Social Digest:
The Chapter Chatter
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Welcome to Chapter Chatter - June 2022. Wishing you a Happy Summer, a Happy Father's Day, a Happy Juneteenth, and a Happy Pride Month! |
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Chapter Incentive Program Extended Through June 30th
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A reminder that at their January meeting, the Board of Directors unanimously approved the proposal by Senior Vice President Todd Kirrane to extend the current Chapter Incentive program through June 30, 2022. This means that for every new OR renewed Adult or Social Dance Advocate member the chapter brings in, $5 wil go directly back to the chapter to be used to best support your local programs. In the second half of 2021, the Chapter incentive program has sent over $11,000 directly to the chapters — How much can we increase this number to in 2022? You still have one month left to up your membership numbers. |
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The current annual report that USA Dance has historically required chapters to complete is a time consuming and cumbersome process with over 15 pages of questions, many of which are not relevant to the running of the organization. At the recommendation of members of the Social Dance Council and Chapter leaders, the Board of Directors is suspending the requirement to submit the annual report this year and have asked the Social Dance Council to develop a streamlined report that captures relevant information about chapter operations and to work with our national webmaster to create an easier, online way to submit the report. We expect this process to be wrapped up in more than enough time to allow us to move forward with an annual report submittal in February of 2023.
In the meantime we thank the chapters that have submitted their reports, but ask that all remaining chapters submit their missing reports (regardless of whether or not you have been operating) ASAP so it does not negatively affect our non-profit standing with the IRS.
Chapter Board Member Listing - Please remember that all members of Chapter Boards must be members in good standing. Having Board members that are NOT up to date with their membership will cause you to be out of compliance. If you have any questions please contact Margot at membership-dir@usadance.org.
Chapter Compliance Confirmation
Transmittal For Chapter Financial Report & Bank Reconciliation Form
Quarterly Event Attendance Reporting Form
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The members of the Social Dance Council have begun meeting regularly to discuss issues relevant to chapter operations and support and to develop programs to help our chapters grow over the coming years. The current members of the Council include:
Vice President of Social Dance Lolita Brawner of Chapter 6010 in Florida
Chapter Relations Director: Phil Sisk of Chapter 6006 in Virginia
District 1: Gary Coombs of Chapter 1010 in Oregon
District 2: Bonnie Burton of Chapter 2011 in Minnesota
District 4: Maureen Cleary of Chapter 3039 in Massachusetts
District 5: Ken Pandozzi of Chapter 3009 in Pennsylvania
District 6: Herb McGurk of Chapter 4031 in California
District 7: Diane Montgomery of Chapter 5044 in Texas
District 8: Lori Maggs of Chapter 2009 in Tennessee
District 9 & Interim 10: Rebecca Kelley Fournier of Chapter 6010 in Florida
These leaders are your direct resource and support system for everything related to Chapters and Social dancing so please contact them with any questions, concerns, initiatives, etc. Their contact information is available at https://usadance.org/SocialDanceCouncil
Watch for more appointments to come out over the next month.
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Recruitment Challenge From Social VP Lolita Brawner |
Social VP Lolita Brawner is challenging all chapters to maximize membership in Q1 2022 by getting as many Social Dance Advocate $45 memberships as possible. Why the $45 membership option?
$30 - National Admin dues – Music Licenses, Liability Insurances, & Non-profit Statuses
$10 – Social Dance Events, National Chapter Leader Conference (2023); cruises, etc
$5 – Local Chapter support ($5 rebate)
It is a win-win-win for the entire organization! Which chapter will be the top in Q1-2022?
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In order to ensure our compliance with the IRS and 501c3 requirements, USA Dance chapter bank accounts are required to have the Senior VP and National Treasurer included as signatories on all accounts. Additionally, all local signatories including the Chapter President and Treasurer must be members in good standing. This, and other requirements, are included in the Chapter Financial Procedures Policy that is available on our website here: https://usadance.org/page/FinancialRecords
Over the last five months National Treasurer Esther Freeman has begun reviewing accounts to ensure compliance with these policies - a requirement of our 501c3 non-profit status. Please review the policies available via the link and take steps to ensure your chapter’s compliance. If your chapter account is not compliant, please work with Esther to bring it into compliance. She can be reached at treasurer@usadance.org
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New Affinity Program Launching in Summer of 2022 |
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In order to expand the benefits that our members receive, the Board of Directors has approved a contract with Perkspot to provide a discount program of exclusive discounts, negotiated by their team of experts, from top brands and local businesses. Once launched, USA Dance members will be able to access discounts through our Discount Portal and browse deals, search by brand or category, discover curated and personalized discounts relevant to their interests, and enjoy savings on a variety of products and services. PerkSpot’s program prides itself on driving financial wellness for it’s members and putting money back into their pockets.Look for announcements about this new program in the coming months. |
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The Florida Sunshine Dance Symposium |
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On June 17th and 18th Chapter Tallahassee Chapter 6010 will host the annual Florida Sunshine Dance Symposium and Chapter Leadership Conference. This great event will include Ballroom DanceSport competitions, Dance Workshops, Semi-formal Social Dance, and Seminars for Chapter Leaders and other key volunteers. |
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Membership Benefits! Get Your Monies Worth...
Take Advantage of the Membership Benefits As Part Of Our Agreement With Dance Vision and Our Own Free Library of Online Workshops Perfect for Social Dancers!
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During the AGM, the Board of Directors announced a new agreement with Dance Vision to strategically align the two organizations. Dance Vision, also known as DVIDA, operates one of the largest ballroom dance teacher certification programs and provides instruction on syllabus dancers for competitive and social dancers via online and app formats. While more benefits will be included in the formal announcement later this week, one of the benefits of the new agreement includes a one-time 20% off coupon code for a new monthly or annual membership for USA Dance Social Dance members. To take advantage of this membership benefit, please email Margot Garnick at membership-dir@usadance.org In order to maximize the benefit we strongly recommend the annual membership.
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From shoes to clothing to technical books, DSI London is the World’s leading one stop Dance shop for all your dancing needs. USA Dance is proud to once again partner with DSI London to provide an exclusive discount on their entire line of products. You can view and order their products at https://dsi-london.com/. To get the member exclusive discount code please contact Margot Garnick at
Thanks to the support of a private donor, USA Dance’s Collegiate Network was able to provide a semester's worth of online syllabus and social dance video instruction to collegiate clubs during the Spring of 2021. USA Dance has launched a new video platform, accessible via our website, to provide 30+ hours of instructional videos to social dance members as a benefit of membership.The videos will be accessible at
Twenty-three videos are uploaded and we will be adding more each month. Please note that these are only available to members so you must be logged into your account to access them.
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Insurance Certificates & Music Reporting Forms |
As chapters begin hosting events we have received an increase in requests for insurance liability policies to cover the event locations. Our National Liability Insurance policy covers our chapter events and facilities that host these events. Requests for coverage certificates can be made by completing the “Blank Request for Certificate of Insurance Form” available in the Chapter Admin section of our website. The form includes instructions on how to submit the form. Just a reminder that you must be logged in to access this part of the website.
Similarly, the National organization maintains membership licenses with the 3 largest music copyright holders - ASCAP. BMI, SESAC - to allow chapters to play music without violating copyright laws. An important part of this is keeping track of the level of music played at events to ensure we are not overcharged. Therefore we require that chapters submit the “Quarterly Event Attendance Reporting Form” available in the Chapter Admin section of our website. The form includes instructions on how to submit the form. Just a reminder that you must be logged in to access this part of the website.
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What's Up in American Dancer |
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National Calendar for Upcoming Events |
The National Organization continues to try to inspire America to get back to social dancing and part of this is to promote chapter based dance events throughout the country via our calendar so that when people begin traveling and want to social dance they have a single place to look OR to inspire other chapters to begin holding events as public health restrictions allow it. The calendar is available at https://usadance.org/events/event_list.asp
To ensure your event is listed you can either:
please create the event within your chapter’s SocialLink group, complete this form, and then National Officers will be able to add it to the National calendar; OR
Email the relevant info (date, time, chapter, theme or event name, contact info, flyer, etc.) to chapter-announcements@usadance.org and the Marketing & Communications Committee will add it for you.
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National Election Scheduled for November |
This November USA Dance will hold our bi-annual elections with the following positions up for election:
- Senior Vice President
- National Treasurer
- Ballroom DanceSport Delegate 5 (Adult Male/Non-binary)
- Ballroom DanceSport Delegate 6 (Senior Female/Non-binary)
- Ballroom DanceSport Delegate 7 (No Age, No Gender requirement)
As previously announced by the Nominations & Elections Committee, all candidates for Senior Vice President must meet the definition of an Independent Director. Please note that the Board has waived Article VII.H.2.a of https://usadance.org/page/Bylaws and will allow an athlete who wants to run the opportunity to file their letter of retirement as of May 30, 2022 and remain retired throughout their entire term in office. This waiver is for this election cycle only.
As a result of the recent adoption of a new set of bylaws, the USA Dance Policy Governing National Elections approved by the Board of Directors on January 26, 2022, will require an update. During the interim, the following election procedure schedule is published.
June 10, 2022 is the submission date for interested candidates to submit:
July 8, 2022 is the submission date for interested candidates to submit:
- Resume
- Photo
- Statement of no more than 500 words describing their reasons for running for election
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Signatures on the Nomination By Petition Form (page 8) from USA Dance members in good standing and eligible to vote for the position under nomination. Senior VP and Treasurer will require a minimum of 100 signatures by all voting members. Ballroom DanceSport Delegate 5, 6, and 7 will require a minimum of 25 signatures by the voting Athlete Ballroom Division members.
The N&EC will schedule interviews with interested candidates’ in July 2022 to review their submission of nomination materials and to assure individual candidate’s eligibility. The N&EC will submit for placement on the ballot all eligible Nominees by Petition and such other qualified candidates as the Committee may approve by August 2022.
If you have any general questions or concerns related to the election process, please do not hesitate to contact Mike Lynch directly at
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