Title:Four Tips for Quick and Painless Club Compliance

Keeping your alumni club compliant with IRS reporting requirements and Georgetown University Alumni Association Policies isn’t always the most glamorous task, but it is incredibly important to ensuring that your club stays in good standing, and has full access to all benefits, especially University insurance coverage. Here are four things you can do to make staying in compliance simple and streamlined:

1. Make sure your club is receiving communications from the Office of Regional Engagement.

Our team communicates important information about club compliance, shares mandatory forms, and answers questions using the e-mail account: alumniclubs@georgetown.edu. Make sure you set your e-mail is set to direct those important messages to your inbox, not a spam folder or promotions tab.  

2. Create central storage plan for important club documents accessible for ALL Board members.

When it comes time for annual reporting, or if a one-off question arises, having all the key documents organized and easily accessible to all members of the club board will make completing forms quick and painless. In the era of the “cloud”, it is easy to scan and upload documents to a secure storage location accessible to any board members. There are a range of popular free, user-friendly options, including Google Drive, and Box.net.  Once you’ve set up secure storage, be sure to upload the most recent copies of the following documents:

• Club Bylaws
• Club Charter or Decision Letter from the GUAA
• Document with IRS EIN information (i.e. IRS Decision Letter)
• Club Bank Account Information- Bank Name, Account Number, Signatories, online banking login (may be contained on recent statement)

3. Notify the Office of Regional Engagement of new and retiring club board members.

Leadership transitions happen all the time, with new members joining the board and others moving on. It is important to make sure that the Office of Regional Engagement stays in the loop on the most current board members for each club, so that we can be sure the right people are getting the information they need.

4. Ask Questions

Whether it’s a request for an extension on a form or a backup copy of a document, feel free to ask our office for assistance. You can contact us via e-mail at alumniclubs@georgetown.edu, post in the Georgetown University Club Leaders Facebook Page, or join our virtual office hours.  We’re happy to help!