Hello all. I have seen a few jeeps in my town and a few lifted/custom ones as well. I have decided to look into starting my own jeep club as there are no 4x4 clubs in my area. I was just wondering what ppl thought on tips and ideas when I go to do this.

He's my ideas so far. I want to start this as a fun for the whole familly club.

Have some rules such as NO drinking and driveing, tailgateing or just plain dumb reckless driveing to make the club look bad. Safety first.

Have a local comunity clean up day every summer where members would drive around town and pick up garbage etc.

Have a yearly show and shine.

have a yearly (big) offroad trip, maybe with prizes.(sponsers)

Have a yearly familly BBQ.

Any other ideas I'd love to here em, Thanks guys(gals) in advance!!

sounds good so far where ya at i'd join.  

Not sure about your state but Colorado has a association of 4 wheel drive clubs. MIght look into gettign your club into your states. Here is the link.  http://www.hightrails.org/index.shtml

I live in Nova Scotia Canada.....  

I'm amazed that more ppl donot responed to this thread.....go figure.  

Hey guy (girl?),

  I feel your pain, I want to start a club here in North Idaho and have no clue where to start!!  If you get some more info let me know too huh?  Later!    Blair!

I think wht I'm going to do is make up some little signs about what I want to do and my name contact info etc. and when I see a jeep put it on their windshield and see how many ppl are interested.  

good idea !!!  

I really want to do this as there are two more lifted jeeps driveing around my town now(one a killer cj on 33's). Anyone know about any good FREE web hosting sites that work with Fronpage????  

ok what about a name? I want something cool.... I live in a area called comberlin county so comberlain jeep club sounds kinda laim.....

and I think jeeperscreepers is already used for somthing.....any ideas??

hi there,

i belong to a jeep club that is fairly new.  it is called canyonman.  rather than go into great detail you can check out the website we have.  It needs a little work done to it and a heck of alot more pics put up but it gives a history and maybe some direction for you.  it started small but is steadly growing.

www.canyonman.us

hope you get yours going.  it is great fun to get a big group of jeeps together for a trip.

Hey thanks for replying, and the info.  

We are wanting to do about the same thing here in Central Florida but the questions we have are what do we need to do to become a non-profit org, is that the best route to go or is there another one, how do we handle the fees charged and bank account info, do we need to register with the state or someone else about our club? Stuff like that. We have 12 Jeeps for sure and have more contacting us almost weekly so our size is soon to grow with no problem. Any help would be appreciated we are supposed to meet the end of March for our first official meeting and discuss all this. Trying to do my homework first  .  

To get Non-Profit Status you need to register with the IRS. Once you have it you will open a bank account using your Non-Profits ficticious name and Federal ID Number.

http://www.irs.gov/charities/index.html  

Here are some of the general requirements for having a 'Social Club' registered as a NP

Requirements for Exemption - In General:  To be exempt under Internal Revenue Code section 501(c)(7), a social club must be organized for pleasure, recreation, and other similar nonprofitable purposes and substantially all of its activities must be for these purposes.  A club will not be recognized as tax exempt if its charter, by laws, or other governing instrument, or any written policy statement provides for discrimination against any person based on race, color, or religion.  There is an exception, however, for a club that in good faith limits its membership to members of a particular religion, to further the teachings or principles of that religion and not to exclude individuals of a particular race or color.

Personal Contact Required:  An essential earmark of an exempt club is personal contact, commingling, and face-to-face fellowship.  Members must share interests and have a common goal directed toward pleasure, recreation, and other nonprofitable purposes.  Fellowship need not be present between each member and every other member of the club so long as it is a material part in the life of the organization.  A statewide or nationwide organization that is made up of individual members, but is divided into local groups, satisfies this requirement if fellowship is a material part of the life of each local group.

Limited Membership Required:  Another earmark of a social club is limited membership.  A club that issues corporate memberships is dealing with the general public (the corporation's employees).  Evidence that a club's facilities will be open to the general public (persons other than members or their dependents or guests) may cause denial of exemption.  This does not mean, however, that any dealing with outsiders will automatically deprive a club of exemption.

Support by Membership Dues Required:  In general, a club should be supported solely by membership fees, dues, and assessments.  A section 501(c)(7) organization may receive up to 35 percent of its gross receipts, including investment income, from sources outside of its membership without losing its tax-exempt status. No more than 15 percent of this amount may be derived from the use of the club's facilities or services by the general public or from other activities not furthering social or recreational purposes for members.  If an organization has non-member income that exceeds these limits, all the facts and circumstances will be considered in determining whether the club continues to qualify for exempt status.

Inurement Prohibited:  The statute prohibits exemption if any part of the organization's net earnings inures to the benefit of any person having a personal and private interest in the activities of the organization.  Inurement is not limited to overt distributions; even undistributed earnings may benefit members by decreasing membership dues or increasing the services the club makes available to its members without a corresponding increase in dues or other fees paid for club support.  Fixed fee payments to members who bring new members into the club are not an inurement of the club's net earnings, if the payments are reasonable compensation for performing necessary administrative service.