Venue Rules for Hosting a MoveOn Event

	Special guidelines for 2010 Council Holiday Parties December 16-21 * The best location is your home. * If you don't think your home is large enough, tt's best to find a space that's free of charge and open to the public. A library meeting room or community center is perfect. Some restaurants and bars have back rooms that they allow groups to use for free. * For legal reasons, it's very important that you do NOT get a space donated that other groups would have to pay for.

Q: Where can I hold my event?

A: First, please try to find a venue for free.

Your ideal location will depend what kind of event you're organizing.

The best location for a house party or potluck is usually your own home or someone else's home.

For a larger event—like a community forum, town hall meeting or campaign launch gathering—a community room at a library, community center, union hall, or other publicly-available location may be your best bet.

It's best to find a space that's free of charge and open to the public, that can seat at least 20 people. A library meeting room or community center are perfect. Some restaurants and bars have back rooms that they allow groups to use for free.

The ideal venue will allow you to bring potluck food in, or buy it there. Food makes every event better! Look first for resources that are free to all organizations and groups—like a library community room.

If you must pay for a venue, you must make absolutely certain that you're not getting a special deal that wouldn't be offered to other users of that same space just because you are a MoveOn member. That could be counted as a corporate in-kind contribution to MoveOn, and we are not set up to track or account for that.

If you must pay, we ask that you pay out of pocket. If you need to share the expense between multiple people, for legal reasons please *don't* pass the hat—but you can each write separate checks made out to the vendor for whatever you are paying for. For instance, if the venue costs $100, Joe can write a check for $40, and Jane and John can each write checks for $30, and give them straight to the vendor. The key thing is, MoveOn members can't collect money from other members.

Always report out-of-pocket expenses: anyone who spends money in the process of organizing a MoveOn event should report your expenses at: http://pol.moveon.org/poweruplaunch/inkind1.html to report these expenses.

You must pay for venue expenses, if you do, from your personal account, not from a business account.

Note that you can contribute no more than $5,000 to MoveOn PAC in a calendar year, including direct and in-kind contributions combined.

Q: Can I hold my event at a church, business, or nonprofit organization?

A: Events hosted at or by a business, nonprofit, church, or other corporate entities must follow these strict rules:

• They must be held in a space which is given out FREE OF CHARGE to ANYONE—any group or individuals—who request it.
• OR, you can rent a space at a private corporate entity like this on your own dime, IF they offer it at that rate to anyone who asks. But you must make sure that they are not offering you the space at a reduced rate—you must pay the same as anyone else, again so that this doesn't get counted as a corporate donation.
• Note that churches and other 501c3's may have their own concerns about IRS regulations and political activities taking place in their space; you can check with them to see if they have those concerns.

Q: Can I hold my event at a Democratic or other party headquarters?

A: No. That could be an in-kind corporate contribution to MoveOn, and isn't allowed.

Q: Can I hold my event at a university?

A: University spaces ARE allowed if the university would allow any student to use that space free of charge, or if you are renting a publicly-available space.

Q: What else do I need to know about having my event at a public or private venue?

A: You should know that MoveOn is not responsible in any way, shape, or form for what takes place at the venue that you procure, whether you rent it or find a place for free.