It's happening /urgent requests/very long but impo
THE EATON FAMILIES ASSOCIATION is happening.
The request si are for a bit of volunteer professional work (review of draft By Laws and Rules & Regulations - completed in draft - and information about state and IRS filing forms for a 501-c3, not-for-profit, charitable corporation - the Association). Also they are fotr family or related families leaders. More on that below, at the end.
Our Eaton Families Association web site is very much under development, although not paid for (The cost will be $1500 for development and up to $1000 for the maintenance services of a webmaster and associated hosting fees and software.). The development cost will be payable before the go-live date of January 1, 2002, the first day of the reconstitutedAssociation (the last one of at least two others, having ceased in the 1950s).
The one-time Initiation fee (which will cover the cost of web site development and maintenance) will be dueon December 1, 2001, along with Annual Dues, payable, at by December 15. Dues will cover start-up costs (fees and services like banking, annual CPA review, etc.) and the other, modest operating expenses of the Association -- with, we strongly hope, provision for a reserve fundfor acquisition of rare materials for our members-only web based archives and, possibly, to fund major genealogical, historial, heraldic and related archaeological research (Imagine the ability to find Theophilus Eaton's porridge spoon, a knightly seal seal in bronze or an iron age Eaton foundation in Wales, or Shropshire or Cheshire!!!!!!). The final amounts for Initiation Fee and Dues will be determined by the number of persons who actually join. About 100 have indicated an interest so far, so our aim to keep costs as low as possible, while building a fund for the future, seems evermore realistic. The fund for acquisition of ancient materials will necessarily be very modest at first but, hopefully, in time, it will grow to the point where, for example, we can scan and archive rare books or records that are vital to family knowledge.
By the powers invested in me by no one at all
Concensus, so far, seems to be that an Initiation Fee of $40 ($10 less than earlier discussed) can be handled by most, with Annual Membership Dues for a single member at $25.
If we get many more people than expected, we can lower first-year Dues by applying a portion of the Initiation fee to the Dues amount projected. For your financial planning, we expect to be able to call for payment of the Initiation Fee ($40) by no later than December 1, with the Annual Due ($25 or less) no later than December 15. There will be a surcharge of $5 for any Dues paid after December 15. We need a Treasurer before we can collect dues (see below).
We have created several categories of membership, including money-saving Charter and Lifetime memberships. Also, we have allowed for students, with a very modest Student Dues, and for our most esteemedand venerable members who, upon reaching the age of 80, will pay no dues at all. Also, we have created a category for professionals, if any, allowing them to use our resources, sometimes with a modest additional fee (if we pay hundreds for a set of rare EAton-related books, it is only right that we should recoup some of our investment).
All material presented or archived on the web will be copyrighted so that everything you generously add to records will be for members only. Again, no one will be able to get access, beyond the home page, without a Member Code (password).
While the web site is actually very much under construction, there is nothing for you to see there...Yet.
But there soon will be, and we will want everyone to see that the Association is a real, live and lively entity (as represented by the new web site) before we ask for support through your Initiation Fee and, then, Dues.
Getting up a web site, considering we have a professional working on it, is not an easy thing to accomplish with no treasury and no funds, and only a belief in our future to support us. But, we have Barbara Fitzsenry's powers of persuasion and an awful lot of labor to thank herfor the progress, and we are making; progress that would have cost a business thiusands of dollars.
Anyone who wants to join in the discussion, and help with the planning, may do so by ending an e-mail to me, including your suggestions, comments, criticisms, etc. Now is the time, because we are moving forward vigorously. I will sendanything you have to say on to the members of the ad hoc Planning Committee members already on board. If you want to participate and become a member, send me your name by e-mail (Don't post here because capturing the e-mail address is a pain). I will add you to our e-mail list. Already on the working committee are Joe Cochoit, Don Eaton, Barbara Fitzsenry, Gerald Eaton , Vern Kask and I, Rick Eaton.
As I said,everybody is attempting to keep costs as low as possible, while creating as many benefits for the dollar as possible, most particularly the web site and a 10-issue-per-year electronic newsletter. The web site, at the least, will permit coded entrry past the home page by members only, a chat room, a bulletin board, an archive for copies of rare documents and graphics (likes coats of arms, pedigrees, bible entries, out of print, published material, old Etonian newsletters, old Eaton Family (not famlies) Association Reports, pedigrees and the like. It is my personal dream that, one day, we will be able to scan in all of the know Eaton-related material from the Rev. R.W. Eaton's "Antiquities," Ormerod's Cheshire History, Morris' work, Molyneux's "modern" book and more. Barbara and the Webmaster are working on a provision for gedcoms and software for sam. Honestly, I don't know how far this has progressed, but I hope that we can do it.. In the future, we may have an online shop where Members (at a discount) and others can purchase purchase Eatonalia. But, that is in the future as are major, more ambitious archiving projects.
That's where things stand as of this minute.
if all of you, who said you wanted to be a part of the revived Association, become Members, then "all systems are go."If not, well, I suppose that we are consigned to going it alone.
I have drafted By Laws. And, while I have done this several times in the past for organizations of which I am a part, these are for a not-for-profit, charitable CORPORATION with worldwide membership. Theymust serve the best interests of all members and be reliable in evey way. We don't want to be calling emergency meetings, online or otherwise, to fix problems created by an amateur job. Documents must be filed in a state. I've picked mine (Connecticut), because I am here, and the U.S. (because most but not all of our prospective members are here). In addition to State filings, Internal Revenue regs must be met and I don't have sufficient knowledge about that process and do not have the forms.
So, to the URGENT REQUESTS:
Urgent Request Number 1: Is there a lawyer or an Accountant among us, who is willing to (1) review the By Law and Rules & Regulations I have drafted, and fix them; and (2) provide guidance with regard to forms that must be completed and filed, and how and where to do that.
If not, I will see if I can get a local lawyer or accountant to help with this, hopefully at a reduced cost. I am hopeful, however, that among the hundreds of persons on the Eaton lists to which I subcribe, there is one, capable and generous soul to help with this.
Urgent Request Number 2: What we have done, in effect, is make the ad hoc (temporary) Planning Committee a group of incorporators. These are needed under law to form an Association like ours.Each of us is a title-less activist, just trying to create our family association and make it a terrificly beneficial organization for its members. organizations, to be effective, need leadership and the law requires that we have officers.Again, according to the draft By Laws
This, then, is a request for nominations for officers. You can nominate another person or yourself. You can do this, by sending an e-mail to me here at
[email protected]
Here's hpw the process will work, according to the draft By Laws. From the nominations you make, the ad hoc committee will choose "acting officers," or incorporators.
At our first Annual Meeting, which will be held online in March of 2002, in our own chat room (!!!!!), you will have the opportunity to either confirm and elect these acting officers/incorporators and/or nominate and elect new persons for these positions. But, so that we can get to work, and have leaders in place to accomplish the work, we need officer nominations now. Again, they will be "elected" temporarily by the ad hoc Planning Committee and presented again for election as "permanent officers " (with two-year terms) in March.
Some people have volunteered to serve and there are some that, personally, I believe are essential to getting this Association up an running.
The essential people, who have already volunteered and begun work are:
Joe Cochoit of California, for Vice President/Archivist
Barbara Fitzsenry of Washington/Vice President/Web Editor
Ray Eaton of California, Vice President/Treasurer and Secretary.
In addition, there will be the offices of President and First Vice President. The later, fills in for the president in case of the former's disability or absence and stands ready to succeed as president in the future. This assures intelligent transition to new leadership in the event the ptresident steps down.
I have agreed to handle all "management" details untilour temporary officers are chosen and the temporary Executive Committee is formed. I am willing to help is any way to make our Association a reality, including no-title work to asist the officers in any helpful way.
I should point out that many people have been doing so for a long while, including the members of the Planning Committee and so many of you who have provided advice and counsel.
While I have not included same in my first draft of the By Laws, as I write this, I am thinking that there shoulkd be one additional member of the Officer Gtroup; that ios the Executive Committe. That person would be an officer-at-Large, whose only purpose would be to represent the broadest interests of members and serve as a sort of Ombudsman, or advocate, for the entire membership. Why? I think this is especially needed in this wired world in which we are so close, yet so distant. Someone is needed to take a broad view, the strict view of member representation, the view that defends the positions and rights of the individual who can get lost in the shuffle. Suchg a 'board representative" mucst be a very special person. if you are that person, please nominate yourself. if a member of your family is such a person, please ask them to come forward to serve and nominate that person now.
Recapping:
Please nominate someone for:
President
First Vice President
Vice President/Treasurer & Secretary
Vice President/ Web Editor
Vice President/ Archivist
Officer-at-Large
Now, and finally, since we don't all know each other, perhaps -- at least for some of these officers -- people should post their interest in service here on the list (so that others can be aware) as well as sending your nomination to me in an e-mail as specified above. It will let members of the list know more about you and generate, I hope, support for your nomination. It would be difficult for the Planning Committee to select someone as an officer and member of the Executive Committee without knowing a little about them and it will be easier to do so if, by posting their interest in serving, others e-mail in support of their nomination. So, if you are interested in serving or if you are nominating someone else or yourself, PLEASE POST HERE, as well as sending an e-mail to me, Rick Eaton, [email protected].
If you like what someone has to say in their list posting, please send your support for them to me in an e-mail.
WOW! This is an epic. Sorry it is so long, but -- as you recognize, I am sure -- we are conducting, right here and now, a global meeting that will do much to crreate an equally global Association of individuals linked by their family heritage. It is no small task, but we are not only up to it, we are accomplishing it.
Thanks for "attending the meeting" and for putting up with all the details.
On the lighter side, I have desided that the Eaton armorial bearings should be accompanied by a new slogan. It is:
"if we can pull this off, we can do anything."
An alternate possibility is: 'We want Arundel back."
Still another is:
"Together we can rise again."
true afection to one and all,
RickEaton
6 Paddock Lane
Guilford, CT 06437-2809
Phone: 203.453.6261
Fax: 203.4530076
More Replies:
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Re: It's happening /urgent requests/very long but impo
Ray Eaton 11/07/01
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Re: It's happening /urgent requests/very long but
Rick Eaton 11/08/01
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Re: It's happening /urgent requests/very long but
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Re: It's happening /urgent requests/very long but impo
Joe Cochoit 11/04/01
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Clutter, discovery and more mystery-long
Rick Eaton 11/04/01
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Re: Clutter, discovery and more mystery-long
Joe Cochoit 11/04/01
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Re: Clutter, discovery and more mystery-long
Rick Eaton 11/05/01
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Re: Clutter, discovery and more mystery-long
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Re: Clutter, discovery and more mystery- P.S.
Rick Eaton 11/04/01
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Re: Clutter, discovery and more mystery-long
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Re: It's happening /urgent requests/very long but
Rick Eaton 11/04/01
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Re: It's happening /urgent requests/very long but
Joe Cochoit 11/04/01
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Re: It's happening /urgent requests/very long but
Barbara Lee Fitzsenry 11/13/01
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Re: It's happening /urgent requests/very long but
Joe Cochoit 11/13/01
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Re: It's happening /urgent requests/very long but
Barbara Lee Fitzsenry 11/13/01
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Re: It's happening /urgent requests/very long but
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Re: It's happening /urgent requests/very long but
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Re: It's happening /urgent requests/very long but
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Re: It's happening /urgent requests/very long but
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Clutter, discovery and more mystery-long