Frequently Asked Questions

How can our Club apply for a Life Membership?

The requirements for Life Membership and application form can be found here.

Our Club wants to award a Melvin Jones Fellowship. What do we do?

The Melvin Jones Fellowship (MJF) is the backbone of our foundation. Presented to those who donate US$1,000 to LCIF or through LCIF Australia or to people for whom a donation was made by others, it’s a tremendous contribution to humanity and to the legacy of our founder, Melvin Jones.

To apply visit – https://www.lcif.org.au/melvin-jones-fellowship.php

For more information visit: lcif.ops@lions.org.au 

Other Awards and Recognition

Information about Awards and Recognition can be found here. https://lionsclubs.org.au/awards-recognition/ 

You can read about the full list of award recipients in our online document. MD-201-Award-Fellowship-Listing.pdf

You can also search our Award database here. https://lionsclubs.org.au/member-award-search/#/

Closure of Oz-Clubhouse

Lions Clubs using Oz-Clubhouse should consider alternative options.

Background

The Oz-Clubhouse system has been provided free-of-charge to Lions Clubs and Districts in Multiple District 201 for a decade. It was put in place to provide a simple website for Lions Clubs, at a time when there were few low-cost alternatives.

Oz-Clubhouse was designed and built at no charge, by an Australian Lion.

In the intervening period it has been upgraded once and is currently being maintained by the Multiple District.  As a custom-built system, it is costly and difficult to upgrade and it is now plagued by ongoing ‘bugs’ and has become impossible to maintain. The Lions Multiple District Council has resolved to retire the system in the coming months.

What will happen to Oz-Clubhouse and when?

On the 1st of July 2021, the Multiple District will cease to actively maintain the system, but all the existing sites and data will remain, and the club and district sites will continue to operate. You will still be able to edit your site.

• After 1 July 2021, we will no longer regularly update the ‘password-protected’ area and this means your new members won’t be able to access this content. You should find an alternative platform and download any necessary information. Existing members will be able to access the content until 31 December 2021.
• After 1 January 2022, the password-protected area will no longer be accessible.
• After 30 June 2022, the site will no longer be supported. Any coding issues will not be fixed.
• On 30 June 2023, the Oz-Clubhouse system will be deleted.

What are the alternatives?

1. E-Clubhouse
   E-clubhouse is a simple website for your club that can be provided by Lions Clubs International. You can find details on how to set up your e-clubhouse site here. https://www.lionsclubs.org/en/resources-for-members/resource-center/create-e-clubhouse .

2. Facebook
   For clubs that are seeking a free alternative for promotion and member communication, we are recommending the Facebook platform. To replace the function of Oz-Clubhouse, we recommend that Clubs maintain two Facebook sites.
   1. Public site: – If your club wants to promote its activities in the community, you will need a public Facebook site. A public site needs to be carefully managed and maintained, just like your Oz-Clubhouse site. The Lion who manages the site needs to regularly update and manage it, remembering that no private or confidential information should be included.  You should also be careful to consider if you will allow commenting on posts.  If you do, you should hide or delete any inappropriate posts and comments if they appear. Club members should be reminded that the public site is not the place for private communication between members. It is the face of your club to the community.
   2. Private group: – In addition to the public page, a private Facebook group can be used for private conversations between members. You can use this group to discuss your service activities with your members, notify about upcoming events and meetings, and share club photos. Facebook groups also allow you to save documents like meeting agendas and minutes for club members to view.

Each member must be approved to join the private group, and you should not give access to non-members.  It is also important that you give access to all your club members to this group and not exclude anyone.

Note: Detailed information about Facebook groups and public pages will be listed in the FAQ section of the Lions Australia website in the coming months.

For more information about managing your Social Media, please review the Lions Australia Social Media Policy .

3. Commercial websites
   Since the establishment of Oz-Clubhouse there has emerged many simple and effective commercial offerings for your club website. With a little training they can provide a great public face for your club on the Internet.

   Most of these have free offerings, although a fee is charged for higher level services.  Some examples include:

   1. Wix – For information click here.
   2. WordPress – For information click here.
   3. Weebly – For information click here.

How you can help

The Multiple District is currently paying a fee to store Oz-Clubhouse data on a public server.  If your club decommissions its Oz-Clubhouse website, please advise the National Office so that the data can be deleted to reduce costs.

On 30 June 2023, Oz-Clubhouse websites will be deactivated. Redirection from Oz-Clubhouse websites to other websites will be retained. On the 30 September 2023, all data will be deleted.

Recognition of the Traditional Owners of Land

Flag Ceremony Protocol

The Flags of New Caledonia

New Member Induction Ceremonies – Guide for a club to perform induction ceremonies for new members

Club Officer Installation Ceremonies – This is a guide for the club officer installation event and provides tips and two different script formats for formal or informal ceremonies.

Lions Australia Uniform

Changes to income tax exemption self-assessment  from 1 July 2023

Following is a link to a folder containing a copy of the recent Tax Exemption Webinar recording, presentations slides and the Lions Australia Fact Sheet – Income Tax Exemption Resources

Our Club has been asked to supply Not for Profit Status confirmation.

This is a common enquiry. Please email info@lions.org.au and we will supply explanatory information.

Microsoft 365 – Licensing Changes for Lions Australia Accounts – @lions.org.au

What change has occurred with the Microsoft 365 licences provided by Lions Australia?
In 2016 Lions Australia received a grant from Microsoft of Office 365 E2 licenses. These licenses were provided free of charge by Microsoft pursuant to their non-profits grant program. There was no indication provided that these licenses had a limited lifespan or that a charge would be levied for these licenses at some point in the future.
Microsoft recently announced that these Office 365 E2 licences were being discontinued and would expire on their next renewal date. The current Lions Australia licenses therefore expire in February 2024.
Lions Australia is now required by Microsoft to transition to other Microsoft 365 licenses, which are paid licenses with an annual subscription fee (although at a discounted NFP price). Lions Australia cannot absorb the cost for licenses used by Clubs, Districts or Foundations, so will unfortunately have to pass on the cost of these licenses.
What Microsoft 365 licences can Lions Australia still provide and at what cost?
Lions Australia can now provide clubs, districts, and foundations with Office 365 E1 licenses at a discounted not-for-profit price (which will include the cost of an additional enterprise grade spam filter). This charge will be passed on at cost, so will be revised if there are any changes in the underlying costs to Lions Australia.
The current price that will be charged by Lions Australia for these licenses is $88.44 per year (including GST). This will be invoiced annually in advance, with no refunds available if a license is cancelled during that period.
To give clubs, districts, and foundations time to decide whether they wish to retain their lions.org.au email addresses and pay for Lions Australia Microsoft 365 licenses or change to an alternative email solution, the MD201 Council has approved for MD201 to meet the cost of existing licenses for 12 months until 31 January 2025. From 1 February 2025, all club, districts, and foundations who have confirmed they wish to continue with the Lions Australia licenses will commence being invoiced annually in advance, and all other accounts will be deactivated.
It is a decision for each club, district, and foundation whether they wish to use Lions Australia Microsoft 365 accounts and email addresses or use an alternative email solution. A Lions Australia Microsoft 365 account does provide many benefits, including: a professional email address with the “lions.org.au” domain; a Microsoft 365 account that is administered by the Lions Australia National Office, who can be contacted by phone or email for assistance with resetting passwords, changing the primary user of the account, and other access issues; a specialised anti-spam filter that will prevent most spam and malicious emails from reaching your inbox; strong cyber security with every Lions Australia account being part of the Lions Australia Microsoft 365 MFA Authentication policy.
How to retain or apply for a Lions Australia Microsoft 365 account
If you would like to continue with your existing Lions Australia Microsoft 365 account and agree to pay the annual license fee from 1 February 2025, please email operations@lions.org.au with the email address to be continued.
If you would like a new Lions Australia Microsoft 365 account to be set up for your club or district, please email the request to operations@lions.org.au and include the following details: club name; district; primary user of the account and mobile phone number; and alternative email address of primary user (to receive login instructions). The annual license fee will apply from the date of creation of any new accounts.