Veterans of Foreign Wars California Inspection Requirements

VETERANS OF FOREIGN WARS DEPARTMENT OF CALIFORNIA CORRECTING POST AND DISTRICT INSPECTION ITEMS

ADJENDA Major and Minor Inspections Requirements Corrections by the numbers Supplemental Corrections by the numbers Post officer responsibilities Questions

MAJORs and MINORs Sec. 710 - Inspection. The Commander-in-Chief or any Department Commander may require, within their respective jurisdiction, the inspection of any Department, District, County Council or Post, or any holding company or corporation subordinate thereto, whenever the Commander-in-Chief or Department Commander may believe the best interests of the Organization will be served to ensure compliance with the National Charter, Bylaws, Manual of Procedure, lawful orders of the National Convention, the National Council of Administration and the Commander-in-Chief and the laws and usages of the Organization. For this purpose, the Commander-in-Chief or Department Commander may detail any member within their respective jurisdiction whose duties shall be prescribed by the appointing power. All books, papers, accounts, records and proceedings pertaining to the Veterans of Foreign Wars of the United States shall be subject to inspection at all times. Major Discrepancy: Items required by the National Bylaws/Manual of Procedure. These can result in a 710 inspection or Post suspension if not timely corrected. Minor Discrepancy: Items that are required to support the proper operations of the Post/District. These can be a Must or Shall item or indirectly support the purpose and usages of the Veterans of Foreign Wars as defined in the National Charter.

INSPECTIONS CORRECTION BY THE NUMBER 1) Has the post adopted Bylaws in accordance with Section 202 of the National Bylaws? (MAJOR) a) Date reviewed by the Commander-in-Chief? Process: - Download National Approved template off VFW.org (forms, templets and by-laws) Make changes - During a Post meeting, changes must by approved in meeting by 2/3 vote. - Once approved and signed within 30 days Shall be forwarded to the Department ___________________________________________________________________________________________ 2) Is the Post Incorporated in accordance with Section 708 of the National Bylaws? No unit chartered by the Veterans of Foreign Wars of the United States, and no activities, clubrooms, holding companies or units sponsored or conducted or operated by, for or on behalf of any such chartered unit, shall separately from the Post, incorporate under the laws of the state in which it is located for any purposes whatsoever unless the Articles of Incorporation of such chartered unit and any incorporated activities, clubrooms, holding companies or units sponsored, conducted or operated by, for or in its behalf shall include those provisions specified in the Manual of Procedure. Should any state incorporation law prohibit provisions specified in the Manual of Procedure for Articles of Incorporation, it shall be permissible to change the wording of such provision sufficiently so that the Certificate of Incorporation will conform to the state laws and at the same time protect the interests of the Veterans of Foreign Wars of the United States. .

INSPECTIONS CORRECTION BY THE NUMBER 2) Is the Post Incorporated in accordance with Section 708 of the National Bylaws? (MAJOR) a) Date reviewed by the Commander-in-Chief: b) Date filed with appropriate state officials: c) Name of incorporated unit: d) Registered Agent of Record: Last updated: Process for new post or unincorporated post: - Request approved mutual or public benefit Articles of Incorporation (AOI) templets from VFW Department of California (legal name and incorporation is the same answers 2c) - Complete with required information as prescribed in Section 708 of the manual of procedures - Submitted to VFW Department of California for review they will forward National for review (CIC review date answers 2a) - Once stamped by CIC and return to Post / District, it must be submitted to the Secretary of state of California for their stamp and date (This answers 2b) - Statement of Information form 100 (SI-100) must be completed every two year if the Commander, quartermaster, Adjutant does not change but must be changed anytime one of those three officer change. ( SI-100 answers 2d Process for getting a copy of AOI: -Obtain copy from Department of California (maybe missing all required stamps) -Obtain copy from Secretary of State of California Process for restatements of AOI: -Will follow new incorporation processing but will add original AOI when submitting to SOS. All restatements must be in accordance with California Corporation code 900-910.

INSPECTIONS CORRECTION BY THE NUMBER 3) Are all officer positions filled as prescribed in Section 216 of the National Bylaws? (MAJOR) Post Shall Elect Commander, Sr Vice Commander, Jr. Vice Commander, Quartermaster and three Trustees Commander Shall appoint Adjutant & Chaplain and may appoint Service officer (this can be required by post bylaw change) Post bylaws will dictate if Judge Advocate , Surgeon and Officer of the day is appointed by Commander or elected by membership. Process: Adjutant must submit election reports through vfw.org electronically or request support from District or Department Adjutant for proper submission. _________________________________________________________________________________________________________ 4) Are Post delegates elected in accordance with Section 222 of the National Bylaws? (MINOR) Process: -During Aprils Post elections members will election delegates (1 delegate per every 30 members). They will elect primary and alternates at the required numbers per membership. - Adjutants will submit the report to the Post Quartermaster and District Adjutant. - Quartermaster will submit reports and payments to Department and National.

INSPECTIONS CORRECTION BY THE NUMBER 5) Does the Post Adjutant a) Maintain books and records in a legible and uniform format? (MINOR) Best Practice: - Create and maintain an Inspection binder with reportable documents ___________________________________________________________________________________________________ 5) Does the Post Adjutant... b) Maintain a file containing a copy of the original application of every member admitted into the Post? (MINOR) Process: - Applicate for membership fills out application - Recruiter verifies that they read and sign acknowledgement - Reviewing committee (Membership committee) will validate and sign before being presented to membership for a vote. - Once accepted into member and dues transferred to national by Quartermaster , post Adjutant will maintain record in file.

INSPECTIONS CORRECTION POST MATTERS 5) Does the Post Adjutant. .. c) Maintain a file of meeting minutes after correction and approval? (MAJOR) Process: -Meeting minutes are to taken in the template of meeting order of business. - All monitions will be in accordance with Roberts rules of order. - Meeting minutes will be approved in the follow month meeting after being read. _________________________________________________________________________________________________________ 5) Does the Post Adjutant. .. d) Maintain a file of current orders or circulars issued from higher authority? (MINOR) Best Practices: - Maintain digital copies of general order and circulars, read to membership during meetings making note on meeting minutes.

INSPECTIONS CORRECTION BY THE NUMBER 5) Does the Post Adjutant. .. e) Maintain a correspondence file? (MINOR) Best Practices: - Maintain digital copies of correspondence, read to membership during meetings making note on meeting minutes. ________________________________________________________________________________________________________ 5) Does the Post Adjutant. .. f) Maintain a file containing proof of eligibility submitted by officers? (MAJOR) Process: - Once elected or appointed Officers of the Post have 30 days to provide proof of eligibility - This should be kept in inspection binder and protected as Personnel indefinable information (PII) - Once Officer has left the position it should be given back to member or destroyed IAW NIST 800-88

INSPECTIONS CORRECTION BY THE NUMBER 5) Does the Post Adjutant. .. g) Maintain a current copy of Post, District (if applicable), Department and National Bylaws? (MINOR) Best practices: - Have digital; copies of District, Department and National by-law and hard copy of post by-laws in inspection binder. _____________________________________________________________________________________________________ 6) Are applicants for membership reviewed, read and voted on at a Post meeting for approval? (MAJOR) _____________________________________________________________________________________________________ 7) Does the Post hold at least one meeting per month with a quorum present? (MAJOR) _____________________________________________________________________________________________________ 8) Are all committees reporting to the membership at Post meetings? Process: - All committee must have meeting minutes. - Those minutes must be read into the record on the general meeting minutes.

INSPECTIONS CORRECTION BY THE NUMBER 9) Are Community Service/Program (Activity) reports submitted in accordance with Department Bylaws and guidelines? (MAJOR) a) Date of last submission: Process: - All meeting will have minutes taken IAW Roberts rules or orders. - Meeting minutes are submitted to Adjutant to be read into general meeting minutes. _______________________________________________________________________________________________________ 10) Does the Post observe commemorative dates as mandated in Section 223 of the National bylaws? (MINOR) Process: - Post observe date - Makes Adjutant (or chairperson) reports on department dashboard on VFWCA.org (members login). _______________________________________________________________________________________________________ 11) Does Post have an Auxiliary? a) Is there proper cooperation between the Post and its Auxiliary unit? (MINOR)

INSPECTIONS CORRECTION BY THE NUMBER 12) Does the Post distribute Buddy Poppies? (MINOR) a) Date of last distribution: Process: - Purchase buddy poppies from Department using order form. - Conduct buddy poppy drive turning money over to Quartermaster. - Report on drive on Department dashboard under VFWCA.org. _______________________________________________________________________________________________________ 13) Does the Post have a membership committee? (MINOR) a) Does the Post have a viable recruiting and retention plan? (MINOR) _______________________________________________________________________________________________________ 14) Do the elected Trustees review the monthly report of receipts and expenditures?(MAJOR)

INSPECTIONS CORRECTION BY THE NUMBER 15) Do the elected Trustees audit quarterly all books and records of the Post Quartermaster, Post Adjutant and any activity, clubroom, holding company or unit sponsored, conducted or operated by, for or on behalf of the Post? (MAJOR) a) Date of last quarterly audit: Process: - Quartermaster and Adjutant will provide all records required to support the trustee audits. - Trustees will conduct and audit of the books and with sign audit or make report to post membership on audit issues. - Commander will review and sign audit. - Completed audit will be submit to Department Quartermaster before the 30th day following the end of the quarter. ______________________________________________________________________________________________________ 16) Post funds: (MINOR)only if no information is provided a-e ______________________________________________________________________________________________________

INSPECTIONS CORRECTION BY THE NUMBER 16) Post funds: f) Amount of Quartermaster Bond (MAJOR) _______________________________________________________________________________________________________ 16) Post funds: g) Do all account ledger balances match the balance of reconciled bank statements? (MAJOR) _______________________________________________________________________________________________________ 16) Post funds: h) Is the Quartermaster Bond (f) greater than the total of all accounts (e)? (MAJOR) _______________________________________________________________________________________________________ 17) Name of bonding company: / Expiration date of bond: _______________________________________________________________________________________________________

INSPECTIONS CORRECTION BY THE NUMBER 18) Are additional officers accountable for funds bonded in accordance with Section 703 of the National Bylaws? (MAJOR) Process: - Identify all Post officers that have access to post funds to include Chairpersons. - Submit Bonding paperwork for each officer or chairperson for more than the total they will have access to. (Quartermaster will be bonded for all accounts) - All bonds must be completed annually before August 31st. (If Non-VFW outside bonding is used must provide a copy before bonding due date) _______________________________________________________________________________________________________ 19) Does the Post Quartermaster ... a) Maintain books and records in a legible and uniform format? Best Practice: - Create and maintain an Inspection binder with reportable documents

INSPECTIONS CORRECTION BY THE NUMBER 19) Does the Post Quartermaster ... b) Receive and properly transmit membership dues as required? (MINOR) _______________________________________________________________________________________________________ 19) Does the Post Quartermaster ... c) Maintain a relief fund in accordance with Section 219 of the National Bylaws? (MAJOR) _______________________________________________________________________________________________________ 19) Does the Post Quartermaster ... d) Have care and custody of all committee funds? (MAJOR) _______________________________________________________________________________________________________

INSPECTIONS CORRECTION BY THE NUMBER 19) Does the Post Quartermaster ... e) Report on transactions concerning receipts and expenditures at Post meetings? (MINOR) _______________________________________________________________________________________________________ 19) Does the Post Quartermaster ... f) File appropriate forms as required by federal, state and local statues? (MINOR) _______________________________________________________________________________________________________ 19) Does the Post Quartermaster ... g) Date of last 990 filing: h) Is the 990-filing available for public inspection? (MINOR)

INSPECTIONS CORRECTION BY THE NUMBER 20) Post Federal Employee Identification Number (EIN): _______________________________________________________________________________________________________ 21) Are all expenditures voted on by the Post membership and approved by the Post Commander? (MAJOR) _______________________________________________________________________________________________________ 22) Are expenditures from the relief fund in accordance with Section 219 of the National Bylaws? (MAJOR) _______________________________________________________________________________________________________ 23) Are signature(s) authorizing the disbursement of funds done in accordance with Post Bylaws? (MAJOR) _______________________________________________________________________________________________________

INSPECTIONS CORRECTION BY THE NUMBER 24) Are checks pre-signed by any authorized officer? (MAJOR) _______________________________________________________________________________________________________ 25) Does the Post own real property? a) Appraised Value: b) Title Holder _______________________________________________________________________________________________________ 26) Does the Post carry all proper types of insurance? (MAJOR) a) Are both the Veterans of Foreign Wars of the United States and Department named as additional insureds?(MAJOR) _______________________________________________________________________________________________________

INSPECTIONS CORRECTION BY THE NUMBER 27) Does the Post retain documents in accordance with the Department's Document Retention Policy?(MINOR) _______________________________________________________________________________________________________ 28) Does the Post operate a clubroom/canteen or other state licensed entity?(Department Inspection Form May Be Required) _______________________________________________________________________________________________________

SUPPLEMENTAL CORRECTION BY THE NUMBER Additional State Documentation 1. Whenever there is an election of new corporate officers or at least every two years from the date of incorporation, a Statement of Information Form (SI-100) is filed with the Secretary of State s Office? (MINOR) ____________________________________________________________________________________________________ 2. If the Post is registered as a Public Benefit Corporation and/or sales are more than$25,000 annually, has the Form RRF-1 been filed with the Federal 990 or CT-TR-1attached with the Registry of Charitable Trusts and is it current? (MINOR) ____________________________________________________________________________________________________ 3. Has the State FTB 199/199N been filed and is it current? (MINOR)

SUPPLEMENTAL CORRECTION BY THE NUMBER Bingo/Lotto 1. Does the Post have Bingo or Lotto? __________________________________________________________________________________________________ 2. If yes, is the Chairman bonded? (MAJOR) __________________________________________________________________________________________________ 3. Are the funds separated from the Post operation account? _________________________________________________________________________________________________

SUPPLEMENTAL CORRECTION BY THE NUMBER Bar/Canteen 1. Does the Post have a canteen or social club? _________________________________________________________________________________________________ 2. If yes, is the ABC Type 52 Veterans Club License current? (MAJOR) _________________________________________________________________________________________________ 3. Is the health permit current? (MINOR) _________________________________________________________________________________________________ 4. If catering occurs in the club hall, is ABC Type 58 Catering License current? _________________________________________________________________________________________________ 5. Has the sales tax Form BOE-401 been filed and current? (MINOR) _________________________________________________________________________________________________

SUPPLEMENTAL CORRECTION BY THE NUMBER Bar/Canteen 6. Does the club have a manager? _________________________________________________________________________________________________ 7. If yes, is the manager bonded? (MAJOR) _________________________________________________________________________________________________ 8. Does the Post have liquor liability insurance? (MAJOR) _________________________________________________________________________________________________ 9. Have all servers successfully completed the Responsible Beverage Server training? (MINOR) _________________________________________________________________________________________________

SUPPLEMENTAL CORRECTION BY THE NUMBER Employees 1. Does the Post have paid employees? ___________________________________________________________________________________________________ 2. Are there Form I-9s and W4s filed for each employee? ___________________________________________________________________________________________________ 3. Has EDD Form DE-9 been filed and is current? ___________________________________________________________________________________________________ 4. Has EDD Form DE-9C been filed and is current? __________________________________________________________________________________________________

SUPPLEMENTAL CORRECTION BY THE NUMBER Employees 5. Has Federal Form 940 been filed and is current? ___________________________________________________________________________________________________ 6. Has Federal Form 941 been filed and is current? ___________________________________________________________________________________________________ 7. Does the Post carry Worker s Compensation Insurance? ___________________________________________________________________________________________________ 8. Have all employees completed the State of California s mandatory annual sexual harassment training (Required if five (5) or more employees)? __________________________________________________________________________________________________

POST OFFICERS RESPONSIBILITIES BY NUMBER POST INSPECTION FORM 1. ADJUTANT / COMMANDER 2. ADJUTANT / COMMANDER / QUARTERMASTER 3. ADJUTANT / COMMANDER 4. ADJUTANT 5. ADJUTANT 6. COMMANDER 7. COMMANDER 8. COMMANDER 9. ADJUTANT 10. COMMANDER 11. COMMANDER 12. COMMANDER 13. COMMANDER 14. COMMANDER / TRUSTEE 15. COMMANDER / TRUSTEE 16. QUARTERMASTER 17. QUARTERMASTER 18. COMMANDER 19. QUARTERMASTER 20. QUARTERMASTER 21. COMMANDER / TRUSTEE POST INSPECTION FORM 22. COMMANDER / TRUSTEE 23. COMMANDER / TRUSTEE 24. QUARTERMASTER 25. QUARTERMASTER 26. QUARTERMASTER 27. ADJUTANT / QUARTERMASTER 28. HOUSE COMMITTEE CHAIR POST SUPPLEMENTAL FORM Bar/Canteen 1. N/A 2. MANAGER / QUARTERMASTER 3. MANAGER 4. MANAGER 5. QUARTERMASTER 6. HOUSE COMMITTEE CHAIR 7. COMMANDER / QUARTERMASTER 8. QUARTERMASTER 9. HOUSE COMMITTEE CHAIR Employees 1. HOUSE COMMITTEE CHAIR 2. ADJUTANT 3. ADJUTANT 4. ADJUTANT 5. ADJUTANT 6. ADJUTANT 7. ADJUTANT 8. ADJUTANT POST SUPPLEMENTAL FORM Additional State Documentation 1. ADJUTANT / QUARTERMASTER 2. QUARTERMASTER 3. QUARTERMASTER Bingo/Lotto 1. HOUSE COMMITTEE CHAIR 2. COMMANDER / QUARTERMASTER 3. QUARTERMASTER

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