PER CAPITA DISTRIBUTION
The Executive Council has requested that each year all Gyros be made aware of how their per capita dues are spent. The chart below shows each line item and the percentage of total income that was utilized for that item.
PER CAPITA UTILIZATION
As a further explanation, following is the response given to an inquiry from a new club treasurer asking how the per capita fund collections are utilized – so that he might better respond to his membership.
Your question is a logical one that does come up from time to time – especially when there are new members asking, or new officers receive dues notices
.
First let me answer by suggesting that any organization would not function for long without a strong central identity.strong central identity. The bulk of your remittance goes to support Gyro International and a lesser amount to support your District organization. These funds are used to further the Gyro organization and abide to the requirements set forth in the bylaws that were establised nearly 100 years ago.
The dues collections support the central office of Gyro where the three part-time lady employees keep track of and handle the business of the organization.
These funds also cover a myriad of expenses such as funding the Gyrscope magazine, office expenses, postage, computers, awards and taxes et al – all necessary to keep an organization of nearly 4000 members running smoothly. Another significant amount is used to provide reasonable executive travel as mandated by the bylaws wherein each district annual convention, along with the two international meetings each year have representation from the International. Another mandate is that an international rep visits each club in Gyro at least once every three years. To save expenses, this is usually done in conjunction with visiting the convention. I can assure you that each of the Executive Council, as he advances through his five year committment, is out-of-pocket a significant amount over and above those expenses that are covered. The dues portion that goes to your District is used similarly in that the Governor or Lt. Governor is mandated to visit each club annually.
Each year, at both the Interim meeting and the Convention, along with many items that need the attention of the EC and the Board of Governors, extensive financial reports are submitted, discussed, and then approved. Minutes of all meetings are also filed. A copy of the Convention minutes along with the financial data is mailed to every club president, so if a club member is interested in any financial aspect, he could review the balance sheet for example to see how the funds are allocated. Your club president will receive this latest copy shortly regarding the recent convention in Victoria. Copies of other meeting minutes and the like are available at headquarters upon request – every Gyro should remember that all members are equal in status with some being elected by their peers to both district and international offices to act as stewards in their behalf for the betterment of our fraternity.
Although we do not post financial data on the international website (for obvious security reasons) there is a plethoria of other information from which one could assume only happens because dues are
collected. For access to the website online, it is located at .
Part of each of the meetings has for several years consisted of instructional seminars which is meant to identify means of attacting new members – new members would mean keeping the dues as they are. Further, it was determined in the Victoria Convention meetings that the future Interim meetings would be devoted primarily to district officer training. We anticipate a solid grounding in what is expected from a district officer to help them become better in their job. I submit that with more awareness, when a district officer visits your club, part of his inter-action with the membership would in fact answer the very question your letter has raised. I trust this letter answers your question to your satisfaction. Feel free to contact me anytime, or for other answers from HQ, contact Pat Swanson.
-- Emil Baijot, International Secretary-Treasurer --