Starting Auto Club

UPDATED: The poster is done: 56kers beware, or DIE!!
http://i54.photobucket.com/albums/g117/DynographK/uaauto.jpg
It looks much better printed out, but this is it.

ARCHIVED:
I really wanted to join an auto club this semester but to my surprise, there was one on the college website but it wasn't working. I went early to the student associations and they said the club hasn't been active for a year. So, I'm taking over and I need 5 members to start, already have 2. But I don't plan the club number on stopping there, 20k people go to Albany, I will see more people interested in cars.

My Ideas are:
Learning how to work on your cars
Watching movies, playing games
Race Track Field Trips
The club's project car
Diagnosing non-members cars for free

There's some problems though, I'm making the flyers but I don't know how to start the club up aside from registering it and we haven't found a garage yet. But enough worrying about the little details, anyone have ideas to help me out?

I'm thinking of charging a small membership fee (10-20) so that when a member joins we can buy more tools. I'm going to get my flyer cleared with student assoc monday so I can get more members.

So far there's 2 officers and one member, and 3 maybes. I need more exposure.

Also monday I get to see the list of members from the previous club so maybe I can contact them.

Too bad you live so far. I would join up. I think hanging out or passing flyers at local auto shows will probably be a good way to get members.

Too bad you live so far. I would join up. I think hanging out or passing flyers at local auto shows will probably be a good way to get members.

I wish there were shows around here, gotta find out, but that's a good idea.

Not a bad idea, wish my school had a club.

Good way to make sure you stay in the clear... Restrict the membership to dues paying members, and revert the assets to the school for stewardship in the event the club disolves. No problem with anyone stealing your stuff, the school will promote your club via the student activities council, and you guys will actually be able to have some assets that will be available to other students long after you're gone.

Get a set of decent bylaws that states that the SCHOOL retains ownership in the tools/assets in the event the club disbands again, and list the members' rights and priviledges. That way you won't look like you're profiting off the donations / membership fees, and there's a good reason for the school to sanction your club. They might even let you use the school facilities, if their insurance company or the board itself isn't too anal.

Not a bad idea, wish my school had a club.

Good way to make sure you stay in the clear... Restrict the membership to dues paying members, and revert the assets to the school for stewardship in the event the club disolves. No problem with anyone stealing your stuff, the school will promote your club via the student activities council, and you guys will actually be able to have some assets that will be available to other students long after you're gone.

Get a set of decent bylaws that states that the SCHOOL retains ownership in the tools/assets in the event the club disbands again, and list the members' rights and priviledges. That way you won't look like you're profiting off the donations / membership fees, and there's a good reason for the school to sanction your club. They might even let you use the school facilities, if their insurance company or the board itself isn't too anal.

That's excellent! I was thinking about dividing the tools up if we split but of course I want the club to continue on. Plus that means members dues will be part of the budget. I'm asking what the 'budget' is tomorrow and also if we could use a faculty garage or anywhere we can spill oil and clean it up. I'll let you all know via this thread how it goes. I just need more officers and we can start!

Good luck, interested to see how you make out.

Look if any other schools in the area have similar clubs and see how they are run. I know here at RPI (which is like 20min north of albany) we have one. I'm not in it though, so I can't tell you much of anything. Good luck :thumbsup:

Look if any other schools in the area have similar clubs and see how they are run. I know here at RPI (which is like 20min north of albany) we have one. I'm not in it though, so I can't tell you much of anything. Good luck :thumbsup:

I keep hearing about RPI, the expensive tech school I SHOULD have went to but i'm not letting it get me down. They must have ten different chapters of auto clubs :rofl: On a more serious note, I'm starting on the paperwork and the constitution complete with amendments (RULES). I still need to finish the flyer but I haven't got my scanner working yet.

Just picked up an officer, so that's a total of 4 members. I'm concerned about finding a garage now...

It's time to open the club!! I've got enough members and I'm writing the rule book. The flyer will come later I decided. Also, about the garage...UA has no garages, so I'm trying to find garage space to rent around the area. I also wanted to talk it over with my members before we 'bought' a garage. I've talked to mechanics, seen garage stalls in the newspaper and there's the Albany Parking Authority, which is 120 a month...yikes.

Registering? hmm, my club should do that. Do you mean going to like.. .your township and registering it like an organization?

It's for my college, University of Albany. It's a college club. I'm worried about getting too many members but we'll see how things pan out.

News: one officer turned normal member but he's still giving us money...lol so I'm making a flashy poster for more members. Officers are key, I need people who will commit to this club. 4 officers to register...where did I put that paperwork. later

Advice: Document all the money you take in very well. Document who paid what and what its been spent on. Might be a good idea to have an officer be the treasurer and have them take care of all that crap.

Advice: Document all the money you take in very well. Document who paid what and what its been spent on. Might be a good idea to have an officer be the treasurer and have them take care of all that crap.

That's what the last club did, but the problem is that I have NO idea what they did with the money. I will get my officers to keep track of the money. Because we want a garage, we have to rent the space so i was thinking, membership fee $15 and then 3 months later, 5 a month which would be easy but sounds ugly. This isn't set in stone and I want to talk to my members about it. Why should we all suffer? I'm not a scammer, I want a damn garage or else we can't work on cars a lot. Right? Once again, the weekend and I can't do anything about the club now.

Worried about getting too many members??? Thought you only had four??? Don't worry about there bring too many members... worry that you get enough. The best thing you could hope for is 40-50 dues paying members that only show up every third month to use the facilities, and to bullshit on occasion.

1. Make sure your checks (if you're getting a checking account... I assume you are) have at least two signature lines and state that they are not valid unless BOTH live signatures are present. That way your treasurer can account for the money, he just doesn't have to the authority / ability to spent it with wanton abandon. Your by-laws should also state who is to sign the checks so there is no confusion as to who is allowed to disperse what.

2. Spend no CASH. Checks may be a pain in the ass, but they are undeniable proof that you paid something and where the funds went.

3. Give receipts that you received cash from anyone who gives it to you, and you may even go so far as to have them initial your deposit receipt so they can't deny getting credit for it. A bit anal, but better than getting screwed.

4. Make up a policy regarding re-imbursing expenses and then make sure that everyone knows it. If the club authorized the purchase then it's ok to reimburse... otherwise you'll have every jackass taking advantage of the petty cash / reimbursement policy. (Speaking from painful experience.)

What do you mean about the cash reimbursement part, who's going to want money for the dues they pay AND that will belong to the school herein? I'm just trying to get what you're saying and what I should look out for.

Checks may be a very good idea, thanks. I'm making the posters soon. I'm worried about too many members because if I only find 1-2 garages, what am I gonna do about the 40 guys who want to work on their car?? Divide time and days, and downtime and...can you see I'm worrying? WHY DOES A SCHOOL CHOOSE TO BUILD NO GARAGES???

*sigh* everything's fine

1. What do you mean about the cash reimbursement part...

2. Checks may be a very good idea, thanks....

3. I'm worried about too many members because if I only find 1-2 garages

1. If someone buys something for the club's benefit... say he pays personal cash for a pizza for a meeting... make sure it's approved (IE he asked the members first and enough people agreed that he should go and buy it) before you pay him back. If someone paid personal cash for a case of oil he bought for the club, make sure you agreed for him to do this first AND it's unopened before you reimburse him for it. You're at college, and everyone's going to be tight on money, watch you don't taken advantage of. Clubs are all about sharing and being buddies and all... which makes them a prime target to get ripped off. I do audits and attend alot of fraud classes... take my advice and be careful. You don't want ANYONE spending personal money on club expenses without prior approval from the members.

2. Checks are the only way you should disburse money. It's documentable, cash is not. Just make sure you get at LEAST two-signature checks, bank should help you with this.

3. Don't restrict membership, you'll kill the club. Get a calendar for each bay that you wind up getting. Make them sign up for times to use the bays, and if they're more than 15 minutes late, they lose their time if anyone else is waiting.

If you're in charge, you HAVE to be careful... it's YOUR neck on the chopping block if something goes wrong. Make sure you make it very hard for anyone to steal you stuff / money, etc. IF you don't, everyone is going to look to you because YOU set it up. That's no reason to not do it at all, but just be careful in everything you do as far as setting this thing up. You should record your meetings on one of those stupid little tape recorders, especially meetings between the board members when you guys are figuring out how to set parts of the club up, and how to handle stuff. Keep them someplace offsite, or at least in a fireproof box.

ALSO, you may be able to get credit at a local parts store if the club is sanctioned by the school. I would limit it to a certain amount, and only permit authorized personnel to order, buy, and pick up stuff. But if the school was cool with it, and verified with the merchant that the club is legit, and the line was small enough, say under $250, I don't think you would have a problem.

UPDATE: poster added to first post-

Nice poster... should've added it to the bottom though.

How's it going by the way?

Nice poster... should've added it to the bottom though.

How's it going by the way?

I just need one person to sign as an officer, and that should be easy enough. I was planning on going to this official club owner thing but I have no idea what time it is for and I woke up late...off from school on a jewish holiday, never thought I'd see the day. We're starting soon though, thanks for asking.

Saw the president Nick Chuichiolo today, he was really cool about the club thing, helping me get around red tape and such.

Racing isn't covered in anyway by UA's insurance. So we can drag race, auto X, just not as a club, but after hours. We're 100% allowed to work on cars and they'll even fund us from the school! I have some things to change in the constitution but the poster is a GO. The auto group before us is permanently recognized, even though everyone left (because of legal problems). The rule is there cannot exist two groups of the same type so I hereby take over this old club abd change the name and rules and everything and we're recognized! I have another meeting with the president next week on tuesday and that's when we start the club.

Tired of the paperwork? Sorry but Rome took a while too.

Tired of the paperwork? Sorry but Rome took a while too.

Wait a minute. I thought Rome was built in a day...

Wait a minute. I thought Rome was built in a day...

lol

*yawn* ... XD We're permanently recognized as the UAlbany Automotive Club (UAAC) and we're funded by the college, along with the membership fee. I'll hold a meeting when I have more people, so I'm legally posting the club tomorrow.