Officers Job Descriptions

The Role of Chapter Vice President

The vice president of a TU chapter is second in command. The position of vice president is often used as training for a leader to step into the president position, and the general expectation is that the chapter vice president will be nominated for and take over as president at the conclusion of their predecessor’s term in office. The vice president should be sure to read and be familiar with the role of chapter president.

In addition, the vice president should:

• Preside over meetings from which the president is absent.

• Provide support and assistance to the president in order to achieve the core functions of the chapter.

• Perform duties as assigned by the president or the board of directors (example position description).

• Attract, recruit and mentor new board members and volunteers who will make up the next team when they take office as president

In many cases, the vice president will serve as the chair of the chapter’s strategic planning committee, helping develop the plan which they will be responsible for implementing when they take over the role of president.

The Role of Chapter Secretary

The secretary performs a variety of tasks aimed at managing the records and administrative functions of the chapter. The role has wide-ranging responsibilities, requiring much more than simply being present at all board meetings. Discuss the position description with your leadership team to confirm roles and responsibilities (example position description).

The secretary is an active conduit for communication to members and other stakeholders by giving proper notice of upcoming meetings and timely distribution of materials such as agendas and meeting minutes. Additionally, the secretary should be knowledgeable of and provide advice and resources to the board on topics such as governance issues, state laws/ reporting requirements, and risk management that will assist them in fulfilling their fiduciary duties.

The chapter secretary must ensure that the following responsibilities are completed (personally or delegates tasks):

• In conjunction with the executive committee, prepare an agenda for each month’s board meeting and distribute it out to the board, with associated reading materials, in advance of the meeting.

• Attend chapter meetings in order to prepare and distribute the meeting minutes of the chapter.

• Meeting minutes are detail reports that highlight the predetermined agenda as well as what actually took place (date, time, attendees), determination of vote eligibility (was there a quorum or not), decision making process (vote tally), action items for individuals, etc…

• After each meeting, send the minutes to the attendees to solicit edits and confirm their accuracy before finalizing them.

• Distribute the previous meeting minutes with the upcoming agenda before each board meeting so that they can be formally approved.

• Retain records. These documents may include:

• Board and committee rosters

• Bylaws & revisions (which can be stored in the Leaders Only Tools section of tu.org)

• Strategic Plan (which can be stored in the Leaders Only Tools section of tu.org)

• Agendas and minutes

• Assist in the communication and correspondence of the board to members and the general public, including notice of your general membership meetings to members as required in your bylaws.

• Assist with board member recruitment. Consider chairing your chapter nominating committee.

• Assume responsibilities of the president in the absence of the president and vice president.

• In conjunction with the executive and nominating committees, prepare the slate of board nominees for elections as required per your bylaws.

• With the chapter executive committee, become familiar with and understand TU’s risk management and insurance limitations and ensure the chapter is compliant.

• Ensure the chapter president lists you as the secretary on the chapter officer roster and chapter contact information in the Leaders Only Tools section of tu.org.

• Particularly if your chapter is large enough to file a Form 990, ensure that you have the proper controls in place such as a conflict of interest form, document retention form, whistle blower policy and that you’ve shared the Form 990 with your entire chapter board.

• Ensure donations to your chapter are properly acknowledged.

• Consider appointing an assistant secretary, such that you are transferring knowledge to a successor at an early stage and have someone ready and willing to step in to take the minutes if you can’t be at every meeting.

The Role of Chapter Treasurer

The role of a treasurer is without a doubt one of the most important in the chapter. It is critical that the chapter treasurer be conscientious and have good systems in place; otherwise the chapter is at serious risk. This simple checklist is intended to help new treasurers understand the key functions of the role, but please keep in mind that every chapter is different so it’s critical to cater a comprehensive checklist to those realities, which might include such things as state or local filing requirements.

As a new treasurer, you will want to discuss the responsibilities and expectations of your position. Customizing a position description is helpful to guide your efforts but also to archive in chapter legacy documents for succeeding treasurers (example position description).

Among the treasurer responsibilities and tasks are:

• When starting out, confer with the chapter president and outgoing treasurer to ask for lessons learned and make sure the signatories on the chapter bank account are current.

• The chapter treasurer must read and become familiar with the 2015 Policy on Financial and Property Controls and ensure the chapter is in compliance. Most critically:

• That at least one member of the chapter’s board (who is not able to withdraw funds) is reviewing on a monthly basis each of the chapter’s bank account records and the records of any debit or credit card transactions.

• That the chapter keeps a current written inventory of all personal property in excess of $200 in value that the chapter owns.

• That the chapter has a process in place to keep any restricted donations restricted for the purpose which the donor intended.

• With the chapter executive committee, become familiar with and understand TU’s risk management and insurance limitations and ensure the chapter is compliant – from the limitations of our 501c3 to liquor liability.

• Ensure the chapter president lists you as the new treasurer on the chapter officer roster and chapter contact information in the Leaders Only Tools section of tu.org. This is critical as it allows you to access the Annual Financial Report, among other things.

• Ensure the chapter Annual Financial Report is filed in the Leaders Only Tools section of tu.org within 45 days of the close of the fiscal year. To file this report, the treasurer will be asked a series of questions that aren’t all financial related (like volunteer hours.) It is strongly recommended that the treasurer get assistance from other volunteers to help track these sorts of metrics throughout the year to make filing easier.

• File required Forms with the IRS each year. Questions about the correct Form 990 to file? Please visit: www.irs.gov or TU’s online resources for financial management and reporting.

• Particularly if your chapter is large enough to file a Form 990, ensure that you have the proper controls in place such as a conflict of interest form, document retention form, whistle blower policy and that you’ve shared the Form 990 with your entire chapter board.

• With the Executive Committee, develop, approve and track a budget of chapter expenses and revenues each fiscal year.

• Ensure that your chapter is set up with an electronic funds transfer (EFT) with the national office of TU to ensure delivery of the chapter rebate or an Embrace A Stream grant.

• Ensure donations to your chapter are properly acknowledged.

• Consider appointing an assistant treasurer, possibly the financial reviewer, such that you are transferring knowledge to a successor at an early stage and getting help with administrative tasks.

Chapter Financial Reviewer Role

Trout Unlimited chapters work hard to raise funds for conservation and related purposes, and one of the most important responsibilities of chapters officers and boards is to safeguard and protect those funds so they are used for the purposes for which they were raised. A few simple steps taken by chapter officers and members of chapter boards of directors can safeguard those funds and other chapter assets.

TU’s Board of Trustees created a Financial and Property Controls Policy to provide guidance to chapter leaders on how best to protect chapter assets. The policy also establishes and requires the role of Financial Reviewer, described more fully below from the policy.

The best check against the temptation for financial fraud is for more than one chapter officer to review each of the chapter’s bank-account records (including the records of any debit-card and electronic-banking transactions) and the records of any credit-card transactions. Therefore, chapters must provide access to the records of all chapter accounts and all chapter credit cards to one chapter officer – called the Financial Reviewer – who is not authorized to sign checks, otherwise withdraw funds from the accounts, or make charges on a chapter credit card.

That officer could be an assistant treasurer whose sole function is to review the accounts, or it could be an existing officer. That access may be electronic through the relevant financial institution and credit-card company or through hard copies of bank and credit-card statements, but the records reviewed must show the date, amount, and payee of the transactions. Electronic access must not be of the type that gives the reviewing officer the power to withdraw or transfer funds from the chapter’s accounts.

If hard copies of bank or credit-card statements are used, they must be mailed directly from the financial institution or credit-card company to the officer charged with reviewing the records, who can then forward the statements, after review, to the treasurer. The chapter officer charged with reviewing the records of the chapter accounts and credit cards must review those records at least monthly and must report any inappropriate checks, debits, or charges to the chapter’s board of directors.

Chapter Committees

While chapter officers and the board often drive the vision for the chapter and set the strategy and goals, the committees of the chapter are where the work of turning these goals into actions, and of identifying the tasks to implement the work needed takes place.

As a committee member, you have stepped up to drive the work forward towards making your local streams healthier, connecting kids to the outdoors, growing and engaging members, raising funds, and much more.

Common chapter-level committees include but are not limited to the following:

Conservation/Advocacy Committee

The Conservation Committee takes the overall goals of the chapter related to improving local streams and develops the projects, partnerships and plans to get the work done. Good conservation advocacy starts at home and is the front line of defense against practices that threaten local coldwater resources. From opposing developments in fragile areas, to promoting better local regulations on stormwater management, these activities can help ensure streams remain cold, clear, and undamaged.

Events/Guest Speakers/Outreach Committee

From planning fun, family-friendly activities, to monthly meetings, fishing trips, community engagement programs and more, the Events Committee is typically one of the most active groups in any chapter.

Fundraising Committee

All the great work your local chapter accomplishes requires resources to be successful. The Fundraising Committee is typically tasked with planning the major money-raising events, ranging from the traditional banquet and grant applications, to newer types of fundraisers, such as online auctions, crowd-funding, major donor friendraisers and more.

Membership/Diversity Committee

At the heart of any strong and growing chapter, the Membership Committee not only tracks membership and welcomes new members, but also develops activities designed to meet membership growth goals such as staffing recruitment tables, encouraging existing members to “bring a friend” and more. Seeking Diversity helps drive this belief forward by focusing on bringing all voices to the table so that our community reflects the demographics of the general public.

Veterans Services Committee

More than half of our chapters engage with our nation’s military veterans through TU’s Veterans Service Partnership program. As a member of this committee, you will welcome veterans, active duty members and their families into the TU community by connecting them with the healing experience of angling and conservation.

Youth Education Committee

The work your chapter does to restore rivers can only be sustained if the next generation of anglers and conservationists care for the rivers in their own back yard. The Youth Education Committee helps promote TU’s “Stream of Engagement” locally, ensuring that youth of all ages can be connected to meaningful, hands-on, environmental education and fishing opportunities.