December 2018

Brother Knights,

We are half way through the Fraternal Year and much work has been accomplished.  I enjoyed the fellowship of our regional meetings and hope the enthusiasm generated will drive momentum for the remainder of the year.  Keep track of where you stand in all of your administrative responsibilities.  Two big ones are highlighted here.

SEP: The Supreme Council’s Office of Youth Protection mailed to every State Deputy, State Advocate, District Deputy and Grand Knight a copy of the Safe Environment Program (SEP) Information Guide (Revised 2018).  All District Deputies and Grand Knights are to present and make widely available to members the SEP Information Guide (Revised 2018), which can also be found on the Order’s website at the following link: http://www.kofc.org/en/resources/members/programs/youth-activities/safe-environment-program-information-guide.pdf.  This guide includes the Knights of Columbus Youth Activity Policy.  This guide must be reviewed by volunteers before conducting a Knights of Columbus youth activity.  All SEP handouts can be found at: http://www.kofc.org/en/members/programs/youth-activities/safe-environment-program.html.

This guide will answer questions regarding training, reporting and policy.  Read it. Know it. And Implement it.

Training must be completed within 30 days of receiving email confirmation from Praesidium acknowledging your appointment to one of the listed positions in the chart provided.  If you are one of the listed leaders and have not received an email from Praesidium, contact the Knights of Columbus Office of Youth Protection at oyp@kofc.org, or (203) 752-4558.  Submission of forms 185 and 365 through Member Management will trigger email notifications.  If training requirements are not completed within 30 days, Supreme will remove the member from his position and you will have to submit another Form 365 appointing a new person.  You can also reappoint the same person, but this cannot occur numerous times.

I recommend you encourage as many members as possible in your councils to take the general training.  At Knights of Columbus youth events, you must have at least two members present who have completed the training.  One of the members must also have had a background check completed.

Tax Exempt Status:  As a reminder, to be recognized as a tax-exempt entity under Section 501(c)(8), each council must provide its Employer Identification Number (EIN) to the Home Office Legal Department, which in turn will report the EIN to the IRS for inclusion in the Order’s group exemption listing.  Thus, a council must do three things to comply with the IRS filing requirement:  1) obtain an EIN from the IRS (new councils this year); 2) register its EIN with the Home Office Legal Department (new councils this year); and, 3) file an annual return with the IRS (all councils must do this).

Each council must meet all of these requirements.  The IRS will accept a council’s annual return only if the council has a valid EIN that has been registered with Supreme.

Vivat Jesus!

Fraternally,

Greg Mahoney