The ARS & You
Volume II, no. 4

Page One: The News:
Page Two: Views:
Page Three: Re-Views:

Page One: The News:

• 2008 Quilt Fundraiser:  A king-sized quilt by Kathy Wyckoff of Seattle will benefit the ARS Editorial Department Computer Upgrade Fund.  For every $10 donation to the Fund, your name will be entered twice in a drawing to be held on July 31st, 2008 in Shreveport Headquarters.  For more information or a picture of the quilt, go to the ARS website (www.ars.org).
  
• 2007 Website Contests:  Local Websites:
• King: Humboldt Rose Society. David Hamilton, Webmaster
• Queen: Frasier Pacific Rose Society, Corinne Brown, Webmaster
• Princess: Central Florida Rose Society, Shiann Piekarski, Webmaster
• Honorable Mention: HonoluluRoseSociety, Summer Muragin, Webmaster
• HM: Los Angeles Rose Society, Lorraine D’Anda, Webmaster
• HM: Oklahoma Rose Society, Gail Beasley, Webmaster
  (Although Central Florida Rose Society won honors in 2004 & 2005, these are the first victories for Humboldt and Frasier Pacific Rose Societies.)

• 2007 Website Contest: District Websites
• Queen: Northern California-Nevada-Hawaii, Gail Trimble, Webmaster
• King: Colonial District, Charles Shaner, Webmaster
• Princess: Tenarky District, Claire Campbell, Webmaster
• Honorable Mention:  Yankee District, Patsy Cunningham, Webmaster
  (NCNH District won honors in 2001, 2002, 2003, & 2005; Colonial District won honors in 2005 and 2006; Tenarky previously won in 2004 and 2006.)

• ARS Travel:  The American Rose Society has entered an arrangement with a web-based travel marketing company (YTB Travel); the link to this service on the ARS website will permit booking online travel for airline tickets, cruise, hotels, rental cars and the like.  The rates are commensurate with such other online services as Travelocity or Orbitz.  The ARS receives a 40% royalty on the commission for all travel booked through this site.   Direct access to the site can be attained through http://www.ytbtravel.com/arstravel1

• From Doug Helberg ARS Arrangements Chair: Requests for approval of arrangement workshops, especially those including audit credits, require at least two (2) months notice. Since time factors preclude announcements in the ARS magazine, other media like the website must be used.  Advance notification allows judges and prospective judges sufficient time to plan to attend, especially if travel is involved.  Not only is advance notice necessary because the best presenters schedule events months in advance, it also provides the courtesy of planning time for students and others.  If you need help on this, please let me know.

Page Two: Views:  On February 20th, ARS Executive Director Jeff Ware sent a letter to the presidents of each local society announcing a new membership recruitment source via a local society Earthkind Roses brochure.  (This letter can be read here.)  Gaye Hammond, past president of the Houston Rose Society and the sparkplug for this innovation, explains below.

Cultivating Society Memberships
By Gaye Hammond, 8627 Deep Valley, Houston, TX, 77044, 713.272.2760, gayeh@LPM-triallaw.com

Jeff Ware recently advised all local rose societies by letter of a member recruitment resource, the EarthKind brochure available through the Houston Rose Society (HRS).  Two years ago we created the brochure.  Each year we print as many EarthKind brochures as membership applications and every year we run out of the EarthKind brochures.  These brochures, together with EarthKind seminars and programs that we participate in, enabled the HRS to recruit hundreds of new members in 2007.

When I first started growing roses, it did not take me long to understand why roses have a reputation as being chemically dependent, high maintenance plants.  The first two years I was chained to my garden—spending every weekend caring for the exhibition roses.  At the time, I did not know there was any other kind.  I learned from some of the best rosarians, but they all grew exhibition roses. After the third year, it was obvious that exhibition roses were too much work for me.  My experience taught me that if we were going to draw new members into our societies, there has to be an easier way for them to successfully grow roses.  EarthKind roses may provide the solution.

In 2001, Texas AgriLife Extension (part of Texas A&M University) released the initial results of the EarthKind Rose research Project.  That research identified a small collection of roses for Southern gardens that had been grown for many years in all soil types (from acid sands to highly alkaline clays) with no fertilizers, fungicides, pesticides, pruning or deadheading and with a substantial reduction in supplemental irrigation.  At the time, I thought, “This program has the potential to change the bad reputation that roses have had for the last century!”  Our Board agreed and proudly extended a substantial financial grant to Texas A&M so that the research could be continued and expanded.  Today, the National EarthKind Rose research Project has become the largest environmental rose research study ever done in U.S. history!

Many time I have been asked, “Gaye, why in the world are you interested in identifying low maintenance roses for Minnesota?  You are in Texas—why do you care which roses do well up North?”  The answer is simple.  To dispel the perception that roses are too hard for the typical homeowner to grow, we must be able to offer homeowners, regardless of where they live, roses with a scientific track record of success.

We want homeowners to successfully incorporate roses in their landscape.  When they are successful—they will join our societies.  It is then a tiny step for these new members, with a little encouragement, to experiment with a few roses that require a bit more care.

An EarthKind brochure tailored to your society is free—free of charge for both the creation and delivery of the master to you.  If you would like a “free” Earthkind brochure tailored for your society, please provide me with the following information:

• Full Name of the society;
• Address for the society that will be printed on the brochure;
• A telephone number and/or an e-mail address to be printed on the brochure, along with the name of a contact person associated with the number/email;
• The society’s web site, if applicable; and
• The USDA Cold Hardiness Zone for your targeted membership area.

This information may be emailed to gayeh@LPM-triallaw.com or mailed to 8627 Deep Valley, Houston, Texas, 77044.  Be sure to include your contact information in case I have any questions.

I am proud to make this resource available to you and hope it is as beneficial to your society as it has been to the Houston Rose Society.  Many thanks to Jeff Ware and Dr. Steve George (Texas Agri-Life Extension) for making this possible.

Page Three: Re-Views: The Ides of May:  May 15, 2008 is the deadline for the filing of the new IRS requirement for small non-profit societies—which includes rose societies with an annual income of less than $25,000.  Bob Martin explains the process to provide the least possible pain.  http://www.irs.gov/charities/article/0,,id=169250,00.html will take you to the website for information and the place to file the e-postcard.

Local Rose Society Tax Filing Requirement by Robert B. Martin Jr.

The American Rose Society is recognized by the Internal Revenue Service as an educational organization that is tax exempt from Federal income taxation under Section 501(c) (3) of the Internal Revenue Code.  A local rose society affiliated with the ARS is also eligible for recognition as a tax-exempt educational organization under a “group exemption” procedure. Under this procedure, the ARS submits copies of the organizational documents of affiliated local societies to the IRS, which rules on their eligibility. 

Tax-exempt organizations with gross receipts normally in excess of $25,000 are required to file an annual return on either Form 990 or Form 990-EZ.  However, small tax-exempt organizations with gross receipts of normally $25,000 or less have been exempt from any annual filing requirement.  Most local rose societies finance their operations through membership dues and small fund-raising activities and few, if any, have receipts that normally exceed $25,000.  As a consequence, few local rose societies have had any obligation to file an annual return with the IRS.

But this is about to change.  (To read the entire article, go to the ARS & You section under ‘Members Only’ on the ARS website (http://www.ars.org/pdf/IRS-Form-990-N-Article.pdf)

Have you nominated a rose for selection to the Miniature Rose Hall of Fame?  See the link on the home page of the ARS website.

ARS & You is archived on the ARS web site – Members Only – ARS & You.

The Local Society Relations Committee welcomes comments on the contents and character of this publication. There is a listing of committee members on the ARS website at www.ars.org under About ARS/Committees, as well as complete archives of the ARS & You under Members

Opinions expressed in this monthly email are not necessarily those of the American Rose Society or its subsidiaries. 

To respond to items in this ARS & You, please write to any committee member of the Local Society Relations Committee:

Jim Delahanty, Chair jjjzdelahanty@earthlink.net
Dr. Karen Barnes barneskw@yahoo.com
Bob Bauer bobbauer@worldnet.att.net
Ted & Linda Burg ldburg@yahoo.com
Pat Shanley pshanley@aol.com
Janet Sklar janetsklar@sbcglobal.net
Dave Steever greenrosedave@aol.com

Items and articles in this publication may be freely adapted by members of the ARS for educational purposes. Please give proper citation.