Do you belong to a guild? How much are your dues and how are they used? Is there a committee to make decisions or all members involved in decision making?

i use to belong to a big quilt guild, 100 members, very structured, seemed the meetings were all business, then show and tell, no time for anything more. Dues were 15.00 year. Now i belong to a small group, 9 of us, we use to have 10. dues, but had too much money, so we quit collecting dues and bought local womens shelter a much needed tv,vcr. We make a raffle quilt each year and use proceeds to make quilts for families that have had house fires. Love the group, we make decisions together.

We are a small group (20-30) and our dues are $10 per month. This pays for heating/cooling, new machines, thread, fabric (which we pay $3 yard if we use it). There are several families who are low income and everything is given to them (no dues either). All decisions are basically made by owner of the quilt house where we meet. I just wondered what others do. Thanks

I belong to 3 quilds; all now charge $20/year
Dues are used in many ways, depending on the guild: programs, rental for meeting space, pay for newletter postage and printing (most now e-mail newsletter, but have to print for non-computer members), cards for members' loss, illness etc.
donations e.g. - the NE Quilt Museum.
Usually all members are not involved unless there's real contention over the decision. A committee or the Executive Board usually make the decisions.
Having been President of one of my Guilds for 6 yrs, let me tell you making decisions when there is controversy is a nightmare, requiring the skills of a negotiator and the patience of a saint.

We vote in an executive - president, vice, secty, treasurer each year; We have volunteers who run our library - books purchased from some membership money but also once a year we clear out our sewing rooms & the funds raised go to the library to purchase new books; we have a volunteer take photos for a scrapbook; we have a volunteer who runs the 50/50 draw (guild has to purchase a $10 lottery licence to run this); we have a volunteer to greet members & check in guests & she also has a small budget for door prizes; we have 2 volunteers who run membership - new cards etc and provides an up-to-date member listing; we have a volunteer who runs a care quilt committee once a month who has a budget for batting etc.; we have a program volunteer (this years it's 3 people) who plan ahead a year or two to bring in speakers (we had Pippa Moore one time; also Cathy Miller the singing quilter; Sharon Pedersen just to name a few)also have our own members demo some things - and this year they organized a mystery quilt, a UFO club and ?? can't remember what else. Our dues have been $35 but may be going up to $40; the guild pays $25/meeting for chair/table set up as well as the $50/meeting use of the church hall. We also have a raffle quilt committee that organizes a new quilt each year (we have to purchase a $25 lottery licence for this) & we vote on which charity will receive the proceeds. We also have a guild retreat committee that organizes a yearly local retreat, but it is not subsidized by the guild. We are a very diverse group, some loving art quilts, some loving hand work and others coming for the friendships, new & old. I've been a member since 1994 & watched our membership grow from approx. 30 to over 100 in 2000 when I was president, but I think it is down to about 80 at the moment. The guild also has to purchase insurance from the membership funds. And we also have a newsletter printed out quarterly.

I am a member of a guild, and have been since it started about 20 years ago. There are about 45 members.
We are a fun group and do a lot of charitable things in our town. Our dues are $20 per year. We work hard to raise money to bring in an internationally known teacher every other year with a quilt show on the alternate year. We also have a big Christmas party with the guild buying dinner.
We do a secret sister exchange(voluntary)and a lottery block of the month, someone picks a block out of a book and we all do it for ourselves if we want to. The next month someone else picks the pattern out of the same book. Lots of fun. We do a lot of other things also, retreats, sew-days, road trips and picnics.

I am in two guilds myself. They are both the same size average about 100 members. Dues are 25.00 a year. We use it for quilt shows, we have a guest speaker every month and they offer classes given by people like Trish who wrote the Turning Twenty books. It is worth it to me. We eat first, everyone brings something, then have a short meeting, have show and tell, have door prizes, the speaker and then hang around and visit. It is worth the friedships you get. We also have several Smaller Bees that come off it. We can't be in them all so we do what we want. I am in two so I can go to two retreats a year.LOL. My next one is in Mt Calm in August. They have a store inside too. waahoo.....can't wait.

Does anyone know of a good quilt guild in AZ?

you can find a guild in your areas

http://www.quiltguilds.com/

i celebrated remembering two whole months in a row to attend our local guild's meeting on tuesday evening. i was a half hour late, but can blame the out-of-date listing on the internet.

nice bunch of ladies. haven't counted, but i think it's fewer than 20. dues are $15 per year. i don't know what else they use it for, but they do buy bazillions of fat quarters at a shop in our region during the annual sale. each member gets to pick one FQ from the table at each meeting.

they do at least one community project a year. this year it's quilts for wounded soldiers. that's what finally got me out of the house. :lol:

they've also arranged display space in a local building for a two-month quilt display. not a show. i completely forgot to get the details. :roll: