What are some of the more unusual items found on club Web sites?

During a session of surfing the Internet for unusual items on club Web sites, I found several unusual items. Any person from any part of the world, including telemarketers, newspaper reporters and the IRS, have the same access to club Web-sites as I did on this particular day.

If you are interested in seeing what other clubs are doing with their sites, you too can surf the web. One convenient place to begin your search is on CMAA ClubNet at http://www.cmaa.org. This site lists member sites in alphabetical order. I had a definite advantage in my search in that I was privy to which clubs were 501(c)(7) tax exempt and which were not. Clubs with a 501(c)(7) status should clearly disclose on the front page that the club is a private membership organization with federal tax-exempt status. This will alert the viewer as to why they may not be allowed past the front page of the site.

The comments below apply only to those clubs that are 501(c)(7) tax-exempt clubs.

I was extremely curious as to why most clubs found it necessary to allow access to almost everything on their site. I am pleased to report that one club would not allow me past their front page without a member password. This is probably a club that would not have allowed anyone past the front gate guardhouse without an invitation. For this, I applaud the club in being consistent in its mode of operation.

I was able to review a proposed amendment to the bylaws of one club and was asked to voice my opinion and vote on the matter. As a complete outsider to the club, I was able to vote and to submit my opinion of the amendment. I am not certain how the vote turned out, but I can be reasonably sure that I had a significant influence over the matter.

Some hyperlinks did not appear to be consistent with the purpose of the club. How does a link to a site selling automobiles promote a country club's stated purpose? What about links to travel tours and much of the other commercial sites to buy from? There appears to be money to be made on commissions generated from links beginning from a club's web site. If the club is the benefactor of this type of commission income, it appears to be non-member related. Even when members are doing the clicking, it may be deemed nontraditional, and also classified as non-member income.

Golf professionals appear to have influenced several of the sites viewed. There are links to Internet golf stores where the user can purchase merchandise online. I assume that the golf professional has an opportunity to reap a commission from any sale generated from the club web page link. My concern is whether these sales will be deemed classified as member or non-member income; it’s a nightmare for accountants.

If a club-owned golf shop is not attracting members to the club for social and athletic activities, is it competing with other commercial entities? Should the golf shop web sales be considered nonmember income? If the golf pro owns his or her own shop, why are they using a 501(c)(7) tax-exempt organization's web site to generate their outside sales? While on the subject of golf shop sales, clubs have historically relied upon vendor catalogues to sell products that could not realistically be kept in stock. Linking to vendor sites from a club web page may become a convenience to the golf and tennis professional and could expand product lines that they can offer with the convenience of overnight delivery. If done from the golf or tennis shop with the professional's assistance in selection, billed to a member's account, and delivered to the club, any income appears to be member related. I question whether exempt organizations are risking their tax status by offering sales of items from their web pages like every other commercial entity.

My mouth watered when viewing the list of baked goods and other cuisines available for takeout from one club. As a former IRS agent myself, I could just imagine how a current agent would savor the opportunity to call this income "nontraditional" and attempt to disallow the club's tax-exempt status.

Although I did not see it in any 501(c)(7) tax-exempt club web sites, club members at some facilities are being offered club e-mail addresses. I wonder if it is possible for a telemarketer to use clubs’ "clubname.com" extension to find a list of club members using this e-mail address? My concern is that commercial entities are very interested in club members, as they tend to be among the more affluent individuals in the community. Marketers would love to gather your members’ e-mail addresses to target.

There are questions as to why clubs are doing what they do. It did not appear that club management was the primary motivator in many of the links found, as they take viewers outside of the club web page to commercial sites. Linking to as many different non-club sites as possible appears to have become a trend in the industry. As alluded to previously, there is money to be made by acquiring market share from web site hits. 501(c)(7) clubs, if generating income from these items, must give consideration to what type of income this is.