that charitable donations are accurate, and that all funds are accounted for. This e-transfer process is an interim measure, and consistent with some other clubs, Regional Councils and National. We hope to be able to implement e-transfers through a CFUW Brantford email as soon as Tandia offers e-transfer service in late 2023/early 2024. Please feel free to continue to use cheques if you prefer.
