OUR PICTURE: CFUW Brantford today
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. The Articles and Bylaws were updated and approved by our membership in 2024.
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 2024, dues are $121.00 and are broken down as follows:
$106 for General Membership and $15 for Scholarship.
In 2024 the club approved a change in our tax receipts for charitable donations effective with the 2025 tax year. The minimum amount for tax receipts is now $20. The decision was made to keep the Scholarship portion of membership at $15 so a charitable receipt is issued only if the total donation to the Scholarship fund is $20 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.
In July 2024 we switched our bank from Tandia to Bank of Montreal. This provides us with the ability to accept etransfers directly into our general account for membership and annal banquet payments and into our scholarship account for Trivia Night, and miscellaneous donations. For Nova Vita etransfers are accepted by the individual that runs that initiative for the year that is because we do not use club funds for this initiative and tax receipts are issued by Nova Vita to the individual donors.
We continue to accept cheques and cash for payments and donations.
