Present: Gil Major, Phil Vance, Samantha McKinney, Doug Pilcher, Steve Sides, Brad Davy, Charles Lewis, Clark Hymas, and Adi Kochav

Absent: Mike Karnes and Jeff Marsuchek

Meeting began at 9:00 p.m. EST.

501 (c)(3) Discussion – Samantha McKinney and Phil Vance

Phil has talked with a local lawyer in his hometown about this issue.  The attorney said that we can apply for a 501 (c)(3).  She didn’t understand why we would want this since we fall under AMA protection.  We would have to fill out the appropriate paperwork to begin the process for the 501 (c)(3) and then must be reviewed by the IRS.  We could qualify for the 501 (c)(7), but this doesn’t make the contribution or donation tax deductible.

If we want to be a non-profit, we will be subject to all the filing requirements, such as a yearly tax return.  The problem that we have right now is that we are taking money directly in, and not through AMA.  AMA does not have the reports to make the filing on their behalf.  Other than the Worlds, the only income would be dues.

Samantha spoke with an accountant and to apply for a 501 (c)(3) we have to submit a couple years of financial data, 2 years of proposed budgets, along with incorporation documents and IRS forms.  The incorporation is not for the non-profit status, it creates a single legal entity.  The BOD would be protected under the incorporation.  We should incorporate before we apply for the 501 (c)(3) organization guidelines.  We would have to demonstrate being under the educational or scientific organization.

The first thing we need to do to protect the BOD is to incorporate.  The only determination is to decide which state to incorporate under.  After this process, we need to review to see if we are even eligible for a 501 (c)(3).  We need to find out the actual protection that we have through AMA.  Samantha will talk with AMA and find out the information through them.  She will also look at what we are needing to do the incorporation, and what is needed if we decide to apply for the 501 (c)(3) status.

2018 Worlds – Steve Sides

We have 12 pilots qualified for the Worlds, based on the 2017 Nats.  Doug has been working on the website.  For sponsorship, Steve has contacted all of the sponsors who contributed to the 2014 Worlds.  Some sponsors want some paperwork and are asking for a request on corporate letterhead.  There will be various hoops to go through with some sponsors.  Another sponsor asked about installments for cash payments.  If sponsorships are like this, their sponsorship level will be their balance contributed at the time of Worlds.  Steve sent the BOD a current staff listing.  We currently do not have a chief judge.  Mike has said that he will handle the judging matrix.

Adi, Phil, and Steve is working on the Go-Fund-Me site.  All we need is a PayPal account to send the money to.  Phil had trouble with the bank to open another bank account for the Worlds.  We must have a letter from the State of North Carolina that we are authorized to do business in that state.  A Go-Fund-Me page has been mentioned as a way of getting sponsors to contribute to the Worlds.  One of the questions that arose is if w can transfer money or can receive a check from the Go-Fund-Me when requesting funds.  A question has been raised that if we don’t reach our goal by the date, will we still receive the funding that has already been given.  Adi said that changes can be made during this time period.  Steve found on the website that reaching the goal is not required to receive the funding.  Steve will put a document together concerning the rules and regulations of having a Go-Fund-Me page and will email out to the BOD to review before proceedings with setting this account up.  This will be tabled til next month’s meeting.

Adi has been looking into medallions as a participant award for the Worlds, but Steve believes that we should just hold on this for a while, to possibly look for other options.  All trophies came from Roy Barrow in 2014 and he would do it again this time for us.  The amount for the 2014 trophies was $3,976.00.

The Worlds website has changed administrator controls over to Mike, Doug, and Gil.

Nats Wrap-Up – Doug Pilcher and Phil Vance

Phil stated that the Nats went over very well.  They didn’t order as many carts for us.  We were short 3 golf carts.  Yolanda, with AMA, has been advised of a minimum of 6 for contest staff for next year.  Doug and the team did a great job!  A lot of wind and a lot of great flying! Banquet went over well, but they did raise the price a little.

Yolanda is already asking about next year; if we want to stay at the last of June or the week of the 4th.  We are always the first group there.  A lot of the AMA staff is not there on the 4th of July weekend.  Overall impression of the BOD is to stay with the last week of June.  It has come up as discussion in the forums to move the Nats to a different location.  If we should decide to move, the AMA will not support us with monetary needs, trophies, camping facilities, etc.  The BOD went into discussion on the advantages and disadvantages of moving the Nats.  The major disadvantage would be to lose the funding and amenities received from the AMA.  We also need to remember that this isn’t an IMAC sponsored contest.  This is the AMA National Championships for Scale Aerobatics.  Years ago, the Nats wasn’t run well, so the Sigs started picking up and running their own Nats events.  Doug believes we are cutting our own throat if we move the event.  For the Sigs that have moved their Nats event, it hasn’t worked well for them.  Gil has been researching some fields in Colorado, Salt Lake, etc. that look like it can take care of us.  Gil can start making up a list to get an idea of cost if we should pursue moving to a different location.  Another idea being discussed for the Nats is paid judges.  It will cost a lot of money.  We will need a minimum of 10 judges, at least $1,000 a judge.  Mike went down this path a couple of years ago, and had problems getting judges to do it.

Treasurer’s Report – Phil Vance

Current balance as of today, July 17, is the following:

Checking         $19,731.90

Pay Pal           $13,152.77

Total               $32, 884.67

For the month of July, the current income received is $955.40 and expenses are $6,589.31.  The current balance is after the expenses for the Nats was paid.  Monies from AMA registrations are received usually at the end of August after all Sigs Nats are completed. 

Regional Reports – All RDs

Clark just got back from an IMAC contest in Alberta, Canada.  This is the first contest where they had all classes accounted for.  The NorthWest region is going good.  The Marketing and Membership Committee will be having a meeting shortly.  We just had Nall, Nat’s, and Toledo.

Brad has been having some issues with uploading contest scores.  The updating of the RPS doesn’t seem to be working this evening.  Other than that, the North East region is going well.  Everything is going fine in the SouthEast region.  Doug has been at the Nats, so the ARDs have been handling things in the South Central region.  He has not heard of anything.

The SouthWest region has been going well.  There are some problems with some Basic members having problems moving up due to the unknowns.  They have recommended wanting to only have 8 known maneuvers and 2 unknown maneuvers.  Currently, the Sequence Committee is having problems populating unknowns for all classes.  With the change suggested, this would require a rules change.

With the International Region, we are needing to make forum for those who don’t speak English.  Many are requesting a Spanish sub-forum to be added to the International tab to be able to ask questions of the membership.  Adi has been talking with Manrico about the 2022 Worlds.  Manrico says that he has a field that will accommodate a 4-line field in Italy.  He has also sent Adi some sketches of some changes to the IMAC logo.  Adi will post on the BOD forum for us to view.  Adi and Doug has also been working on the Red Bull 90 second splash video. Doug has found some video from the 2014 Worlds to possibly use for the splash video.  We need to track the individuals down to see who has rights to the video and if they would allow us to use their video for Red Bull.

Meeting adjourned at 10:52 p.m EST.