When you receive your magazine, there will be a ballot inside to vote on proposed changes to our Oregon articles of incorporation. Please be sure to mark the ballot with your vote and mail in to the ACMOC office right away. Thank you for voting! GWH

Why bother? We went through this before and the results of the "ballot" were ignored.

Do not ask for advice if you don't intend to take it.

Well Phil, it wasn't quite that simple or that way. Yes, whenever we want to make a change to some corporate documents, we have to ask the members for their OK. Two years or so ago, we thought it would be advantageous to reincorporate in Illinois. So we asked the members' permission and received it. Unfortunately, our Illinois lawyer never told us that under Illinois rules, we'd have to pay between 8 to 10 thousand dollars annually to meet Illinois rules requirements. Our Illinois CPA told us about that problem after the vote was already taken. So we didn't follow through with the reincorporation in Illinois because we thought the money could be better spent. As I recall, we advised the members at the annual meeting at the Brooks show that year, but I can't recall off hand if we also put it in the newsletter, but I think we did.

So Phil, we had a good reason not to follow through on the members' vote that time. We have better advice this time around, and we are staying in Oregon. All we want to do is try to change our corporate charter enough so that the Internal Revenue Service will be willing to give us a better tax exemption than the one we already have. Not exactly a sexy topic, but the business end of the club tends to be that way.

Wish you'd reconsider not voting.

GWH

First of all I would find a different lawyer!!
Second: I voted and it makes sense to change the Articles of Incorp.
Third: Many improvements have been made within ACMOC, the BOD etc and if there is still an Achilles heel, it is communication or lack of. Communication, communication, communication wins every time.

Some things were pretty bad for a while and it takes time to get them turned around. From my perspective there has been a marked improvement. The confidence in the BOD is increasing and there has been a vast improvement in communicating issues to the members. The magazine ain't too shabby either!!

D4Jim, it is nice to hear nice things being said, but truth be told, often the criticisms are accurate and true, as unwelcome as they are. Yes, the magazine has improved, and we expect it to continue to improve. As for the Illinois lawyer, I didn't choose him, and it was before Jeff Huff was president. Another minor mess to clean up. GWH

Seems like the rewording of Article III takes it from the original equipment preservation orientation to a Caterpillar Corp. Public Relations Forum.

OM, that was not our intent. To qualify for 501-c-3 status under the Internal Revenue Code, we had to change the language to refocus to a group more like a historical society - where we serve the public rather than being a "social club" as the IRS has characterized us. We are interested in old Caterpillar machinery, and of course we think that our interest in old equipment is in the interest of Caterpillar. Sometimes I think Cat doesn't agree. Many companies these days don't want to be associated with their history because they don't want to be thought of as "old". I know this from my activities in antique telephone collecting and history. Most of the telephone museums around the USA and in other parts of the world have been defunded by the telephone companies. They are unfortunately ashamed of their history - they think the word "telephone" is bad, they are all "telecom" now. So many fine telephone museums have bit the dust. Wouldn't be surprised if construction equipment manufacturers feel the same way. We are not Cat's PR department. As an organization, we have no interest in their current affairs. That is all their PR department is interested in. GWH

So where does that leave the hobbyist/operator/collector? The general public does nothing to contribute to this effort where a good part of the collectors incentive is driven by "Proud Heritage".

This oversimplifies several of the differences but it is a quick synopsis of the pros and cons for being a 501(c)3.

members.aol.com/irsform1023/addis/

OM, most hobbyist or collector groups are 501-c-3 organizations because they wrote their corporate charters in such a way as to qualify for the 501-c-3 tax-exempt status. We didn't. I have been involved in a number of hobbies and didn't feel slighted because it was a 501-c-3. Our own Chapters 1 and 9 are 501-c-3 organizations (and some other chapters may be too), and you don't hear their members complaining about their chapters not performing the way they want them to perform. GWH