District 39 Memorandum
Member and Club Dues Payments Update Effective July 1, 2016
District 39 Toastmasters,
The following information was provided by Past District Governor, Russ Steele, DTM.
At the August 10th and 11th, 2015 Toastmasters International Board of Directors meeting, the Board voted to make several changes to club and membership eligibility policy effective July 1, 2016.
It is critical that the clubs and members understand the effects these changes will have on them.
Effects on the Distinguished Club Program
The actual due dates for on-time payment of dues in the Distinguished Club Program are now October 1st in the fall and April 1st in the spring. This is a change from previous years when the on-time due date has actually been the 10th. These changes are detailed in the Distinguished Club Program Manual.
Changes to the Definition of a Club in Good Standing
To be a club in good standing under the new policy, a club must have dues for 8 members or more paid by October 1st in the fall and by April 1st in the spring. If they do not have at least 8 paid members, they IMMEDIATELY become a club that is not in good standing on the 1st and are not in good standing until dues for 8 members have been received at World Headquarters.
This is a change from prior years where the due dates were on the 10th AND where the club had a grace period that allowed them to remain a club in good standing until November 30th in the fall and May 30th in the spring. There is no longer a grace period.
Changes to the Definition of Member in Good Standing
To be a member in good standing under the new policy, you must have your dues paid for the current period. This means that your dues must be paid on or before October 1st in the fall and April 1st in the spring. If your dues are not paid by the 1st, you IMMEDIATELY become a member not in good standing, and remain not in good standing until your dues are received by World Headquarters.
This is a change from prior years where member dues were due on the 10th AND where the member had a grace period that allowed them to remain a member in good standing until November 30th in the fall and May 30th in the spring. There is no longer a grace period.
Changes to the District Business Meeting
To be eligible to be represented and counted in the quorum for the District Business Meeting, a club must be in good standing. If, by the date of the business meeting, dues for 8 members of a club have not been paid to World Headquarters, as discussed above, the club is not in good standing. Their officers may not vote at the business meeting and their club is not counted in the calculation of a quorum.
This is a change from prior policy, when every club that had paid dues in the previous dues period was considered to be in good standing because the grace period kept them in good standing until November 30th and May 30th. There is no longer a grace period.
Changes to Toastmasters Speech Contests
In order to be eligible to compete in a speech contest, a speaker needs to be a member in good standing and the club they are representing needs to be a club in good standing. As detailed above, this means the club must have dues paid for 8 members, the member must have paid dues for the current period and World Headquarters must have both the club and member dues on file.
In addition, the member must continue to be eligible at every level and if it is discovered they were ever ineligible when they competed, they are disqualified.
In District 39, this means at every Area, Division and District contest held on or after October 1st in the fall and April 1st in the spring, the contest chair needs to look at the club and membership lists from World Headquarters and determine if both the contestant and the club he/she represents are in good standing and, if they are not, or if they were ineligible at any previous level, they will need to disqualify them.
This is a change from prior policy where every club and member which had paid dues in the previous dues period were considered to be in good standing because the grace period kept them in good standing until November 30th and May 30th. There is no longer a grace period.
Please direct questions to or call 916-599-5975
Sondra Nunez, DTM
District 39 Director
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