Established Policies

Established Policies of The Parke Society

The following is a listing of all known policies of the Society known to be in place and in practice as of October 15, 1996. Approximate dates have been assigned to their institution when known, or when they were promulgated via Board Action. Other policies which have come into being because of past practice are labeled as such, and the approximate date as to when this practice started is indicated.

Parke Society Policies

  • Endorsements on Outgoing Standard Mail
  • Address Changes and Update to the Member File
  • Advisory of Address Changes (Editor)
  • E-mail Address Updates
  • Member File Maintenance Responsibility
  • CCTM Notification, Minutes of Meetings and Financial Reports in General
  • Policy Concerning Snowbirds
  • Newsletter Frequency and Class of Mailing
  • ACS Address Change Service
  • Membership Renewal Procedures
  • Life Membership
  • Gift Notifications

ENDORSEMENTS ON OUTGOING STANDARD MAIL. It is agreed by the Editorial Staff that all outgoing Standard Mail will carry the dual USPS endorsement of: Fowarding and Return Postage Guaranteed, Address Correction Requested. This is a continuation of a past practice in use since at least 1976.

PROMULGATED AS EDITORIAL POLICY OCTOBER 1996.

ADDRESS CHANGES AND UPDATE TO THE MEMBER FILE. Address changes will be processed in one place (currently by the Historian’s Office) as they come in. All due effort will be be used to see that we have the decks cleared of new and revised addresses before the release of the File for a regular mailing. Address changes will be forwarded in hard copy to the Historian’s Office either with a regular reimbursement, or in such other fashion to have an orderly input of the information. File update will take place from this provided information only. Address changes will not be processed from the E-mail, as in the past. The Secretary will send any address changes into the Historian with her monthly submission of the Receipts Journal (Form D). The Editors, Registrar, and Library will send their changes received with their periodic reimbursement requests. All others will forward changes in letter with the original advising document. File maintenance will normally take place once a month, subsequent to the receipt of the Receipts Journal.

PROMULGATED AS EDITORIAL POLICY OCTOBER 1996.

ADVISORY OF ADDRESS CHANGES (EDITOR). This is the detailed procedure for the Editors of The NewsLetter to follow regarding the submission of Address Changes. When the Editor gets his reimbursement for the imprest fund, to bring it back up to the designated amount, The Editor has agreed to take $50 and to put that in currency into a CASH BOX, from which you will pay for the return notices from the USPS. When The Editor gets a return notice, s/he pay for it, and dump the notice into the cash box, a file folder or envelop. When you get about $35-$45 worth of these notices, run an adding machine tape of the total of the costs of all the notices. Staple the tape to the notices, attach a properly filled out Cash Warrant and pop them into an envelop to the Historian. The Historian will detach the advisories (checking against the tape) and forward the tape and Cash Warrant on to The Treasurer for payment, who will then send a check back to the Editor for the reimbursement, which you will cash and put back into the Cash Box. The Historian will put the advisories with the other materials for periodic input to the Member file.

PROMULGATED AS EDITORIAL POLICY OCTOBER 1996.

E-MAIL ADDRESS UPDATES. Connected members receiving advice of new or revised e-mail addresses should forward the message containing such information onto the Historian for inclusion in the E-mail database and into the Member File. Members should be encouraged to directly notify the Historian of E-mail address updates and changes.

PROMULGATED AS EDITORIAL POLICY OCTOBER 1996.

MEMBER FILE MAINTENANCE RESPONSIBILITY. While the Society will do as much as possible to keep the file current and error free. It is the ultimate responsibility of members to keep the Society informed on a timely basis of any and all address changes. We will not take the heat for errors that are not known to us.

PROMULGATED AS EDITORIAL POLICY OCTOBER 1996.

CCTM NOTIFICATION, MINUTES OF MEETINGS, AND FINANCIAL REPORTS IN GENERAL. The sole purpose of The Closed Circuit To Members (CCTM) is to keep active members informed of the business and administrative affairs of The Society. Because this organ exists, such information will not be covered, generally, in The NewsLetter. The CCTM is sent only to Active Members on the current mailing roster. Summaries of the transactions that took place at Trustee’s Meetings, and the Annual Corporate meeting will be published therein. Copies of the actual minutes of the meetings will only be sent to member upon individual request. A pro-forma simplified statement will also be run in the CCTM at the appropriate time. Again, full financials and analysis will only be sent to members upon individual request. Full minutes and Financials will always be distributed to all Officers and Trustees subsequent to the Meetings, in the Closed Circuit To Officers and Trustees (CCTOT).

ORIGINAL POLICY IN PLACE SINCE FALL 1988. PROMULGATED AS EDITORIAL POLICY OCTOBER 1996.

POLICY CONCERNING SNOWBIRDS. Based upon our experience with the seasonal addresses for the various members who migrate between the North and the South, and the costs that the Society incurs, we will be changing our practice. For those members, already on the Membership Roles prior to October 1996 whom we have been allowing this practice, we will continue to honor their requests for seasonal mailing addresses. However, they will be asked to periodically complete a questionnaire concerning their arrangements, including the dates of residence at both locations. Furthermore, snow-bird members will be asked to reimburse the Society for any additional costs incurred, due to a uncommunicated change in plans or arrangements. This reimbursable costs will include the total cost of the mailing, together with some markup factoring in our own time and effort, not to exceed $10 per issue. Finally, Effective with 1 October, members will no longer be allowed the provision of seasonal snowbird addresses. The NewsLetter will be mailed to their permanent home address.

ORIGINAL POLICY PROMULGATED IN FALL 1990. PROMULGATED AS EDITORIAL POLICY OCTOBER 1996.

NEWSLETTER FREQUENCY AND CLASS OF MAILING. The NewsLetter will be issued thrice (3) yearly. It will be mailed by 3RD Class bulk mail (except non-domestic issues will be posted as 1ST Class mail). The three issues will be known as WINTER, SPRING, and FALL. The SUMMER time frame is when the Annual Convocation will occur. Issuances will take place as follows:

  • WINTER issued during December, January, or February.
  • SPRING issued during March, April, or May (Usually issued April to early May).
  • SUMMER No NewsLetter issued; Annual Convocation time (Time period June, July, or August).
  • FALL issued during September, October, or November (Usually issued late October to early November.
    Always well prior to Thanksgiving.)

ORIGINAL POLICY IN PLACE SINCE at least 1976.

ACS ADDRESS CHANGE SERVICE. At this time, The Parke Society will not participate in ACS, instead, we will reply on the manual address changes received by the Society via the USPS Form 3547, and self advisories by the members themselves.

PROMULGATED AS EDITORIAL POLICY OCTOBER 1996.

MEMBERSHIP RENEWAL PROCEDURES. The renewal notice, manually produced will be always included in the FALL NEWSLETTER mailing for the following year. He will be expected back by 31 December of that year for the following year.

Members who have not renewed by the time the WINTER NEWSLETTER goes out, will have their mailing status (MSTATUS) changed from “A” to “X”. They will get the WINTER NEWSLETTER (of the renewal year series). They will also get postal card notification (to go out before the end of February) that they dues are unpaid, and that the WINTER ISSUE is the last issue they will receive unless they renew (FIRST NOTICE.)

In preparation for the next step, the following items of file maintenance will be completed. In the MEMBER FILE, change all members who have “M” in their MSTATUS field to a ” ” (blank). Next change all members who have a “I” in their MSTATUS field to a “M”.

If they have not renewed by the time the SPRING NEWSLETTER goes out, they will have their mailing status (MSTATUS) changed from an “X” to an “I”, so that they do not receive the SPRING NEWSLETTER. They will again have a postal card reminder sent to them concerning the past due membership dues. This mailing should go out by mid April (SECOND NOTICE.)

If members have not renewed by end of May, a third and final postal card reminder will be mailed to past due members notifying them of their lapsing. This notice will be mailed by the end of May (THIRD/FINAL NOTICE.)

Members who have not renewed by June 30th of each year will have the TSTATUS field changed to an “I” to indicate that they are inactive in The Society. After no further communication for four years (four years as an inactive member) their TSTATUS field will be changed to an “R” for dropped from active consideration within the Society.

ORIGINAL POLICY SINCE FALL 1988.

LIFE MEMBERSHIP. Life members shall be accorded upon payment of the necessary fee(s) to the Society. The Life Member will then continue to receive the NewsLetter for the rest of their remaining natural life. The Life Membership dies with the Life member. It is not transferable.

ORIGINAL POLICY SINCE FALL 1963.

GIFT NOTIFICATIONS. The Secretary will express the thanks of the Society to any and all members who contribute $10 or more to the general purposes of The Society.

PROMULGATED AS SOCIETY POLICY AUGUST 1989.