The Ways and Means Committee Chairperson serves as the chair of the committee responsible for developing and implementing fundraising projects to support the club’s budget. As a committee, Ways and Means explores various projects and events to raise funds. These can include activities held among club members or activities that include the local community. The chair is also responsible for overseeing Promise Tree fundraising.
One large fundraising event or several smaller ones during the course of the year have traditionally been required to fund the club’s budget needs. Since its introduction, the Promise Tree has provided the club with enough funds that we have been able to maintain our treasury balance without any large-scale fundraisers, such as garden tours. We have been primarily supplementing the budget with election day bake sales and yard sales.
In implementing a fund-raiser, the chair works with her committee to decide on a fund-raising project. She then proposes the project to the board for their approval, organizes the project, and then enlists the help of the entire club membership to carry it out. All expenses involved in the fundraising process must be approved by the board. All profits are to be turned over to the treasurer to be added to the general fund, unless another purpose is designated by the board.
Examples of past fundraisers include garden tours, speaker series, wine tasting/dinner party, bake sales, yard sales, quilt raffle, and cookie sales. Organizational details for some of these fundraisers are in the Ways and Means chairperson’s file.
The Promise Tree is a fundraising and relationship-building effort intended only for members of the club. Each member is asked to hang a “Promise Leaf” on the tree. These can vary from a service provided, to an item offered, or an event hosted. Another member purchases the leaf for the donor’s asking price, with the proceeds going to the club treasury.
The Promise Tree has been successful in providing regular income for the club, but has also served to bring together members in social settings and has made the whole membership more cohesive.
The Ways and Means and Promise Tree Chairs are expected to attend as many board meetings as possible during the club year. The chairs are responsible for submitting information on all fundraising activities to the web manager in a timely manner in order to keep the membership informed. The Ways and Means Committee budget is set by agreement between the board and the chair.