My guild does charity work, but no one is pressured to participate. We have lots of fabric donated and take one meeting a year to assemble, burp and tie quilts, but may work at our leisure on our own.
We don't have the speakers we used, but we have not raised dues in ever so long. I fear it is coming, but I do not mind and I get more out of getting together with my quilty friends then that small fee. :lol:

We also have tons of fabric donated and ladies will get together and put together "kits" with a pattern. You are encouraged to do only what you want to do. If you only want to put the top together, you can, or if you only want to quilt, or bind or any or all of the above. You just turn it back in when you are done with whatever part of the sewing you want to do. I have one that I picked up and have put the top together last weekend. I really dislike the backing fabric and the binding fabric they gave with it so I will pull from my stash. I will also donate the batting I use, since I buy it by the 40 yard roll anyway. I like to finish the whole thing and use the quilt to practice my free motion quilting.

Fortunately since we are a large guild, we get some really fantastic speakers and teachers. We have dues of $25 a year, not bad. Every other year we put on a quilt show and that is our big fundraiser. I have never worked the quilt show, it is encouraged, but not required.

Our guild meets one day a month to do charity/community projects. Anyone that want to help come to the sewdays. Some members come every month some come once or twice a year. No one is expected to come or made to feel they have to. We have members donate fabric to help with the projects when they don't want to sew them. We have a raffle quilt every two years to raise money for our guild workshops. We ask for volunteers to each make a quilt block with the provided fabric. I don't like working on charity projects all the time, I have projects of my own I want to do. I'm guild president so I don't elaborate on charity projects, just remind everyone of the days we meet to sew them.

Wow, Long arm pro.... you sure have problems with guilds! It seems like you are always unhappy with how they treat you at the meetings. I would recommend that you either find another group or just don't go!

I have helped to organize and/or been a member of at least 6 guilds in the past 20 years, and I have never had the kind of horrible experiences you post about so frequently.

This is the 1st guild that I have ever belonged to, and I am pleased with it so far. We do Project Linus quilts, but only if the person wants to. No pressure to do anything except enjoy the fellowship of each otehr. We have one meeting a month and one all day sewing session a month. Work on whatever you decide, no pressure but lots of help and advice if needed. A great bunch of women in this guild, I am happy to say.

My guild does charity work also. This past month at our meeting, we got lectured about how we were a "non profit" organization and thus we needed to do more charity quilts to keep our non profit status. Something about how much time we spent on charity stuff as opposed to how many members... I didn't really understand it all and was disappointed that they didn't elaborate or give me a chance to ask questions before going on to something else. And I have done charity stuff for them but no one ever asked me how long it took me to sew blocks, or how much money I spent on fabric, etc. :?

I belong to 4 guilds. One of them has around 100 members and does tons of charity work. Only those people that want to do charity work participate though.

In the really small guild we all work together two or three days a year and put together several quilts for our local charities. Two or three work days a year just isn't a big deal but with all of us working we get a lot done.

Guess quilt guilds are like any group, be it PTA, forums, diet groups or whatever, there are those that are great and those that are snoots. Do what you are comfortable with and no need to appologize. Each person is valuable and you should never be made to feel that you HAVE to contribute/participate in all areas.