greenknight4 | 07 Sep 2015 10:14 a.m. PST |
I was wondering about forming a new HMGS chapter in New England. How do I go about finding out the requirements to do so? Chris |
79thPA | 07 Sep 2015 10:20 a.m. PST |
Isn't New England part of East? I imagine you need to start with the Board of Directors. |
Saber6 | 07 Sep 2015 10:46 a.m. PST |
Given that there is no national organization, I say just form your club and not worry about HMGS |
greenknight4 | 07 Sep 2015 12:11 p.m. PST |
Well NE might be part of the HMGS East but a lot of us in NE feel neglected. Especially over Historicon. I have a club already and we are exploring how to become a legal HMGS chapter I mean you can't just say hey we are HMGS NE for example. |
jdpintex | 07 Sep 2015 12:51 p.m. PST |
Why not? I thought the whole chapter thing was resolved years ago. |
Buckeye AKA Darryl | 07 Sep 2015 1:32 p.m. PST |
There used to be rules to start/become a chapter. When I was involved with HMGS Great Lakes we went through a bit of an approval process from the national board. That was in the mid 90s. Not certain if there even is a national BOD at this time. But having another chapter to split up the east region a bit I think is a crackin' good idea. |
Onomarchos | 07 Sep 2015 2:00 p.m. PST |
I would suspect that the term HMGS is copyrighted. I would ask one of the HMGS officers … probably start with: Director of Communications, Outreach, Marketing & Social Media John Spiess 75 Elm Place New Canaan, CT 06840 communications AT hmgs.org |
Dynaman8789 | 07 Sep 2015 4:08 p.m. PST |
HMGS is incorporated under that name as a miniatures group. I'm not a lawyer (yada yada yada) but you will have to get their permission to use the name or a derivation of it. |
Cosmic Reset | 07 Sep 2015 6:49 p.m. PST |
I was involved with this at the same time as Buckeye Darryl above, it has been a while. Contact the current HMGS president, and discuss the options/rules/procedure. If new chapters can form, there will be a procedure for establishing an initial BOD and/or Officers. The articles of incorporation or By-Laws should outline/describe the procedure. As I remember it, two officers are able to legally act on behalf of the new chapter and will act as legal contacts with respect to registering the corporation (in the state of incorporation). I believe the officers are the President and Treasurer, but Secretary may be one of them as well. You will need to register the new chapter as a non-profit corporation in your state. You will also need to fill out an application for tax exempt/non-profit status with the IRS, explaining the purpose of the corporation. The IRS will then decide if you get tax exempt status and what classification will be associated with the group. HMGS should be able to help you/offer some guidance with this. After that, it is a matter of building membership, following the organization's by-laws, and the 2 percent that do all of the work. It has been 20 years (or more?) since we went through it. details have probably changed, but more or less this is some of the process that will need to go through. Best of luck. |
greenknight4 | 07 Sep 2015 8:14 p.m. PST |
Thank you all very much here we go :) |
Winston Smith | 07 Sep 2015 11:36 p.m. PST |
Why bother to call yourself HMGS at all? You will sound like a breakaway faction if you do. Will existing HMGS E members abandon them for your group? Somehow I doubt it. Put on a convention in New England and try to match Historicon that way. |
Marc33594 | 08 Sep 2015 6:28 a.m. PST |
East, now just HMGS, does indeed hold the rights to "HMGS" as well as the HMGS logo. As to why form an HMGS chapter each chapter recognizes any other legal HMGS chapter when it comes to charging member rates for admission to conventions. Further many chapters will run free ads, if they have the room, in the programs for their conventions for fellow HMGS chapters. |
YogiBearMinis | 08 Sep 2015 7:23 a.m. PST |
Becoming a chapter also sends the message that you are part of a bigger group, not just a local group with local interests. That may or may not be what you want to be, but if I moved from the Midwest to New England, I would make that assumption about your group. (And I mean this in a good sense.) |
greenknight4 | 08 Sep 2015 9:12 a.m. PST |
"Rwphillipsstl" I would say your post hit it right on the nail with why for me and maybe us. I just feel HMGS East has gotten so big that it doesn't really server the North East as well as it did and we up here are getting more organized so maybe it is time. We shall see. |
Marc33594 | 10 Sep 2015 4:38 a.m. PST |
Ditto I know you are having a bit of fun but there are 10 other HMGS chapters that are very active and to my knowledge members quite content and no strum und drang :) |
Marc33594 | 10 Sep 2015 5:52 a.m. PST |
And of course Sturm unless we are forming a folk group :) |
wargamingUSA | 20 Sep 2015 4:08 p.m. PST |
The logo is actually owned, or was, by HMGS Midwest, who gave East permission to use it. Yes, the name is owned by East and you'll require their permission. I'll add to the chorus… why? There are a lot of, well, "things" that come along with the name. Oh, and I'm a longtime Midwest and East member. |
Millercop16 | 21 Sep 2015 2:35 a.m. PST |
Greenknight, please contact John Spiess with your concerns we have new members on the bod. He will listen to your concerns. I agree Hcon is too far south for anyone in New England and even Long Island. Hopefully positive change will come about. Good luck. |