ToDo

Paid Ads vs. Free Ads for Dispatches; New Volunteer Editor

Discussion of whether MWSA should change our policy of free ads for members to paid ads only at the current discounted rate.
-Ad management is very time consuming for the Editor
-Most members do not take advantage of the free ad option
-Ad quality varies greatly
-Our discounted rates are very reasonable and can help offset layout/design expenses
-Val committed to be Dispatches Editor for one year, and that concludes in September

Tracking system for required reports

Hugh discovered we hadn’t filed required annual report with Pennsylvania for many years—potentially threatening our non-profit status. This is a long-standing problem with MWSA management, and we must do better.

Report/Due to/Due by/Position or person in charge

I will create a spreadsheet to track this type of information—likely incorporating this into our portfolio document in this section of the website. Will probably have to wait until I return from vacation (May 2).

On Thursday, April 3, 2025 at 01:10:03 PM EDT, Hugh Simpson <hsimpson@simpsonlaw.org> wrote:

Received a notice from InCorp ( Registered Agent) regarding updating credit card information.  Logged in and since 2016 MWSA has been out of compliance with the State of Pennsylvania except in 2022 Joe Epley filed a report.

 

I jumped in and filed for 2025.

 

What will become problematic, I believe next year if MWSA does not file a report the organization will be out of compliance which creates a whole new set of circumstances…none good and probably cost $$ to regain “good standing”.  I attached a “how to” guide and really easy to do which is essentially updating President, Treasurer, and Secretary.

 

Probably need to assign this function to a specific “”billet”  as people come and go from their leadership roles.  I would say assign to “Secretary”.

 

Did call InCorp to ask why we hadn’t received a notice…their answer “we receive mail as registered agent”.  Nothing more nothing less.  $129 per year. 

 

See what I saw below. 

 

Entity Name

Due Date

Starts

Ends

Status

Annual Report Due

Military Writers Society of America (158927) [PA-DNPC]

04/30/2016

 

 

PAST DUE: Item due 04/30/2016

Annual Report Due

Military Writers Society of America (158927) [PA-DNPC]

04/30/2017

 

 

PAST DUE: Item due 04/30/2017

Annual Report Due

Military Writers Society of America (158927) [PA-DNPC]

04/30/2018

 

 

PAST DUE: Item due 04/30/2018

Annual Report Due

Military Writers Society of America (158927) [PA-DNPC]

04/30/2019

 

 

PAST DUE: Item due 04/30/2019

Annual Report Due

Military Writers Society of America (158927) [PA-DNPC]

04/30/2020

 

 

PAST DUE: Item due 04/30/2020

Annual Report Due

Military Writers Society of America (158927) [PA-DNPC]

04/30/2021

 

 

PAST DUE: Item due 04/30/2021

Annual Report Due

Military Writers Society of America (158927) [PA-DNPC]

04/30/2023

04/27/2022

04/27/2022

PAST DUE: Item due 04/30/2023

Annual Report Due

Military Writers Society of America (158927) [PA-DNPC]

04/30/2024

 

 

PAST DUE: Item due 04/30/2024

Annual Report Due

Military Writers Society of America (158927) [PA-DNPC]

06/30/2025

 

 

Item due 06/30/2025

Annual Report Due

Military Writers Society of America (158927) [PA-DNPC]

06/30/2026

 

 

Item due 06/30/2026

Member Expulsion and tracking

Rob raises an excellent question: Have we done this before? His question also logically leads to a follow-on: Why is John insisting we do this?

Have we done this before?

Yes, we voted to expel Ms. Giacomo in May of 2023. Before that, I’m not sure if we ever expelled anyone in accordance with our bylaws. Maybe Bill will remember if there was an instance from our early days. I could also ask long-time president Joyce Faulkner.

Why am I so adamant that we do this?

The simple answer is that it’ll come back to haunt us if we don't.

Perhaps more important than expelling a member is ensuring that we have a system to document inappropriate behavior on the part of any MWSA member so that we have a written record.

Here are a few examples of which I’m aware involving MWSA members who:

  1. Repeatedly impugned the character and integrity of individual MWSA volunteers.

    1. The proverbial nail in Ms. Giacomo’s coffin was her repeated comment regarding Betsy’s gold star mother status: “My response to her was everyone has those kind of stories, and they do.” [sic]

    2. Can you imagine how Betsy felt reading this revolting comment twice?

  2. Sexually harassed a female MWSA member during a conference in Pittsburgh. Because this happened well over ten years ago (2010?), I can’t remember his name. As far as I know, the incident wasn’t documented anywhere (at least where it’s easy to find).

    1. I was present when this person made inappropriate remarks to another attendee in one of our breakout rooms. I don’t remember his exact words, but I remember being shocked when he dismissed another person's contributions, saying something like, “Don’t you worry your pretty little head lady.”

    2. If memory serves, he later made vulgar remarks to other women and did some inappropriate touching of another conference attendee. I have no direct evidence corroborating these allegations.

  3. Drunkenly interrupted an awards banquet by standing in the back of the banquet hall and yelling that since he was the only person who had submitted a book in his genre, he should have won a gold medal (rather than the “Honorable Mention” he was awarded). Our then-president had to physically escort this person out of the hotel. I can’t remember the name of this disruptive member because it wasn’t documented anywhere (as far as I know).

  4. Had repeated verbal altercations with several other MWSA members. Informal complaints were shared, but no record was kept. This person subsequently volunteered to serve on our board, but his name was withdrawn from consideration when his history was revealed by someone who remembered the complaints about his abrasive personality.

 I have no intention of allowing the MWSA board to become a “star chamber” expelling members willy-nilly. Nor should we be in the business of sharing unsubstantiated rumors regarding any member’s behavior. However, I imagine we can all agree that all the above examples should be documented and that at least the first two qualify for expulsion as outlined in our bylaws. The documentation should be completed immediately after the fact and stored electronically where we can easily find it. Otherwise, we must rely on our memories from 10-15 years ago. This record-keeping is vital for our membership secretary—our first line of defense!

 Action Required

Formalize system for tracking membership problems.

Membership Directory

Due to concerns over privacy, we turned off our published directory.

Now that we have an opt-in system, It’s time to turn it back on to facilitate the “networking” that most of us consider an important member benefit.

Requirements

  • Agree to a system in WA

  • Ensure that it’s located in a secure, members-only part of the WA website.

  • Educate members about the directory

    • How to access it

    • Rules for use & penalties for misuse (i.e., using it to generate or share spam)

    • How to enable their participation, and what details they want to share.

Existing Information & Instructions

Bylaws

Most recent versions (Google Docs & PDF) are in a new “Bylaws” folder. Old versions moved to a separate subfolder (to make it easier to tell which is the current version).

Future Issues/Changes

  • Update who is the 9th voting member of the board. Right now, it’s Founder. Suggest we change to past president—always as a tie-breaker if required.

  • Update at-large board member portfolios?

  • Combine/clarify IV.3 Term of Office of Directors and IV.5.6a Term of Office of Officers.

Membership for Publishers

I think we could re-offer regular membership (the reason I invited Laura to do so), but the only real benefit might be the advertising discount (or maybe a free one once per year).

 As a member, some possible benefits:

  • Ability to submit News & Events (although most members don't)

  • Invite to submit articles to Dispatches

  • Publish free ads, or possibly discounted ads

  • Possibly be a presenter at one of our Writers Education Webinars

  • Have a free "booth" at our conferences

  • As you have already done, give them a space on our Member Resources page

I like this idea:  If the membership were granted to a publishing house, we could fairly easily extend the membership rate for conferences to anyone working there (rather then the first person to whom we granted membership).

[email exchange John and Val]

Corporate sponsorship/donations

Action

  • Create a board position for corporate sponsorship

    • Neal Kusumoto, the only past incumbent

  • Need a better plan for donations:

    • updated donation page

    • ability/instructions for paying via check

    • New page on what we do with donations—what your donation dollars do, or how your donation dollars can go to specific MWSA programs

Notes

  • See Joe Badal’s donation blog entry

  • Scott Jones, Boeing

    • $1000 donation, attended conference

    • recontact?

Online Store Merchandise

From Joyce:

As you know, I volunteered to research how much T Shirts would cost and will design them if we all see value in having them for sale.

Here are the costs for several options, how much I think they could be sold for, and how much margin we could get depending on number we purchase and investment made. We could get some as early as two weeks from now if you want to sell at conference. Otherwise, we can have delivered them here and we can sell through website.

Everyone has different opinions on whether should be 100% preshrunk cotton or a poly/cotton blend. They also argue that each type has the same benefit over the other...lol...so will make that decision down the road with internet research. However, here they are:

***********
Hanes 5.2 oz 100% preshrunk Cotton T shirt - colored - with three color silk screen  - $6.52 each if we order 250 or $1630 total. There is a range of sizes...i suggest fewer in small sizes, more in larger...

We could sell them for $12 (plus shipping) which means that we would earn $3000 for a profit of $1370, or
for $15 (plus shipping) which is $3750 for a profit of $2120

**************

Or Hanes 5.2 oz 100% preshrunk Cotton T shirt - white - with three color silk screen 250 shirts is $5.61 or $1402.50

With same pricing, $12 would be $3000 with profit of $1597.50 and $15 would be $3750 with profit of $2347.50

**************
So as you see a colored background shirt is more than a white one. A heavier weight makes a difference too.

Here is Hanes 100% preshrunk 6.1 oz - white with 3 color silkscreen 250 shirts is $6.10 or $1525 total.

With same pricing, $12 would be $1475 profit and $15 would be $2225

**************

A canvas triblend  in white with three color silkscreen is $11.57 each or for 250 $2892.50

So $12 option isnt feasible here. 

For $15, our profit would only be $857.50
For $20, our profit would be $2107.50

***************

You can cut cost further by ordering more shirts at a time...example, for the  Hanes 5.2 oz 100% preshrunk cotton in white with three color design, the price per shirt for 500 is $4.92 (2460 investment) and for 750 its $4.59 ($3442.50 investment) and for 1000 its $4.39 ($4390 investment)...however, given amount of money in our operations account and that we have never tried to sell tshirts like this to earn money for operations beyond dues, I recommend buying 250 shirts. If successful, we can always order larger amounts in the future. I also recommend a standard design for now...one that stays the same year after year, but perhaps for future events, I can design new ones that go with the event and that cost and return can come out of and go into the programming account. Example would be tshirts that would say Military Writers in San Antonio or something that makes it a keepsake for the particular event...in those cases, maybe we would buy only 100 shirts. You could also include that cost in the fee and then we would have a known amount to order...in that case, we arent looking for a profit neccesarily.

Another way to reduce our cost would be to limit design colors to one or two....which can be done...but to give you an idea, our logo is five colors.

If you prefer polo shirts, its a different animal and would require embroidery rather than silkscreen, I think...and we would have to sell a lot at a higher price to make them money makers.

Shipping from this particular company is free to one location...if we dont mind waiting two weeks. As I said in earlier email, Red Engine Press would handle packing up individual shirts and sending them out...customers would pay extra for packaging and shipping costs. Tax is another issue though...we would have to check with Don Farenacci on that given our tax status...and I have included Don in this email.

So, before I do more research, is this something we want to pursue? This is just one company, there are many out there and we might find some differences up or down in pricing or quality...but I wont go further until you give me go ahead.

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