Sub-Organization Guide

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3 Sub-Organization Guide Revised Edition November 2014 Publisher: Student Union of Tampere University of Technology () Editor and Translator: Pirita Härkisaari Proofreading: George Kerola and Joonas Heloterä

4 i Sub-Organization Guide Foreword A year in the board awaits you A year in the guild s or club s board is a rewarding and educating experience, which often takes a big part of your free time. So that working in the board would be flexible and efficient for everyone it is good to be familiar with the basis on how to work in an organization. This doesn't mean that you have to be too formal and just waste time on formalities of the meeting but that everything works as it should and without complications. This way all the members of the board have more time and energy to have fun and enjoy the fruits of your own work. The sub-organizations guide is meant to help you in general issues with the board as in specific tricky situations. Therefore you don't need to read the whole guide right away; take what you need and keep it with you for the future as well. We have tried to keep the headings and content clear so that you could easily find a solution to the problem in hand. There is an own chapter to general board work responsibilities and selection of the board, such as keeping up the minutes, finances and information. Some of the information is meant only for the guilds, however most of the information is for everyone. Later on in this guide we will use the word club to describe all the guilds and clubs. This English version of the Sub-organization s guide is very similar to the Finnish version made in In some parts of this guide the special situation of INTO has been emphasized as it has both the traits of a club and guild. All references to the Associations Act mean the Finnish Association Act (yhdistyslaki). Enjoy your year in the board! On behalf of the Student Union, Pirita Härkisaari Former Secretary for Communications and Organizations

5 Table of Contents ii Table of Contents Foreword A year in the board awaits you... i Table of Contents... ii 1. The Board The number of board members The election and getting organized The term of the board Expulsion or resignation from the board Division of tasks inside the board The chairman organizes and runs the board Before the meeting During the meeting The chairman s gavel The Secretary takes care of the Paperwork Before the meeting During the meeting After the meeting The treasurer takes care of finances The communications responsible informs Other members of the board Officers About the meetings in general The general meeting of the club Board meetings Participants of the board meeting General practises in the meeting The right to be present and speak The right to vote Legitimacy and quorum How is the quorum defined? A meeting without quorum Before the meeting Preparations for the meeting Convening the meeting Convening the club s general meeting Convening the board meeting The agenda When should the agenda be ready? Approving the agenda Notices and AOB In the meeting A good meeting Technique and terms for meetings Excuse Disqualification Suspending and restoring the matter Restoring the matter Divergent opinion A resolution Suggest and second A vote A detailed order of vote A brief order of vote Election for people... 18

6 iii Sub-Organization Guide 7. After the meeting Minutes of the meeting Scrutinizing and the scrutinizers of the minutes How do the minutes of the general meeting differ from the minutes of a board meeting? The publicity of the minutes When the minutes have been checked and approved Financial matters of the club The board takes care of the funds and the property of the club Save the receipts Budget Plan of action The Financial statement and annual report Auditing A performance auditor or a certified auditor? Who can be chosen as a performance auditor? How is the auditing done? Auditor s checklist The auditing report What if verifying the financial report cannot be recommended? Technical mistakes Flaws in management of finances and administration Severe problems Discharging from liability for the accounts Selling advertisements Communications POP Event Calendar News Student Union webpages Facebook Twitter Office WerkkoAnturi Mailing lists Notice boards Printed publications of the Student Union The Student Union and its sub-organizations The sub-organization database (AY-kilke) Sub-organization s grant Project grant Support grant The Student Council Why should the clubs care about the Student Union Council? The Student Union Board Guild guardian The Secretariat The Secretary General The Office Secretary The Secretary for Educational Affairs The Secretary for Social Affairs Secretary for Communications and Sub-Organizations The Sauna Major Other secretaries How can I reach the Student Union representatives? Student representatives in the university s administration... 38

7 iv How are the student representatives chosen? What does the guild have to do with the student representatives Forums, sections and councils Forums Sections Councils Who should participate in section meetings? Activeness in the sections Services for the sub-organizations Teekkarisauna Hotelli Torni The van and trolley Attachment 1: Agenda Attachment 2: Minutes List of References (in Finnish)... 50

8 1 Sub-Organization Guide 1. The Board The general meeting of the club elects a board, which is responsible for financial affairs, everyday activities and other affairs than the club s general meeting, the Finnish Law and the rules of the club define. The general meeting defines larger guidelines such as the budget, the annual plan and possible matters of disqualification. The board should act as the general meeting advises but some personal discretion is also advisable. The Finnish Associations Act 35.1 defines the tasks of the board as followed: The executive committee shall carefully attend to the affairs of the association in compliance with the law and the rules of and resolutions adopted by the association. The association shall be represented by the executive committee The board s task is to take care of the finances and possessions of the club. This means, for example, making sure that accounting, the financial report and the balance are adequately drawn up. The board prepares the next terms budget and plan of action for the general meeting to verify. The board also elects officers if needed and supervises their actions. The board represents the entire club redundant. This means that the board can, for example, sign a sponsorship contacts with firms. In a club the role of the board should not be underestimated. There are only a few general meetings per term and there is no hired staff to take care of weekly activities, which emphasizes the importance of the board The number of board members The Association Act defines that a club must have a board with at least three members of which one must be the chairman. The rules of the club must clearly define the minimum and maximum board size and the length of the term in office in this particular club. The size of the board must be taken into account. If the size of the board is not too big things are done efficiently and all members of the board truly have a say in how everything is done. On the other hand, if the board is too small it might lead to a situation where only a few people are overloaded with work and so the plan of action cannot be carried out properly The election and getting organized The board is elected in the election meeting in the manner defined by the club rules. A person elected into the board must give his/her acceptance to the election. Nobody can be forced to take on a responsible post. After the board is elected it must get organized in its first meeting. The first meeting can be carried out before the actual term begins. In this case the decisions made must be confirmed in the official first meeting during the term of office. Getting organized means that each member of the board is assigned a task or tasks that he/she is responsible for. Sometimes this is already done in the election phase. In the first meeting of the board it is also practical to decide the course of action for the term, such as information practices, meeting practices and so on.

9 The Board The term of the board The rules of the club define the term of the board, which usually lasts a calendar or school year. If for some reason an election meeting has not been organized or the meeting of the club wasn't competent (for example not enough members where present) the old board must continue its term. If the old board must exceed the term its primary task is to organize an election meeting in order to get a new board elected. The old board must see to everyday affairs until a new board is elected. Larger scale decisions or projects should be avoided in this kind of situation Expulsion or resignation from the board A member of the board or the whole board can be expelled at any point during the term. An adequate reason is mistrust and it doesn't need to be further justified. The expulsion is ordered by the general meeting of the club. Expulsion takes action right after the decision has been made if not pointed otherwise. The general meeting can only expel people it has appointed (the board and possible officers). Similarly if the board has appointed officers it is its duty to expel these people if needed, not the general meetings. However, if the general meeting sees that an officer isn't carrying out his/her task as it should be done or this person is behaving in a matter that is not acceptable it can leave a resolution (ponsi) for the board and ask them to do something about the matter. (For example: ''The board should advise the person x a little better..'') As an extreme action the general meeting can also expel the whole board and hope that the new board will expel the officer in question. A board member can with justified reasons resign from the board. In this case he/she must inform the board of his/her resignation. If there are not enough members left in the board to maintain power of decision after an expulsion or a resignation the board must be completed. This might also be the case if the rules of the club always demand a complement in situations like these. The complement is elected during a general meeting.

10 3 Sub-Organization Guide 2. Division of tasks inside the board In a well-functioning board the atmosphere is encouraging and the division of tasks inside the board is clear. Each member has their own role and a field of responsibility. Some responsibilities can still be agreed upon when addressing certain matters. Division of tasks (early enough) is important so that the responsibilities do not pile up on only a few members. Also many tasks such as keeping the minutes, publishing the paper or taking care of accounting need careful introduction and quiet knowledge which piles up as the term continues, so it is only smart that there is a certain person pointed to these specific tasks. This way things are done more fluently and surely. As mentioned earlier, the Associations Act orders that a club must have a board of at least three members, of which one must be the chairman, besides that the board itself can decide how the division of tasks is carried out. Therefore each club can define their own areas of responsibility/tasks for board members and officers. The most common tasks are presented below The chairman organizes and runs the board The chairman organizes and plans the activities of the board for the term and takes care of the division of tasks. The task of the chairman is not to do everything in person, on the contrary. The ability to delegate is very important for a chairman. The chairman should however constantly be aware what is going on in each project and that each member of the board and officers see to their own tasks. The chairman is there to motivate and encourage others and take care of that no one does too much work and gets burned out. The chairman also represents the club to the ''outside''. Whether you want it or not the club is often seen through the chairman. That is why it is very important that the chairman gives a good impression of him/herself and thus the club Before the meeting The chairman (together with the secretary) must prepare and deliver the meeting s agenda to the board. This way all board members can prepare for the meeting beforehand During the meeting The Chairman opens the meeting (and of course closes it as well). During the meeting the chairman makes sure that each topic in the agenda is covered widely enough and that everyone who wishes has a say in the matter at hand. The chairman runs the discussion and makes sure that the discussion gets back on track if it moves on to irrelevant matters. The chairman must also assure that differences of opinions are taken into account and solved. Summing the discussion made, the chairman tries to come up with a motion of the matter that all members can agree with. If an agreement cannot be found the matter has to be voted upon. In this case the chairman sums the different motions, puts them in an order, suggests a method for the voting, organizes the voting and announces the results of the vote (See chapter 6.8.). The chairman also sees to it that the rules are followed out during the making of decisions. In other words the chairman makes sure that all decisions are legitimate. The chairman must also assure that all motions and decisions are accurately written in the minutes. A good chairman always keeps a little break before striking the gavel. This gives

11 Division of tasks inside the board 4 the others a possibility to voice their opinion or point out mistakes. For example: It is decided that the party is in Cupola Mari will reserve the venue and Jukka will take care of advertising. Is this ok for everyone? (A look around to make sure everyone agrees) -All right, it is decided, PAM The chairman s gavel The gavel (or a similar object) of the chairman is most importantly a symbol. In the meeting the gavel is struck to point out that a matter has been covered and that the next issue can be brought up. The strike is a sign of a decision made. Sometimes a strike may be needed if there is too much noise and not enough attention in the meeting. Examples of using the gavel: Opening the meeting: [PAM PAM PAM] I open the meeting it is Closing a matter: Issue 4 is covered. Let s move forward to issue 5 (it is good to keep the participants of the meeting knowing what is going on.) Informing a decision: The result of the vote is 5 to and 1 against so we will get a pet raccoon for the club [PAM] Pointing out attention: SILENCE! [PAMPAMPAMPAMPAMPAMPAM] 2.2. The secretary takes care of the paperwork The main task of the secretary is to take care of the arrangements in the meeting. Preparing and sending the agenda to others (maybe together with the chairman), keeping the minutes of the meeting, making sure the meeting has all the material needed (printed out agendas, papers, pens etc..), filing the documents and keeping up the membership list are also usually the secretary s responsibilities Before the meeting The secretary prepares and sends the agenda to others (maybe together with the chairman). A ready-made agenda can also be used. In the first meeting of the board the chairman and secretary can agree upon their responsibilities. The secretary supplies the invitations to the board meetings and copies material to the board members if needed During the meeting The main task of the secretary is to keep the minutes of the meeting. This is why it is important that the secretary is aware of what is going on at all times during the meeting. It is better to write down too much rather than too little information. The ground rule is that the records should be kept so well that one could write down the entire history of the club minute by minute. The record of the meeting should be drawn right after the meeting, when all the information is still fresh. The secretary makes sure that the previous meetings minutes are scrutinized in the following meeting.

12 5 Sub-Organization Guide After the meeting After keeping the minutes the secretary sends the protocol to the board (or otherwise makes sure that the minutes can be scrutinized already before the next meeting). The secretary also takes signed copies of the minutes to the Student Union. (Guilds and INTO present the minutes of all meetings, clubs only the minutes of general meetings) 2.3. The treasurer takes care of finances The treasurer takes care of the clubs accounts and draws up the next term s budget and ongoing year s financial statement. It is the treasurer s task to make sure that each bill is accepted in the board meeting. The treasurer should also regularly supply the board information about the financial situation of the club. With this information the board is able to follow the budget of the year The communications responsible informs The communications responsible or informer of the board is an important link between the board and the members of the club. The task of the communications responsible is to pass on the information about all the decisions made to the members. Other tasks might also be publishing the clubs paper, making posters and invitations, updating webpages and Facebook, etc. Many times the communications responsible gathers up a weekly report about different announcements concerning the members such as events, jobs, and Student Union s announcements. Guideline for communications are presented in chapter Other members of the board Each member of the board has the responsibility to prepare for the meetings sufficiently by reading the agenda and possible attachments. The agenda can be commented upon and points can be added or removed before the meeting. A board member must be non-party, open-minded and actively participating in discussions. Each member brings his/her own special skills and knowledge to the board. Each member should be committed to the decisions made and also be up to date at all times. If it becomes necessary, members of the board should point out that the chairman is not a dictator but that the board makes decisions together, with a vote if needed. The chairman s opinion and motions are not without fail the right one for the club, but options can and should be pointed out. If a board member can't make it to a meeting it is his/her own responsibility to find out which decisions were made for example by reading the minutes of the meeting or asking the chairman Officers Especially in guilds there are often appointed officers. An officer is a person outside the board with a responsible post. Officers have the right to speak and be present in board meeting but have no voice during votes.

13 About the meetings in general 6 3. About the meetings in general 3.1. The general meeting of the club The members of the club are the ones holding the actual power of decision. The general meetings might have different names (annual meeting, spring meeting, election meeting etc.) but what is essential is that in these meetings the members of the club gather up to decide the larger scale guidelines for the club, which then are executed by the board. The board s task is to prepare and convene the general meetings. Later the board executes the general meetings decisions by organizing seminars or excursions and collecting membership fees, etc Board meetings The board meetings are an important part of board work. In the meetings the board takes care of running duties like finances and decides on how to organize different kinds of activities. It is recommended that the board meetings are held at the same time each week, this way all the members can reserve a time in their calendar for the meeting. Board members do not have an obligation to participate in the meetings, however, continuous absence from meetings is seen as neglecting your duty to take care of the matters of the club (pointed in the association act) and so by shows a lack of motivation Participants of the board meeting Actual members of the board and officers elected by the board can participate in the board meetings. Also people outside the board with something important to say to the board can participate. (For example hallopeds (student representatives), study counselors, a member of the club with something important to say, etc.) General practises in the meeting Common rules and practices are good to be discussed already in the first meeting (if not before). Expectations of the term vary from member to member: one might wish for chilled hanging out, while the other may want efficient decision-making. Both have a point, too much formality kills all the fun and only fun is just chaos. It is important to find the golden midway. It is also good to agree already in the beginning on possible sanctions (being late) and rewards (the most active member etc.) At least these matters should be agreed upon. When and how the agenda is supplied (for example via one day before the meeting..) If there is a regular time for the meeting or if the next meeting is decided in the current meeting or for example via doodle The right to be present and speak In board meetings board members and officers have the right to attend and speak. In club meetings the aforementioned rights apply to all members. Student Union s Sub-organizations act article 9 states that the Secretary General and all members of the Student Union Board as well as people nominated by the Student Union Board have the right to be present in the meetings of sub-organizations.

14 7 Sub-Organization Guide The board can, in particular situations, grant the right to be present (and but not necessarily speak) to other people The right to vote The official members of the board have a right to vote in board meetings. (Board members have been elected in the club s general meeting.) In the club s general meeting, all members that have carried out their duties as members, for example, paid the clubs membership fee, have the right to vote. The member s duties are defined in the clubs rules. The right to vote cannot be granted in particular occasions like the right to speak and be present can Legitimacy and quorum The rules concerning legitimacy and quorum are defined in order to assure that all members have the same right to participate and that decision-making is not the right of a small closed group. When all the members (in board meetings the members of the board and in club meetings the members of the club) get the information in time about the next meeting it is each person s own choice whether or not to participate in the meeting and by not participating acknowledging the fact that others will be making decisions on this persons behalf. Terms for legitimacy of a meeting are the convener, time and practice of summons and the matters which will be discussed. Usually in the clubs rules it is defined that the chairman of the board works as convener and if he/she for some reason is inhibited, the vice-chair will work on the chairman s behalf. In the rules of some clubs it is mentioned that a board meeting must be called if a certain number of board members demand so. (The Temppumodel rule recommends at least two members.) (see more in chapter 4.2.) The club s rules do not usually define how and when board meetings should be convened. The board meetings are legitimate when the board acts as it has decided in its first meeting. (See chapter 4.2.) The practices on how the meetings are convened are advisable to decide in the board s first meeting for example as followed: Motion: The board of 2014 is legitimate when the chairman, or when he or she is inhibited the vice-chair, convenes the board meeting at least two days before the meeting and the agenda is sent to the mailing list of the board at least two hours before the meeting. Decision: As stated in the motion. So if it's agreed that the invitation will be sent at least 24 hours before the meeting and the actual inviting happens with a phone call two hours before the meeting should start, the meeting is not legitimate. The meeting has quorum when the number of board members present is equal to or greater than that of what the club s rules have stated for quorum. Usually the condition is that at least half of the board members are present, including the chairman or vice-chair How is the quorum defined? The way the words are written in the rules may have a large meaning for the quorum, as the following example demonstrates. With the same number of board members but different

15 About the meetings in general 8 wording, you get two different results In clubs X s board there are seven members (Chairman + six members). The chairman is included in the number of members. OPTION 1: The rules of club X define that the board meeting has quorum if the chairman, or if he/she is inhibited the vice-chair, and half of the remaining board members are present. chairman or vice-chair + half of the remaining board 1+7:2=1+3,5 Since there is not such a thing as half a person in practice this means 1+4=5 The meeting has quorum when there is present five members of the board. (chairman/vicechair+ 4 members) OPTION 2: The rules of club X define that the board meeting has quorum if half of the board members are present. Half of the board including the chairman or vice-chair. 7:2=3.5 so 4 members. The meeting has quorum when four members of the board are present. (chairman/vicechair+ 3 members) A meeting without quorum Sometimes there are not enough board members in the meeting and so there is no quorum. Can you hold a meeting like this and are the decisions made legitimate? For making decisions in a meeting like this there are two conditions. First of all the decisions must be unanimous (no vote has been made) and secondly an approval of the missing members must be acquired later. One way to get approval is to draw minutes of the meeting and by getting the whole board to sign the document. If in the agenda there is, for example, a matter concerning a larger purchase it is advisable to decide on that later in a meeting that is both legitimate and has quorum.

16 9 Sub-Organization Guide 4. Before the meeting A good meeting doesn't happen by itself. Preparations which depend a lot on the matters on the agenda must be done. Some parts in the agenda are repeated in every meeting, for example financial affairs. When starting a new project it is better to think it through beforehand. Knowing the correct meeting practices also helps the meetings to go more fluently. At least the chairman has to be aware of meeting practices and the decision-making process. It is useful to other board members too to know what is going on. The point of knowing meeting practices is not to act cool in the meeting but to actually make sure that decisions are made democratically according to the rules and that everyone has similar opportunities in participating in the decision-making process. It is good to keep in mind that a board meeting is not the place for creation. Of course brief discussions of the matter in hand can be had but the actual innovation should be made in other times. Documents concerning the matter in hand should be accessible to all board members already before the meeting so that everyone has enough time to get acquainted to the material. Depending on the club s practices the documents can be in the club room, notice board, web pages or sent via . It is good that before the general meeting the budget and annual plan can be seen and proposals for changes can be done already before the meeting Preparations for the meeting In general nothing is decided in the meeting offhand but all that matters is prepared beforehand and in the meeting after a discussion a justified decision can be made. The rules of the club, the budget and annual plan give guidelines on how things should be done. In practice it is also good to give notice in the timetable and division of work, not only in keeping in the budget. You can t plan and execute an excursion in a week. In decision-making and planning it is good to reserve enough time for organizing and looking for background information. The chairman together with the secretary draw up the agenda for the meeting but other board members must also prepare for the meeting by going through the agenda and possible extra documents. The board member who is responsible of a certain item in the agenda must think of possible questions beforehand that need an opinion from the board. For example: ''Should we go to Oulu or Helsinki in the excursion?'' Notice: If the matter in discussion is a larger-scale project such as an annual party it is good to keep it as a standard item. Although in every meeting there isn't something new to decide it is still wise to keep the board updated on the project so that there will be no last-minute surprises Convening the meeting The Associations act article 8 item 8 states that the rules of the club must define how and the timespan when the general meeting should be convened. Article 24 of the same act states that the meeting of the club must be convened in a manner how the club s rules define and in the summons the time and place of the meeting must be stated.

17 Before the meeting Convening the club s general meeting The rules of club define the convening. Temppu, the model rule, gives an example as followed: The General Meeting of the club must be convened at least five (5) working days before the meeting. Together with the summons the agenda of the meeting must be presented. At least the following matters must be stated in the summons of the meeting: The name of the club The nature of the meeting (fall, spring, general, annual, extra meeting) The time and place of the meeting The items on the agenda When the summons have been given (date and time) The Associations act article 23 states certain matters that must be discussed in the club s general meeting. These are matters that CANNOT be decided in the board meeting as all members must have a say in the decision-making process. All matters that are on the agenda of the general meeting must have been mentioned in the summons of the meeting. No decisions on a matter can be made if it wasn't on the original agenda. The following decisions must be made in the general meeting: Changes of the rules of the club Giving away significant amounts of property Electing and expelling a board member or an auditor. Confirming the financial statement and admitting exemption of liability to the ones in charge of the finances of the club. Annulling a club or a guild Convening the board meeting The board decides itself on the practices of board meetings. Recommended and well-tried practices are as follows: summons being sent to the mailing list, deciding the time and location of the next meeting and deciding a recurring meeting time and place. The convening of the board meeting is not as accurately defined as it is for the general meeting. The summons must nevertheless state where, when and why a meeting is called. In the summons there doesn t need be the agenda but it is good that the matters discussed are in the knowledge of everyone before the meeting so that all board members can get acquainted with them. In the Associations Act there is no deadline for when the board meeting must be convened. It is however good to act in a way that all board members have a realistic opportunity to participate in the meeting. Therefore the Student Union recommends that the summons should be sent at least 24 hours before the meeting. A situation might occur where the board must make a decision in a tight schedule. In these cases it is a good idea for example to call everyone and ask if they could come to the meeting. Remember that this kind of practice should be used only in special occasions. When the board has decided its practices for convening it is written in the minutes of that meeting.

18 11 Sub-Organization Guide 4.3. The agenda The agenda includes all matters that are dealt in the following meeting and the order of the matters. (Item 1, 2, 3 ) possible background information about the matter and often a ready-made motion. The motion doesn't need to go into detail (for example, with specific dates, amounts of money etc.) however it should be target-orientated and contain the details which should be decided on that meeting. For example: Motion: A spring party will be organized. Let's decide on the place (1), time (2), cost (3) and responsibilities (4) of the party. Decision: The spring party will be held in Juvenes Sauna (1) on (2) We will reserve 200 euros for the rent, 40 euros for the food and 25 euros for the decorations. (3) Anna H. will reserve the sauna, Markus will take care of decorations and Krista the food. Jarkko A. will take care of posters and advertising (4). The most important and time consuming items are usually placed in the beginning of the agenda. The reason for this is that the participants of the meeting are able to concentrate better at the beginning of the meeting. It is also practical to have standard items in the agenda. An example of such an item is financial affairs. When making an agenda keep in mind: Placing matters with higher importance at the beginning, when people have the energy to concentrate. Placing matters that affect each other one after the other. (The prior decision might affect the following one.) Standard items should be held in the same place, this way they are not so easily forgotten When should the agenda be ready? Common for board meetings is that there are meetings quite often and the matters discussed vary quite a lot during the year. It is the chairman s responsibility to make sure that the agenda is made before the meeting and that time is not wasted in making the agenda during the meeting. This way all members also have time to get acquainted with the matters before the meeting and in case a member cannot participate in the meeting he/she has time to form an opinion and comment if necessary. The rule on how and when the agenda is sent to the members of the board is defined in the board s first meeting. (See previous point ) A good way to send the agenda is, for example, via . This way others can easily comment before the meeting if the chairman has, for example, forgotten an important item from the agenda Approving the agenda The meeting can approve the agenda as it is or add/remove points from it. The order of the items can also be changed. This is done quite often because some board members have to leave before the meeting ends and they would like to take part on a decision made or might be the ones responsible for a matter that is in the end of the agenda.

19 Before the meeting Notices and AOB In the agenda there are often notices and any other business (AOB) in addition to the matters that must be decided on. In notices, like the name states, people can inform matters to others. Usually in this part you can briefly tell about past or upcoming events, remind everybody about something important etc. The notices are entered in the minutes of the meeting as noted information. In any other business (in Finnish META) matters that have come up during the meeting but are not in the agenda can be discussed, for example. In this item matters can be discussed but no decisions can be made. In AOB you can also have preliminary discussions of upcoming affairs. For example: the club should have a new webpage, what do you think we should do? In this part you can also make propositions about the meeting arrangements etc.

20 13 Sub-Organization Guide 5. In the meeting The agenda of the meeting describes the course of the meeting quite well. Some matters must be dealt prior to others and the place of others can be changed. A meeting is allowed to make decisions when it is legitimate and has quorum (see point 3.5.) After these two have been stated the meeting comes to order. In board meetings there is usually no need to come to order for this has already happened in the first meeting. In some meetings however the minutes are not checked in the next meeting and it is necessary to choose scrutinizers. In a case where the board s secretary is unable to attend the meeting a secretary for that meeting must be chosen. Also in some meetings it might be necessary to have a vote and so tellers must be chosen. (See more about voting in chapters 6.8. and 6.9.) The tellers can also be chosen at the point where the actual voting occurs. There is no need to choose tellers in all board meetings because there is quite seldom a need for a vote. Notifications can be either in the beginning of the meeting or in the end, after the items where decisions are made. It is not recommended to use a lot of time in notifications, especially in the beginning of the meeting. The board meeting can proceed for example as follows: 1. Opening of the meeting (not an obligatory point, opening time must be entered to the minutes) 2. Legitimacy and quorum of the meeting 3. Coming to order (not necessary, only when required) 4. Approving the agenda. (The agenda can be approved as it is or with changes. The numbering of the items is changed if needed.) 5. Notifications (or to the end of agenda after AOB) 6. Approving the minutes of the previous meeting. (if scrutinizers have not been chosen) 7. Decision items 8. Financial affairs 9. Organizing an excursion 10. Publishing the guild magazine 11. Choosing the corporate relations day date. 12. Matters of discussion (matters that require discussion to help the planning process) 13. Renewing the guilds web-pages. 14. Any other business 15. Closing the meeting 5.1. A good meeting A good meeting goes fluently and stays on topic. Requirements for a good meeting are that planning has been done beforehand and that all participants have prepared themselves for the meeting. This way time is saved and everyone has enough energy to concentrate during the meeting. A good guideline is that a meeting lasting over two hours is not efficient. In a good meeting the chairman gives out permission to speak as asked and does not dominate the discussion alone. It is very important to make sure that all participants dare to speak out their opinion. It is also important that all board members and officers understand their duties and responsibilities. Deciding a matter does not require unanimity - it is all right to have a different opinion and point of view although compromise and unanimity through negotiation is preferred. The more important point is however, that the decision made is clear to everyone, whatever the persons own viewpoint in the matter was. The decisions are

21 In the meeting 14 entered in the minutes and ensured that it has been entered correctly. This can be done, for example, by reading out loud the decision made for all the participants. On the contrary, a bad meeting is one that takes a long time and gets stuck in irrelevancies or goes totally off topic. A poor meeting can also be one where decisions are made without preparation. In a bad meeting the chairman doesn t point out the decisions in a way that all members realize what has been decided. If the minutes of the meeting are recorded poorly, the decisions are not accurately entered or they are missing entirely.

22 15 Sub-Organization Guide 6. Technique and terms for meetings 6.1. Excuse A board member has an excuse not to participate in the meeting due to, for example, a lecture, work or illness. An excuse should be informed as early as possible Disqualification The principle of disqualification is that no one should be the judge of oneself on a matter. The Association act 37 defines: A board member or officer cannot participate in the decision-making of a matter that could conflict with his/her personal interest. The idea behind disqualification is that no one should be able to get personal benefits through board membership. The definition of benefit is usually financial. If you are, for example, applying for a job, you cannot be on the board who decides who gets the job. If a club is making arrangements with a company a member of the board is involved in this member should not take part in the decision. The board also cannot grant scholarships to board members, these kinds of matters must be decided on by the general meeting of the club. The person who is disqualified cannot participate in the discussion about the matter, drawing a proposition or deciding on the matter. The person disqualified will be asked to leave the meeting while this matter is processed and asked to come back in the next point. It is not enough for the person disqualified to leave for when the decision is made he/she must leave for the duration of the process. In the spring s general meeting the previous year s board members are disqualified for when they are discharged from liability of the accounts of the guild or club. They have, however the right to be present and speak when the matter is up for discussion. In this case it might even be useful that the people who are familiar with the matter can answer the meetings questions if needed Suspending and restoring the matter Sometimes in a board meeting it occurs that a matter is not adequately prepared and so there is not enough information to make a decision. In this case the decision can be suspended for the future. This means that the matter is no longer processed but it will be continued in the next meeting. If there are divergent opinions on the matter a vote about suspending must be made. Suspension is a kind of time-out, because the matter will be restored later just as it was without any changes. The suspending gives the participants of the meeting more time to familiarize themselves with the matter and clarify one s own opinion. Suspending might be a good choice in situations where the matter arouses hot-tempered discussions and the situation gets out of hand. After a week or two opinions have probably clarified and there is not such effusion. A member can also ask for suspension for a personal matter in a case where the member feels that he/she has not prepared the matter properly and would need time to look for more information.

23 Technique and terms for meetings Restoring the matter Reasons for restoring the matter are usually similar to the ones why the matter was suspended. When restoring a matter the person(s) responsible are obliged to continue working on the matter for the next meeting. When the matter is processed the next time the motion might differ from the original Divergent opinion Each attendant in the meeting, who has quorum, is responsible for the decisions made during the meeting, whether the person was for or against the motion. The only way to liberate oneself from legal and economical responsibility is to leave a divergent opinion. Remember that the opinion can only be left by a person with quorum, usually meaning board members, not officers or hired staff. Another prerequisite is that the person leaving a divergent opinion must have opposed the motion decided by making a motion that is opposite or voted for a motion differing from the decided one. A divergent opinion is given right after the decision-making and before this item in the agenda is closed. The divergent opinion is written down in the minutes. If the person wants he/she can leave written clarification on the opinion before the minutes are scrutinized, which then is added to the minutes attachment. A divergent opinion is quite a powerful measure so it should not be used just because a decision doesn t seem nice. There are, however four situations when it is in place: The decision made is against the law and thereby puts the club at risk of legal consequences The decision is politically incorrect in a way that the person cannot, due to his own values or principles, take responsibility for this decision. There was not enough authority to make this decision or it is in contradiction with the club s rules. The decision made is an irresponsible use of the clubs funds A resolution A resolution is the expression of will of the clubs meeting. It is often referred to more as a wish and so it is not as strongly binding than an official decision. With a resolution the members of the club can, for example, oblige the board to find out whether next year s meeting could be in a specific place, or if a new event is organized, etc. A motion of the proposal can be made in any part of the meeting but a vote whether the motion is carried out or rejected is always made at the end of the meeting after actual decision points. There must always be a vote for resolutions Suggest and second In club meetings when a motion of a matter is made there must also be at least one person seconding the motion so that the matter is taken into further discussion. When electing a person, no seconding is needed but all the people suggested will be taken into the election. It is also possible to withdraw a motion and so avoid a vote. At board meetings new items can be brought to the agenda during the meeting while they are approving the agenda. There is no need to second the motion for new items, but the renewing of the agenda is a mutual decision of the board.

24 17 Sub-Organization Guide 6.8. A vote With a vote a decision is made on a certain matter or a person is chosen for a task. The voting method can either be open or secret. With an open vote all participants of the meeting can see what the others are voting. An open vote can be made, for example, by raising a hand, a roll call or with flags of different colors. In a closed vote the attendants of the meeting will only get to know the final result of the vote. A closed vote is usually made with ballots. It is important that the voters remain anonymous. If the rules of the club don't define anything else the meeting can decide the voting method used. When deciding over a matter an open vote is often used and a closed vote when electing a person. The Temppu model rule states that in meetings an open vote is used unless two (2) or more attendants who have the right to vote demand for a closed one. The course of the vote: 1. The chairman states the motions made and tells which of them are taken into the vote. If a motion has not gotten any support it is left out of the vote. If the motion is already stated in the agenda it needs no seconding. 2. Choosing the tellers (if not chosen at the beginning of the meeting) 3. Choosing the order of the vote: The chairman sets the motions into an order (A detailed or a brief order of the vote) which then has to be approved by the meeting. 4. Choosing the voting method: When deciding over a matter an open vote is normally used. 5. The vote: The chairman controls the vote and makes sure that all attendants who get to vote have the possibility to do so. The tellers count the votes. 6. The result of the vote: If after the vote there is a tie, the chairman s vote is the deciding vote. The chairman announces the final result of the vote and verifies it with a strike of the gavel A detailed order of vote In a detailed vote all participants of the meeting have an opportunity to take a stand on all the motions made, for the main motion and all the other motions that are included in the vote. The principal motion stands as basis of the vote. In the first round the meeting votes for the postponement of the principal motion and dealing with the motions. If the postponement wins, dealing with the matter ends. If the decision is to continue processing the matter in the next round there are the most differing motions of the principle one against each other. The winner of this round goes to the next round with the next further one. This goes on until there is a motion against the principal one. The winning motion of the final round will be the decision. However if a proposition about rejection has been made this motion goes against the second best one A brief order of vote As the name implies in a brief order of vote the handling of the matter might end really quickly for first the possible motions for rejection or leaving the matter on the table are discussed. The first round is always dealing with the matter and postponement (if such a motion is made). If dealing with the matter wins in the next round it will be up against rejection. Now if dealing with the matter still wins, it will be against all possible differing motions together. If the principal motion wins that will be the decision but if the other motions win then the vote will continue as a detailed vote until all motions are seen

25 Technique and terms for meetings 18 through Election for people When choosing a person, if there are more applicants than positions to be filled a vote must be made. In an election a motion does not need seconding but all people suggested will be taken into the vote (if they themselves approve). The election: 1. The chairman states the candidates and makes sure that they are eligible. (The performance auditor cannot apply to be a member or the chairman of the board) 2. Choosing the tellers (if not chosen in the beginning of the meeting) 3. Choosing the mode of election: In a person s election usually an election by majority is done if the election is not unanimous and if the club s rules don't instruct otherwise. In other words the person with most votes is elected. According to the Temppu model rule in club elections an absolute majority should vote for the same person (at least half of the given votes). If in the first round an absolute majority is not reached a second round must be made between the two candidates who got the most votes. 4. Choosing the voting method: In an election a closed vote is used. 5. The election: In a closed ballot the ballot papers are given to the people with the right to vote. The tellers count the votes and go through with the chairman that the votes are valid. (That there are no votes for Donald Duck, drawings etc.) 6. The election: If there is a tie the result is decided with lottery. The chairman announces the number of ballot papers and the division of votes and the result of the election. The final result is confirmed with a strike of the gavel.

26 19 Sub-Organization Guide 7. After the meeting 7.1. Minutes of the meeting The Associations Act article 31 states: The Chairman of the meeting must take care that the decisions made in the meeting are entered to the minutes of the meeting. This article applies to the meetings of the club, not board meetings. In practice, however, the board must take care that minutes are kept during board meetings too. This is seen as the board s responsibility while properly taking care of the clubs affairs. The minutes are also important when auditing the club. The minutes are a review of all the matters discussed in the meeting; how the meeting went and what decisions were made. If a matter was covered in the meeting it must be found from the minutes. (This also applies to resolutions, even if they were written on a cardboard plate). There are different kinds of minutes of meeting. The most common one is the minutes with decisions, which includes all decisions and possible votes. (The motions and the FINAL result of the vote.) Minutes with summary present the main content of the primary motion and all other motions and information of who has made the motion. In minutes of discussion the discussions during the meeting are recorded as elaborately as possible. Minutes of discussion are useful, for example, when having innovative meetings. People tend to easily forget or remember just their own version of what has occurred during the meeting. It is therefore very important that the minutes of the meeting are kept systematically and accurately. It is good to number the pages of the document. This way it is easy to note that nothing has been added or removed afterwards. Old minutes work as guidance for future board members. You can find background information for projects started earlier or use them as an example for scheduling or organizing certain events. When writing the history of the club, old documents are vital. Old minutes are also used in auditing the club. You also need the minutes of the meeting when changing the right to use the accounts of the club. All documents that are approved in the meeting (for example, the budget or contracts made) must be added as an attachment to the minutes. The attachments are numbered and mentioned in the item when they are discussed. The layout of the minutes changes a lot with different guilds and clubs. Some use a readymade layout with long traditions, while others change their style with new board members. There is no correct layout, the content is what matters. The following must be found within the minutes: The nature of the meeting: Which meeting is this? The number of the meeting (2/2010). (This helps to assure that each of the minutes are saved.) The name of the club The date of the meeting

27 After the meeting 20 The starting and ending time of the meeting. (either as separate items or as a note in the minutes) The place of the meeting Attendants of the meeting Noted in the beginning of the minutes (board meetings) As an attachment (general meetings) If an attendant that is not a board member or an officer (board meetings) or a club member (general meetings) has the right to speak or vote, it must be written on this list. If the attendant is not in the meeting for the duration of the meeting the time of the attendant s arrival and/or departure must be written down. A mention of the meetings legitimacy and quorum (or if not). The decisions made Possible divergent opinions The signatures of the chairman and the secretary of the board Possible signatures of the scrutinizers Possible attachments Scrutinizing and the scrutinizers of the minutes In board meetings scrutinizers are not necessarily needed because it is practical that the previous meeting s minutes are checked in the next one. The club s board s first and last meetings are exceptions, where it is advised to choose scrutinizers. If the previous meeting s minutes are checked in the following meeting it is good to send the minutes beforehand to the board, for example, via . This way no time in the meeting is wasted when everybody reads the latest minutes there. If there are no comments to the content the minutes is approved. If corrections are needed they are entered in the minutes of that meeting, the original minutes are not modified. The task of the scrutinizers is to make sure that the secretary has entered the course of the meeting correctly to the minutes. In clubs general meetings two scrutinizers of the minutes must always be elected because the minutes are not approved by the next meeting. The minutes are checked with a signature of the scrutinizers. The scrutinizers read through the minutes after the meeting and either propose corrections or approve the document as it is. The scrutinizers do not have the right to modify the minutes themselves but the modification should be done by the chairman of the meeting. If consensus is not reached the scrutinizers can leave the document unsigned and so the only possible procedure is to take the minutes to the general meeting to decide on How do the minutes of the general meeting differ from the minutes of a board meeting? In a club s general meeting a chairman, secretary, tellers and scrutinizers of the minutes are chosen. Deputies for the tellers and scrutinizers might also be chosen. The selection is done at the beginning of the meeting when it comes to order. These selections might also need to be done in the board s first meeting, if the members of the board are not elected to a specific task but as general board members. In these cases the beginning of the agenda goes as follows: 1. Opening of the meeting 2. Coming to order 3. Approving the agenda

28 21 Sub-Organization Guide 4. In the general meeting s agenda the following items are not needed: The next meeting Scrutinizing the minutes of previous meeting(s). (This point is not needed for there are people chosen for the task.) The publicity of the minutes A member of the club has the right to see the original version (not a copy or an extract) of the minutes of the general meeting. The minutes of board meetings, however, do not need to be fully published. Board members, officers and auditors always have a right to see the minutes. Although the minutes are not public the decision made are. The board can, for example, publish a list of what decisions have been made in the club s notice board, mailing list etc. Publishing a list like this is recommended in order to keep the members updated and the work of the board as transparent as possible When the minutes have been checked and approved Guilds and INTO: When the minutes of the board meeting of the guild have been approved a copy with original signatures of the document and possible attachments must be made and delivered to the Student Union. The original copy must be stored by the guild. The same applies to the minutes of general meetings. Clubs: When the minutes of the general meeting of the club have been approved a copy with original signatures and possible attachments must be made and delivered to the Student Union. There is no need to take board meeting minutes to the Student Union but the club should store them themselves. The documents taken to the Student Union are Printed two-sided (long edge), 2 pages in sheet Perforated NOT stapled

29 Financial matters of the club Financial matters of the club 8.1. The board takes care of the funds and the property of the club The board is responsible for the decisions it makes, also for the ones concerning financial matters. Thereby it is important for each board member to acknowledge what is decided on, what has already been decided on and that all the decisions made are done according to the rules of the club, the action plan and the budget. The board should act responsibly when using the funds of the club and constantly be aware of the financial situation of the club. This is why it is important that all financial decisions noted in the minutes are elaborate and accurate. In addition to everyday financial management the task of the board is also to prepare the clubs action plan and budget for the next season. The board must take care of accounting and draw the financial statement and balance. The general meeting of the club approves the budget and action plan and confirms the financial statement. The budget and the action plan give framework and goals for the next years board. The statement of earnings and the annual report indicate how the board has carried out their goals for the term. The budget and the financial report must have a matching structure so that they can easily be compared. The same applies to the annual plan and report. The treasurer of the board must complete courses that indicate that he or she is capable of working as a treasurer. Usually this means one course in TUT (TTA-12030, Administration and Financing of a Non-Profit Organization) and a course on accounting organized by the Student Union. Currently the accounting course is only held in Finnish but the material is available also in English. For more guidance in English do not hesitate to ask the Student Union representatives. There must be a board decision for all the expenses of the club. What the money is used for and the amount spent must be clearly stated in the decision. The decision can be made before or after the purchase. It is advisable, whenever it s possible, to budget the use of money beforehand. Example: The very comfortable couch of the club is broken and cannot be used anymore. The board has decided to get a new couch to delight the members. If an accurate cost for the couch is not known the board decides in its meeting the maximum amount that can be used for a new couch. 'Decided to buy a new couch to replace the broken one. Let's reserve a maximum of 150 euros to buy a new couch. If an accurate cost is known a more precise decision is made. ''Decided to buy a new couch to replace the broken one. The couch will be bought from Samu for 124 euros.'' Example: In the board meeting a decision has been reached where Teemu goes looking for couches and writes down prices for different options. Teemu, however decides to buy a couch for 300 euros and without the authorization of the board. In this case the board can decide not to compensate Teemu or just a fraction of the cost. All decision of purchase and the amount of money that can be spent must be done

30 23 Sub-Organization Guide beforehand in a way that the decision is clear to everyone in the board. The board must decide itself what kind of practices to use with bills. As a premise all bills are accepted in the board meeting. If there are, however a lot of bills a decision can be made where for example the chairman and the treasurer can approve small (about 20 euro) expenses that are a part of the clubs everyday activities with a signature Save the receipts Every expense is made with a board decision and after the purchase it is verified with a receipt. The receipt must show: Where has the money been used How much money has been used Who the money has been paid to When it was paid (the date.) The point of the receipt is to assure that the note in the accounts for a specific amount and purpose is valid. When a receipt is attached to the accounting there must be a note that it has been approved in the board meeting. What if a receipt is lost? This shouldn't happen because all receipts are kept in a safe place, for example, in a folder. If this occurs in an extreme situation it can be approved by any kind of written report about the expense. This report is written and signed by the person who has used the money Budget The budget always applies to one accounting period. (The rules of the club define the duration of this period. It can be a calendar year or an academic year.) The budget states to which causes and how much money the club will use during the next period. From the budget one must clearly be able to see how the activities will be funded? (Membership fees, financial aid, sponsorships etc.) The budget binds the board not to use more money than is reserved and to make sure that the budgeted income is acquired. At the same time the budget authorizes the board to use the money in the budget. The Association s Act article 1 states: You can found an association to put into practice similar ideological views (the word ideological is so widely interpreted that this it includes all clubs from civic organizations to sports and leisure clubs). The aim of an ideological association cannot be for profits or financial benefits. The money gained must merely be a medium to provide activities that the members profit from. This means that the budget s last line should be close to zero. If the club has a profitable budget there must be a reason for that. This can be for example collecting money for a larger scale project. The budget is approved in the club s fall meeting, when the accounting period is a calendar year and in the spring meeting if the term is an academic year. So the term s 2015 budget is approved in the fall of 2014 and the budget of term is approved in the spring of Plan of action The plan of action is a guideline for the activities and goals of the upcoming term. In short it is an explanation of what will be done over the next year. The plan of action goes together with the budget: if there is an event in the plan there should also be some money reserved

31 Financial matters of the club 24 for it in the budget. If some event or activity requires money, this money must come from somewhere and the budget is that somewhere. The board prepares a proposition for the plan of action which is processed and verified by the club s general meeting. The plan of action and the budget do not need to be accepted as they are. It is possible that the club s general meeting makes changes to the documents. The plan of action is most importantly a guideline for the board. It binds the board to put into practice what is stated in the plan. The board must always work according to the budget and the rules of the club. When drawing a plan of action for the next term it is wise to use common sense; if there are too many projects for one year there is a danger that most of them will not be carried through. Everyday realism might come as a shock, not all board members want to spend all their free-time taking care of the club s affairs and finding volunteers is not always that easy. When organizing a big event a lot of time and money is required, so when planning for the future season it is important to prioritize the events. The plan should also be concrete enough because vague ideas might lead to the wrong track. If the plans are too detailed they may tie the hands of the board too much and give no space to different kinds of approaches. Remember to look for the happy medium! 8.4. The financial statement and annual report The financial statement describes the last term financially. It includes the following parts: The balance, which describes the financial situation of the club (funds and debts) at the end of the season. Statement of earnings, which describes how the club has gotten into the situation described in the balance. Annual report, which describes what all the numbers mean. What has been done with the funds in real life? There should be a report of different kinds of activities, events, etc. that year. The balance, the annual report and the statement of earnings are bound together as the balance book and the report of the auditors is also attached Auditing The point of auditing is to make sure that the board has been cautious and has worked according to the rules of the club and the Finnish law. In the auditing both the finances and the administration in the club is put into inspection. The auditors, however do not evaluate the appropriateness of the activities (if a certain decision was good or not for the goals of the club) but only the legitimacy of the actions. It is good to do checks more than just once a year so that possible faults are easier to spot and correct. The help of the auditors is especially needed in the beginning of the term so that practices are good from the beginning. Often an official mid-term audit is made at the beginning of the season A performance auditor or a certified auditor? The meeting of the club chooses auditors and their deputies as the Associations act article 38 states:

32 25 Sub-Organization Guide An association must have a performance auditor if they do not have a certified auditor. If only one auditor is chosen this person must have a deputy. The rules of the club can define that there must be more than one auditor. It is quite common to choose two auditors and for them personal deputies. For sub-organizations of the Student Union it is enough to have a performance auditor but registered associations can choose one of the two options, a performance or a certified auditor. A certified auditor is a person with a certification to do audits of accounts so finding a person like this is not always easy and might cost money for the club. A club must have a certified auditor if one of the following terms is filled: The balance is over 100,000 The statement of earnings is more than 200,000 The association has a paid staff of more than three people. (These hardly ever come through when talking about associations in our Student Union.) Who can be chosen as a performance auditor? It is obvious that not everyone can be an auditor. The person chosen should have some understanding in legal and financial matters. There is no statutory requirement for the job but in practice an auditor should know how to read account books and understand the balance and statement of earnings. The only statutory requirement is that an auditor must be independent. Membership of the club is not a requirement or an obstacle for the task so both club members or non-members can be chosen. Independence means that an auditor cannot be a person who is involved in the matters under inspection or be in a close relationship with such a person. In other words an auditor cannot be: A board member of the current season You cannot check the accounts of the last year and be in the board of this year. A member of the board or officer of the year under inspection In this case a person would be checking his/her own activities. The clubs staff member (if there happens to be one) A spouse, a partner or a close relative of any of the aforementioned (a matter of impartiality) How is the auditing done? The board should be aware of the auditing during the whole season. This means delivering the receipts to the cashier in time, checking the minutes and keeping the books regularly. The auditors have the right to ask for the clubs minutes or the accounting books at any time during the season. Auditing is inspecting the finances and the administration of the club. In the audit you must make sure that the entered costs correspond to the receipts (See chapter 8.1.1). Has the clubs income been entered appropriately and has the noting been done correctly? The auditors should also go through the minutes of board meeting to assure that the administration is correctly organized and that the decisions made match the accounts (for example, for a sauna evening is not budgeted 500 euros and spent 1000 euros) and have been implemented. One should also check that the decisions made are as the rules of the

33 Financial matters of the club 26 club define and that the board has not exceeded its authority. The accounting documents must be delivered to the auditors at the latest four (4) weeks before the general meeting, where the last terms documents are discussed and in general whenever the auditors ask for the books. When the auditing has been done the auditors deliver the documents and a report of the auditing to the board. The auditors should give their report to the board no later than two (2) weeks before the general meeting. After this the board discusses over the report in their meeting and later presents the report to the general meeting Auditor s checklist Go through the balance and statement of earnings and make sure there are no miscalculations. Make sure the financial report is correctly done. Go through all the transactions and make sure they are correct Go through the receipts and make sure that for every expense there is a receipt. Go through the bank statements of each month and make sure that every income and expense is also found in the books. Also check that the balance of the account always matches the one in the books. Go through the minutes of the board meetings. Make sure that there is a decision for all expenses and that the decisions are made as the rules of the club define. Compare the annual report and statement of earnings, do they match? If you find confusions ask the board immediately. An auditor must be meticulous it is the necessary characteristic of a good auditor The auditing report Based on the auditing (and the board reports) an auditing report is made which then acts as a motion for the general meeting. In the motion it is stated whether the auditors recommend or are against the boards and other responsible persons discharging from liability for the accounts. This report must be left to the board no later than 2 weeks before the general meeting. The rules of the club define when the auditors must have the material needed for auditing. In the auditing report the following questions must be answered: Is the financial statement correctly done? Does the financial statement give accurate and sufficient information about the result and financial situation of the association? Does the statement include the essential parts of the income, expenses, funds, owners equity, debts and collaterals given by the association? Can the financial statement be verified? Can the board and the officers be discharged of liability for the accounts? The auditing report must also mention if there has been harm to the club due to activities by the board (for example, funds have been carelessly used for the amusement of the board alone) or that in the activities laws or the clubs rules have been broken. The report must also note if board members or officers are involved in activities that might later require compensation for damages. The checkers do not need to take a stand on who is responsible of these activities or if the offences are so severe that compensation might be needed. If the board has acted against the decisions made in the general meeting but has not caused financial harm or any other damage that might require compensation, it is not a matter of

34 27 Sub-Organization Guide the auditors. This is then a matter of the appropriateness of the board s activities and it should be evaluated by the members of the club in the general meeting. The financial report can be verified if it is correctly done. The board and the officers can be discharged from liability for the accounts if their activities do not raise complaints What if verifying the financial report cannot be recommended? A financial statement including mistakes must not be verified! It is not the task of the auditor to correct the mistakes but to merely point them out for the board to clarify and correct. The auditors can, for example, ask these kinds of questions: Where has this money come from? In which meeting has a decision on this matter been made? Where is the receipt? There are roughly three types of mistakes: technical mistakes, flaws in management of finances and administration and severe problems Technical mistakes A technical mistake is a miscalculation, missing income or expense, etc. The mistake might be a few wrong figures or, for example, that the structure of the financial statement or balance is incorrect. These mistakes are quite easily fixed and can be done with a mere correction by the board. The statement cannot be accepted before the corrections are made. If there are huge mistakes or if there are lots of them the auditor might state in the auditing report that the statement cannot be verified as they are and that the board should correct the mistakes and make a new statement. If there are not copious numbers of mistakes the auditor can recommend verification after the board has corrected the mistakes Flaws in management of finances and administration In addition to actual mistakes the checking often brings out flaws in the management of finances and administration of the club. There might be expenses that have no board decision, or transactions without a receipt. These kind of flaws cannot be fixed afterwards, minutes cannot be changed or receipts magically found. If there are only a few flaws like this and the amounts are not huge the statement can still be verified. It is still good to mention these flaws in the auditing report and if there are bigger amounts involved to make an official statement on the matter. These flaws are not an obstacle for verifying the statement (unless, for example, receipts are entirely neglected). The statement is there to show that the club has to make improvements in financial matters and as a guideline for the next term s board Severe problems Unfortunately severe problems are not rare. The following situations are examples of severe problems: A lot of money is missing A lot of money is put somewhere where it s not supposed to be put The board has exceeded its authority

35 Financial matters of the club 28 In this case the auditors must debate, if the board and the officers can be discharged from liability for the accounts at all. Liability means: There has been financial damage to the association due to: The boards (or a board members) intentional and negligent activity. The auditors must evaluate if this damaging activity has been due to an accident or if it was intentional with awareness of the risk and that harm to the club might be caused. If there is a problem in these kinds of matters the auditors can and should ask for help from the Student Union. The discharge from liability for the accounts is questioned only in situations where the auditor sees that there has been damage to the club from which the board can be seen as liable for damage. Money has been lost due to the neglect and carelessness of the board. An officer has stolen money from the cash register or the bank account of the club. Someone has received a large amount of money as an advance and cannot clarify where the money has been used. Due to the activities of the board or board member(s) the club has become liable to pay damages. The board has given away significant amounts of the clubs property without the approval of the clubs general meeting. The board has exceeded its authorities and used the funds of the club to a meaning that has not gotten the approval of the general meeting Discharging from liability for the accounts With the information obtained the auditor either recommends or opposes the board from being discharged from liability for the accounts. The auditor however does not decide on the matter. It is the task of the general meeting of the club to evaluate whether the board should take responsibility for the possible neglect. If the members have nothing to comment on, discharging from liability for the accounts is granted. This means that financial responsibility is no longer on the board s shoulders. The association decides that it has no claims for the board while discharging them from liability. If discharging from liability for the accounts is not granted this means the association has suffered from damages that the board (or a board member) must compensate. In practice this means the association goes to charge its claims from the responsible persons. You cannot decline discharging from liability for the accounts just for a tease; it must always happen with valid reasoning. After discharging from liability for the accounts, it cannot be taken away so possible claims for damages must be done before this. There is, however, one exception. The discharging from liability is done based on the information given to the auditors. If afterwards it is found out that that the auditing was based on false information the discharging does not stand. If something has happened during the season (for example, an embezzlement offence) and the auditors could not have known about it, the matter can be discussed in court even after the discharging. A club s verification can never overrule criminal responsibility.

36 29 Sub-Organization Guide 8.7. Selling advertisements In an overall project or other ad-sale sales a situation might come up where the firm contacted requires a Y-code (in Finnish Y-koodi is a code used to identify a firm or an association). The Student Union s sub-organizations are then allowed to use the y-code of the Student Union to organize the billing via the Student Union s bank accounts. When sending a bill it is important to emphasize to the payer that the clubs name is added to the attachment in the message field in the transaction. When using the Student Unions bank account a tax of 2% is applied as a compensation of the work done by the Student Union. Excursion groups are an exception and do not pay this tax.

37 Communications Communications Openness between the board and the members of the club is a prerequisite for a functional club. It is important that the matters in the club are openly discussed and informing the board and members is taken care of. Openness increases trust and gives the member a feeling that he/she can actually have a say on how things are done even though this person is not a board member. Satisfied members like to participate in the events. The communication in the Student Union is based on the Student Union communication channel guideline (verified in fall 2013). The whole guideline can be found on the Student Union s webpages POP POP functions as the main communication channel. The more POP is used as a communication channel, the more likely it is that the members will use it to find information Event calendar All the events organized by the Student Union or its sub-organizations are added to the POP Event Calendar and not submitted as news. The messages concerning the events should include the description of the event and the event s title also in English. If the ticket sales for the event start substantially before the actual event takes place, the sales can be made as a separate event, but not as a news item. If the event lasts for longer than a day, for example two weeks, but takes only a couple of hours a day, for example sports courses, you can either make all these parts as separate events or only announce the date and the time of the first part of the event. The events concerning all the members of the Student Union will be copied straight from the POP event calendar to WerkkoAnturi. Unless you want to add a picture or give extra information about the event, there is no need to make a separate announcement to WerkkoAnturi. The announcement should be made no later than on the Friday prior to the publishing of WerkkoAnturi. If you are organizing an internal event for a sub-organization and want it to be published in WerkkoAnturi as well, you need to send a notification to werkkoanturi@ttyy.fi. If your organization is organizing an event that concerns all members of the Student Union but for some reason you do not wish it to be published in WerkkoAnturi, you need to inform the Student Union about it News You can submit a news item to POP about things that concern the activities of either the Student Union or a sub-organization, but not about an event. If you submit a news item to POP, it should be submitted separately to the Finnish and English site.

38 31 Sub-Organization Guide 9.2. Student Union webpages webpages can be found at The Temppu model rule and contact details for all sub-organizations can be found there. Please check that there are updated details of your club. The information on the Student Union website,.fi, is static and produced by the Student Union. The main purpose of the website is to inform both the members of the Student Union and outsiders of the Student Union and its activities. The website includes general information, events, news and the Student Union s blog. The announcements by the Student Union and its interest groups are submitted as news items. Only the Council meetings and the anniversary gala of the Student Union will be added to the event calendar. Other events can be found on WerkkoAnturi or POP. Everyone in the Student Union may produce content for the blog whenever there is something happening in their sector and they want to express their opinion informally Facebook Social media is a good communication channel and great for last minute reminders. When organizing an event, you should consider whether it would make sense to create a separate event on Facebook or whether it would be enough that you just post a notice on the Facebook group page. The Student Union Facebook page is used for reminders of Student Union events, the Student Unions job announcements or announcements from the Student Union s interest groups. If you would like the Student Union to share your clubs Facebook updates send an to viestinta@ttyy. Don t forget to like in Facebook! Twitter The Student Union has a Twitter account, which is connected to the Facebook account. All the updates posted on Facebook are automatically replicated to Twitter Office 365 The Student Union also has a site on office 365, which partially replaces the old wiki. The Student Union and other interest groups can have material delivered through the site.

39 Communications WerkkoAnturi WerkkoAnturi is s web-magazine, which is published approximately once a month (exam weeks and holidays may have an effect on the publishing dates). In WerkkoAnturi there are announcements and articles concerning, for example, student and working life. Each magazine also has some articles in English. Your club is more than welcome to write to WerkkoAnturi, the style and content of the article is free. It can be, for example, a story about an excursion, of an event, a column etc. To propose an idea or a ready-made story, send a mail to werkkoanturi@ttyy.fi Mailing lists The three most used lists for sub-organizations are: ttyy-killat@listmail.tut.fi can be used to reach the boards of the guilds. This list is meant for communication that concerns only the boards of the guilds (in other words the messages are not meant to reach the guilds members). This list can be used, for example, for informing others of the guild s sitsit and for invitations to annual parties. ttyy-puljut@listmail.tut.fi can be used to reach the boards of all the sub-organizations and sports clubs of the Student Union. ttyy-tiedotuslista@listmail.tut.fi can be used to reach the people responsible for communications in the sub-organizations as well as other people who are interested in communications and have subscribed to the list. The information sent to this list will be forwarded to the members of the sub-organizations by the people responsible for communications. For example, event announcements, mass surveys and all announcements that concern all the members of the Student Union must be sent to this list. All the urgent messages coming from the Student Union are sent by the communications sector of the Student Union directly to lists that include all the members of the suborganizations. tiedottaa: or informs: - The messages that have this as their subject should be let through to the member lists either straight away or with the next weekly newsletter, depending on the communication practices of the sub-organization. The subject tiedottaa: or informs: may only be used by the Board and the Secretariat of the Student Union and the acting chairpersons of these sections, and only for informing of the events organized by the Student Union. This subject won t be used for forwarding a message from an interest group or any other outside source Notice boards There are six general notice boards at TUT: three in the Konetalo Building, two in the Tietotalo Building and one in the Sähkötalo Building. You can recognize the general notice boards by s Notice Board Directive. The notice boards must be used according to the instructions given in the Directive.

40 33 Sub-Organization Guide The Student Union has four notice boards of its own. These may only be used for notifying students and personnel of the events organized by the Student Union. Almost all clubs also have their own notice board. These notice boards are meant for only the clubs announcements, all others can be taken away. If you have questions concerning the notice boards (you don t have one etc.) please contact the communications sector viestinta@ttyy.fi Notice board directive and accurate board locations can be found in Printed publications of the Student Union s Finnish fuksi-magazine FuksiAnturi is edited in the spring and sent to new students in July with their acceptance letters. All clubs have a possibility to get a brief presentation of their club to the magazine. The secretary of communications and sub-organizations will ask for these texts in the spring. Similar information concerning the Teekkari calendar is also collected in the spring. The Student Unions Wappu-magazine WappuAnturi is published before Wappu. The Wappusecretaries are responsible of this magazine and will ask for information about Wappuevents from the clubs.

41 The Student Union and its sub-organizations The Student Union and its sub-organizations works for the students of TUT as a supervisor of interests and a provider of services. These tasks have been appointed in the University act. The Student council has the highest authority. It takes care of larger scale guidelines and goals and defines the basis of action through the budget. The Student Union Board makes sure that the council s decisions are put to everyday action. The board also makes decisions concerning everyday activities. The secretariat prepares and executes these decisions according to the instructions given by the board. They also take care of daily routine tasks in the Student Union. A club acts either directly under the Student Union (as a sub-organization) or in the surroundings of the Student Union (registered associations). Working directly under the Student Union means that the Student Union has legal responsibility, where registered associations have to answer for their actions themselves. Since the Student Union takes legal responsibility for the sub-organizations they must answer to the Student Union Board for their actions and the Student Union Board has a right to supervise the club The sub-organization database (AY-kilke) Annually basic information of the clubs is collected to the sub-organization database. The database must be filled every spring, usually in the beginning of May. Clubs that have a different kind of term still fill the database at the same time, but they add their information later. These kinds of special situations can be noted in the database and they are not excuses to miss the deadline. The database can be found at Filling it is a pre-requisite for getting the sub-organization aid. According to the suborganizations act article 6 (approved by the Student Council ) every suborganization must provide the following documents annually even if they do not apply for a sub-organizations grant. General information about the club (specified in the database) Contact information of the board of the club Annual report of the last term Financial statement of the last term The annual plan for the next term The budget for the next term Certifications that the treasurer of the club has passed the courses required. The club s rules (if they are not already in the database or have changed from the previous version.) The following information is required for clubs working in co-operation with the Student Union: basic information about the club, the boards contact details, the last term s report and the plan of action of the following term from parts that are connected with the activities of the Student Union Sub-organization s grant The Student Union Board grants aid to its sub-organizations every year. The suborganization grant is meant to support the general activities of the club. The amount of aid given is based on the needs of the club. The financial situation of the club, the number and nature of activities and how well the club takes care of its responsibilities from the Student Unions point of view are used as criteria for the size of the grant. The sub-organizations grant is applied via the database. There is a field where you can either write down your application or leave an attachment. Which clubs the aid is granted is

42 35 Sub-Organization Guide decided during the summer and so the aid is usually paid at the beginning of the fall. Requirements for the aid are that the form is filled in time and that the treasurer of the board has passed the courses required (TTA and a course in accounting). An insufficiently filled sub-organizations form without explanation or discussion with the Student Union representatives is an adequate reason to refuse granting a sub-organizations aid. No aid is paid before all attachments have been submitted. If the submission of the attachments is delayed until the next calendar year or, for example, the sub-organization has not yet gotten a confirmation for its status, the missing grant will not be paid the following year Project grant s sub-organizations can apply for a project grant for a special project. This grant is not given to general activities of the club like excursions or sauna evenings, or annual celebrations (not even when even numbered). The Student Union project grant can t be more than 50% of the project s budget. The rest must be paid by the club itself or gained through sponsors. The following points must be clear in the project grant application: Project plan and budget The target group and its size (especially the number of teekkaris in this group) The repeatability and internationality of the project The financial situation of the applying club Other grants or funds obtained for the project Grants obtained by the club in the previous years Activities stated in the sub-organizations act that apply to the club. After the project a report on the project must be submitted to the Student Union. The project report must include at least the following: The projects financial statement compared with the original budget A detailed description of the project. If possible, list of participants and if there was money left over, the use of this money. If a final report is not submitted or the project grant is used for something other than what the project grant was supplied for, the club can be ordered to refund the project grant to the Student Union. You can apply for a project grant by sending an application to ttyy-hakemukset@ttyy.fi or by leaving it at Paula s desk. Application forms can be found on the Student Union website Support grant A support grant is granted to a club or a person whose work has supported the teekkari culture enormously and/or has positively aroused teekkari-spirit. These grants have been given, for example, for improving the teekkari music culture, activities that bring together students from different fields, etc. These support grants are given twice a year in the spring and in the fall. Anyone can anonymously nominate someone for this grant via a form found on the Student Union webpage. It is recommended that the nomination is justified and that the reasons of justification are attached to the nomination.

43 The Student Union and its sub-organizations The Student Council The Student Council of 35 members is elected every two years with a common vote among the members of the Student Union. Every member of the Student Union who has registered and is present in the term of the election has the right to vote. The Student Council is the highest authority in the Student Union. Every year the council nominates the Student Union Board and chooses among the council a chair and two vice-chairs for the council. The Student Union council meets at least twice a year; in the spring for going through the previous year s financial statements the previous year s report and for discussing the discharge of liability and in the fall for deciding the coming year s budget and Student Union Board members. In practice meetings are held every few months. The council meetings are open to all members of the Student Union. Fuksis get fuksi points from participating in the meetings. The dates of the councils meeting can be found in POP and the Student Unions website, also reminders are sent via and Facebook. The chairman of the student council can be reached at edari-pj@ttyy.fi and the whole council from edari@tut.fi Why should the clubs care about the Student Union Council? The council decides how the Student Union s funds are used, for example, the budget for the sub-organization grants. The council also approves the rules and changes to the rules in clubs. If your clubs board has no council members it is advisable to ask from time to time that someone active in the council comes to tell your board what is going on in the council The Student Union Board The Student Union Board is formed of a chairman and 5-9 board members. Working in the Student Union Board is a little bit different than working in a club s board. The Student Union Board has several different sectors that one member is responsible of. The most important ones are: Chairman Financial affairs Educational affairs (1 2 persons) Social affairs Sub-organizations Communications International affairs Teekkari culture These sectors mentioned above are so-called main sectors that the board members work in. They all also have sub-sectors such as sports, tutoring, post-grad student, city council, culture, etc Guild guardian Each Student Union Board member has one or more guilds whose activities they supervise and work as a guardian. This person is a link between the guild and the Student Union so that information can be exchanged smoothly. The guardian cannot be supervising his/her own guild and it is important that all the guilds traditions are also new to the guardian. The Student Union s international affairs responsible usually works as the guardian of INTO.

44 37 Sub-Organization Guide The guild guardian visits the guilds activities and board meetings whenever possible. It is, however, good to also stay in contact via and keep the guardian updated on what is going on in the guild. This works best by adding the guild guardian to the guild s board s list and possible other information channels. The guild representatives can also visit the guardian in the Student Union or request that he/she visits a certain meeting and, for example, helps to clarify certain changes in the university, etc The Secretariat The secretariat is there together with the Student Union Board for taking care of the Student Unions everyday services and for executing long term supervision of interests The Secretary General The secretary general works as the superior of the secretariat. The secretary generals responsibilities are, for example, following the Student Union s financial situation, making short term investments and planning the budget together with the boards responsible for financial affairs. The secretary general also acts as a secretary in the board meetings, Student Union council meetings and other committees where the Student Union Council has appointed him/her. This person also represents the Student Union in some sectors of the university s administration and Student Union s co-operation The Office Secretary The most well known of all Student Union secretaries is Paula Nykänen, the office secretary who is in charge of the service desk at the Student Union. From Paula s desk you can, for example, get or order your student card, get the keys for a van, Teekkarisauna or Hotelli Torni and order a teekkari cap The Secretary for Educational Affairs The secretary for educational affairs together with the boards responsible is in charge of keeping up with the educational politics nationally and inside the university. Fields that the educational sector works on are, for example, student counselling and better teaching and administration in the university. The secretary prepares documents for the board s responsible in order to help the board s decision-making. The secretary also represents the Student Union in different educational work-groups The Secretary for Social Affairs The secretary for social affairs together with the board s responsible takes care of issues concerning the social well-being of students. These are, for example, living and health issues and equality for all students. Like the secretary of educational affairs, the social affairs secretary also prepares documents on his/her field to support board decisions and acts as a member in work groups concerning the social sector Secretary for Communications and Sub-Organizations The secretary for communications and sub-organizations is in charge of everyday announcements and together with the board s communications responsible developing the communications within the Student Union. The communications secretary is in charge of the Student Unions web-magazine WerkkoAnturi and s fuksi-magazine. The secretary also guides sub-organizations in different matters like changes in rules, issues concerning club

45 The Student Union and its sub-organizations 38 rooms etc The Sauna Major The sauna major looks after the teekkarisauna Mörrimöykky and teaches the clubs renting the sauna how to properly use it. The major goes through the sauna after a party has rented it and if necessary repairs the faults. The major also plans and executes long-term renovation plans for the sauna Other secretaries The Student Union also has many other part-time secretaries. The ADP-secretary takes care of the Student Union web pages and the server and makes purchases in that field. The Student Union also has several project secretaries. Some projects last for a few months, some for a few years. There are, for example, secretaries for corporate relations and secretaries who organize Wappu or the Student Union s annual celebration How can I reach the Student Union representatives? All members of the Student Union are allowed to come follow the student councils meetings, which are held approximately once every few months. The board of the Student Union meets every week, but these meetings are closed. The list of the board s decisions made, however, are public and can be found in the Student Union s official notice board in the main buildings 2nd floor. You can also meet members of the Student Union Board and secretariat in the Student Union coffee room YO-café. Don't be afraid to join for a cup of coffee! The contact details of board members and the secretariat can be found at the Student Unions webpage General questions can be sent to ttyy@ttyy.fi Student representatives in the university s administration Student representatives in the administration (Halloped in Finnish) are students that act in the executive parts of the university administration. They are legal members of the sector with a few exceptions (students do not for example, have a say in master s thesis grades). The Hallopeds represent not just themselves but all students. There are student representatives in the faculty, departments, language center, library and senate. In addition students have reserved places for many projects and work groups. Any Student Union member can apply to become a Halloped. As support, the Student Union provides a course called Administration and Financing of a Non-Profit Organization. The only requirement for a good student representative is to reserve some time to be able to go through the material, keep in contact with the guild and the Student Union and so by have a broad view of the issue at hand. The tasks of the student representatives vary depending on the sector, from everyday opinions to long-term strategic planning. By submitting feed-back and ideas to the student representative you too can have a say in how things are done! How are the student representatives chosen? Any present students can apply to become a student representative. An open university student cannot apply. Also a working-relation in the university may cause a conflict in

46 39 Sub-Organization Guide working as a student representative. The exact rules can be found in the Guiding Principles of the University. Depending on to which sector you apply for, the decision of the selection will be made either by the Student Union Council or the faculty/senate as the Student Union Board states. In both cases the actual selection process is performed by the sector of educational affairs of the Student Union. The term for student representatives is three years, but many positions open in the middle of the term as well. Fill-up applications are arranged every autumn and spring What does the guild have to do with the student representatives The Guilds have a responsibility to work together with the Student Union on certain legitimate tasks. Working with the student representatives is a strong part of these responsibilities. This means that each guild must be aware of its own student representatives in the faculty and study program and what kinds of decisions are made. Keeping in contact regularly is a must! Forums, sections and councils The Student Union has several sections, councils and forums that develop and organize activities in their own field. When talking about the section field of the Student Union all of these three are being referred to Forums Forums are mainly meant for informing and sharing good practices. The Student Union forums are: Financial Forum Post Graduates forum (for post graduate students) IDS-forum (for students in international masters programs) Financial Forum is targeted for the one responsible of financial affairs and corporate relations. Mainly issues from these fields are dealt with in the forum. The aim is to support the guilds responsible and work as a forum for new ideas and discussion. Post Graduates Forum is a place for the post graduate students to mingle and find support from other post-grad students. It is also an excellent path to point out needs and flaws to the Student Unions educational sector and so also the university. IDS-Forum is a place for the international masters program students to mingle and find support from other international students. It is also an excellent path to point out needs and flaws to the Student Unions educational sector. The language used in this forum is English Sections A section differs from a forum because it is more of an executing sector which has a separate core-team. The core-team executes the sections projects independently and together with the Student Union representatives. An open meeting of the section is also organized a few times a year.

47 The Student Union and its sub-organizations 40 The Student Union sections are: Media Section Section for supervising interests International section Sports section Teekkari section Although the forums and sections often target a certain group (for example, the media section is for reporters and communications responsibles) everyone is welcome to apply for the core-teams or to participate in the open meetings of the sections. Information about meetings can be found in POP and via the mailing list ttyy-tiedotuslista. Media Section is aimed to the communications responsibles, reporters and at people interested in this field. The sections agenda is to improve communications in all the clubs and the Student Union by, for example, developing the Student Union web pages and planning and writing stories for WerkkoAnturi and other Student Union publications. The Section for Supervision of Interests is the place to influence social and educational affairs. This section puts the tasks the educational and social sections appointed by the Student Union rules into action. In this section you can, for example, influence the development of introduction courses or course feed-back or organize different kinds of events from chill out evenings to culture appros. International Section is meant for the international responsible and for all the people interested in international affairs locally and globally. The issues in the section differ from organizing international events to talking about international educational politics such as improving foreign employment in Finland. The language of the section is English. Sports Section is aimed to the sport responsible and to everyone interested in sports. The sports section wants to actively organize sports events and increase the opportunities for everyone on the campus to do sports. Teekkari Section s task is to maintain teekkari culture in Tampere and to organize teekkari-spirited activities such as jäynäs and singing evenings. The section is only meant for teekkaris (a fuksi cannot be a member). Don t keep your wildest visions to yourself, maybe the teekkari section could execute them! Councils The only difference between a council and a section is that you cannot apply to become a member of a council, the membership is appointed to you because of your task. There are two councils in : The Guild Council The Fuksi Council The Guild Council is formed by all of the guild s chairmen and vice-chairs. The aim is to increase the co-operation between guilds. The council goes through activities in the guilds and plans activities together and so enables bigger and better events that don t overlap. This council is also a good channel for the Student Union to supervise and guide the guilds if needed.

48 41 Sub-Organization Guide The Fuksi Council consists of all fuksi captains of the guilds. Together they plan and implement activities, which help the fuksis to get to know each other and Tampere Who should participate in section meetings? All clubs and guild s boards have certain tasks where the field of action is related to a specific section. For example, it is logical that the sport responsible goes to the sports section and the reporter to the media section because they get to benefit the most from the section. It is, however, not obliged like this. The main point is that all sections have a member of the board participating in it so that the information provided goes through. Although clubs are not obliged to participate in the section meetings the same way as guilds, it is advisable to do so. During the section meetings, you can obtain valuable ideas on improving your activities and you get to mingle with your colleagues from other clubs Activeness in the sections The guilds who participate in the section meetings get JAAPO points (points for being active). Each guild gets one point per attended meeting. Fuksis can also help their guild get points. The guild with the most points in the end of the year gets a reward. 11. Services for the sub-organizations Teekkarisauna Student Unions sub-organizations and organizations that work with the Student Union can rent teekkarisauna for their own events. Renting the sauna can be done by calling the Student Union office (tel (0) ) or visiting Paula s desk. The key is collected from the Student Union office and returned the day after the rental before 10 am. When collecting the key the renter is provided with instructions on how to use the alarms and behave in the sauna. There is also a possibility to rent towels or dishes. These extra items must be agreed on beforehand. If you want to cancel your reservation, it must be done two weeks before the rental at the latest. The bill for the sauna-evening will be sent via to the renter. The prices of the sauna can be found on the Student Union s webpage Hotelli Torni Hotelli Torni (Hotel Tower) is an accommodation room of, which is located on the bottom floor of Tekniikankatu 10 C. The premises are primarily used to help people without housing and secondarily for the use of clubs of the Student Union. Clubs can, for example, accommodate excursion groups from other towns. If an excursion group wants to stay in the Hotel Tower they must do it through a Student Union s sub-organization. They shouldn t contact the Student Union office themselves. The hosting club is responsible for its guests and responsible to pay, for example, cleaning expenses if necessary. The keys of the tower are collected from Paula s desk. A deposit must be paid before the rental The van and trolley The motor club TTMK (Tampereen Teekkarien Moottorikerho) rents a van for the student s use together with the Student Union. The Student Union tries to keep the prices student friendly and below commercial rates. You must be a member of the Student Union and have

49 Services for the sub-organizations 42 a B-class driver s license to rent the van. You can rent the van for the use of a club but it is not rented to TUT departments. The van is rented via the Student Union web page and the keys are collected and returned at Paula s desk. You must present a valid driving license when collecting the key. After the rental TTMK will send a bill to the renter. The trolley owned by Perinneseura is also available for rental of TUT students and staff. The trolley is reserved via the Student Union web page and the keys are collected and returned at Paula s desk. The rent is paid in cash before the rental and additional extra costs after the rental. The renter is responsible and liable for any possible damages.

50 43 Sub-Organization Guide Attachment 1: Agenda A possible way of drawing an agenda is presented here. The number of items of decision (here, 9. Kaamos Party and 10. Excursion) can differ between meetings. Some items can be named in many ways (Financial Affairs, Funds and Finances etc.) and the order of the issues can also vary. In a good agenda things have been thought through beforehand and it is reflected in well prepared motions to help the decision-making process of the board. *** Guild of Super Engineers Agenda Tampere University of Technology Board Meeting 16/2014 Time: at 14:00 Place: Student Union negotiation room Loimio 1. Opening the Meeting 2. Legitimacy and Quorum 3. Organizing the meeting 4. Approving the Agenda 5. Approving old minutes 6. Announcements and incoming mail 1. Incoming mail 2. Past events 3. Future events 4. Other announcements 7. Financial affairs Motion: The bills and receipts presented by the cashier are approved. 8. Greeting from Sections 1. Sports section Media section 17.9.

51 Attachment 1: Agenda 44 Motion: The greetings from sections are noted. 9. Kaamos party Motion: There will be a Kaamos party in Cupola on Let s agree on the division of responsibility. 10. Excursion Motion: Let s decide the date and places for excursion according to inquiries made earlier. Let s agree on the division of responsibility. 11. Sauna after exams 12. AOB 13. Next meeting Motion: The next meeting is on at 15:15 in the club room. 14. Closing the meeting Convener: Eikka Ihmemies, Chairman.

52 45 Sub-Organization Guide Attachment 2: Minutes *** Guild of Super Engineers Agenda Tampere University of Technology Board Meeting 16/2014 Time: at 14:00 Place: Student Union negotiation room Loimio Agenda: 1. Opening the Meeting 2. Legitimacy and Quorum 3. Organizing the meeting 4. Approving the Agenda 5. Approving old minutes 6. Announcements and incoming mail 7. Incoming mail 8. Past events 9. Future events 10. Other announcements 11. Financial affairs 12. Greeting from Sections 13. Sports section Media section Kaamos party 16. Excursion 17. Sauna after exams

53 Attachment 2: Minutes AOB 19. Next meeting 20. Closing the meeting Participants: The Board Eikka superman Ihmemies, Chairman Santtu Supersankari, Secretary present absent Annu Aikakova, Cashier present Joona Jousi, Studies responsible, vice-chair Siiri Sorja, Sports responsible present present Iida Ihanainen, Communications responsible arrived in issue 6 Ari Aikaansaava, Events responsible present Officers Erkka Pitkämäki, Sauna Officer Susu Takkula, Guild room officer Emil Sjöman, Excursion officer absent present present Pilvi Tuulispää, Editor-in-chief arrived in issue 9 1. Opening the Meeting The chairman opened the meeting at Legitimacy and Quorum The rules of the guild state that the meeting is legitimate if it has been convened in a matter that the board has decided on and at least half of the board members including the chairman, if the chairman is inhibited, the vice-chair, are present. The meeting has been convened as the board has stated, two days before the meeting and the agenda has been accessible 24 hours prior the meeting. Four board members including the chairman are present. Motion: The meeting is legitimate and has quorum.

54 47 Sub-Organization Guide Decision: As is stated in the motion. 3. Organizing the Meeting The board secretary Santtu has informed he has an excuse. Motion: A secretary for the meeting is chosen. Decision: Siiri is chosen as secretary. 4. Approving the Agenda Motion: The agenda sent earlier is approved Decision: A new issue, 11 Student Union annual party is added to the list. The numbering of the list is changed to correspond this new issue. The agenda is approved with the changes made. 5. Approving old Minutes Motion: Minutes for meeting 5/2014 are approved Decision: As is stated in the motion. 6. Announcements and Incoming Mail Incoming mail: The guild of super engineers has received an invitation to the annual party of the Student Union. Past events: Coming events: Fuksisauna, Media section Sports day Cleaning the clubroom 5.10 Exam sauna Annu: There are still receipts missing from the spring Joona: The department is having an information day for students on It would be good if at least some members of the board participate. An ad of the event will be sent to the guilds mailing list.

55 Attachment 2: Minutes 48 Motion: Announcements are entered in the minutes. Decision: As is stated in the motion. 7. Financial Affairs The cashier Annu presents new bills and receipts Merkillinen.fi, overall badge order 155 e Ari Aikaansaava, Food and drinks to the fuksi sauna 44,7 e Motion: The bills and expenses presented are approved. Decision: As is stated in the motion. 8. Greetings from Sections Siiri passed on greeting from the sports section and Iida from the Media section. There will be a running event in Hervanta in October an hopefully there will be many participants from many different guilds. The media section was planning new web pages for the Student Union, if you have ideas tell them to Iida. Motion: Greetings form sections are entered in the minutes. Decision: As is stated in the motion. 9. Kaamos Party Motion: Kaamosparty will be organized in Cupola The division of responsibility must be agreed on. Decision: Kaamosparty will be organized in Cupola Ari will take care of the organizing. 10. Excursion There have been enquiries for many different firms: IsoFirma Oy, Suuri Laitos Oy, Yrityshautomo, Joku vielä isompi lafka Oy. The best date for the excursion appears to be Wednesday. Motion: Excursion date and division of responsibility are decided. Decision: The excursion will be held on Wednesday The firms visited will be IsoFirma Oy and Yrityshautomo. Emil and Ari will take care of the timetable and program of the day and contact the firms. Iida will take care of informing the members. 11. Student Union Annual Party

56 49 Sub-Organization Guide There is an invitation for the Student Union annual party on The invitation is for two representatives and the price of the tickets is 65 euros. Motion: A decision on participation. Decision: It is decided that the chairman and vice-chair will represent the guild at the party. Half of both tickets will be compensated. 12. Exam Sauna The traditional exam sauna is organized on October 5th. Usually there are some snacks, etc. at the sauna. Motion: 50 euros is budgeted for refreshments and snacks. The sauna responsible takes care of providing them. Decision: As is stated in the motion 13. AOB No Any Other Business. 14. The next meeting Motion: The next meeting is on 26.9 at 15:15 in the clubroom. Decision: As is stated in the motion 15. Closing the meeting The chairman closed the meeting at Eikka Ihmemies Chairman Siiri Sorja Secretary

57 Attachment 2: Minutes 50 List of References (in Finnish) Printed references Halila, Heikki Lauri Tarasti (2011), Yhdistysoikeus. Helsinki: Talentum. Paasolainen, Seppo (2011), Yhdistyksen hallituksen pelisäännöt. Yhteistyösopimuksella tuloksiin. Toinen, tarkennettu painos. Saarijärvi: ProTaito Electronic References Jyväskylän yliopiston kielikeskus Kokoustekniikka osana kokoustaitoa, (luettu ). OK-opintokeskus Kokouksen kulku, (luettu ). Kokouskutsu, (luettu ) Lyhyt äänestysjärjestys, (luettu ). Pöytäkirja, (luettu ). Vaali, (luettu ). Vaalin kulku, (luettu ). Yksityiskohtainen äänestysjärjestys, (luettu ). Äänestys, (luettu ). Äänestyksen kulku, (luettu ). Tampereen yliopiston ylioppilaskunta, Tamypedia Talousarvio, (luettu ). Toiminnan- ja tilintarkastus, _ja_tilintarkastus (luettu ). Toimintasuunnitelma, (luettu ).

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59 Attachment 2: Minutes 52

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