Proposed by law changs

[henwin]

I am very surprised to see, especially after Tina's editorial on giving, in the June 2011 BTS the proposal to prevent the club from charitable giving using club funds.

I certainly do agree with the other 2 items (giving to religious or political organizations), but for the life of me, I cannot fathom why the club would want to cut out something it could do to benefit others less fortunate than ourselves, and as Tina pointed out in her editorial--with no strings attached.

Personally, I am ashamed that the club would stoop this low and I am ashamed for whomever offered this amendment. I realize that some folks are against even the possibility of doing something good with the club's extraordinarily large bank balance, but I see no reason to say "absolutely not, ... never, ... don't think about it, and don't even think about asking". I believe there are times when the club could show how charitable it is and sometimes a cash infusion is the ONLY thing that will help.

I remind you that this amendment would preclude giving a helping hand--monetarily--to a club member in need, even if the membership approved doing it.....

I hope you will reconsider, and remove that part of the proposed bylaw updates.

Regards,

Henry Winokur

[JimVonBaden]

Jim

[Chiba]

I am very surprised to see, especially after Tina's editorial on giving, in the June 2011 BTS the proposal to prevent the club from charitable giving using club funds.

I can understand the ban proposal.

An agenda on the part of one board member, or a collusion among board members (not that I assume board members would do such a thing, but you know anything is possible) could see the club quickly drained of funds to support some sketchy "charity" the members have never heard of.

I expect the club to use its funds (no matter what the bank account's bottom line is) responsibly. That includes protecting the funds & not giving them away to unworthy causes.

Which brings up another question - what's a worthy cause? Who determines that? How? Is it a board only vote or a full club vote? What's the process for that? How can a member protest the gift? IMO it's just easier (and smarter) to say - the club does not support charities & does not give away its funds.

--chiba

[JSWillis]

I did not receive the June edition of the BTS and cannot find an electronic (my apologies if I missed the posting).

Can someone post the June version?

Thanks.

Steve

[henwin]

I am very surprised to see, especially after Tina's editorial on giving, in the June 2011 BTS the proposal to prevent the club from charitable giving using club funds.

I can understand the ban proposal.

An agenda on the part of one board member, or a collusion among board members (not that I assume board members would do such a thing, but you know anything is possible) could see the club quickly drained of funds to support some sketchy "charity" the members have never heard of.

I expect the club to use its funds (no matter what the bank account's bottom line is) responsibly. That includes protecting the funds & not giving them away to unworthy causes.

Which brings up another question - what's a worthy cause? Who determines that? How? Is it a board only vote or a full club vote? What's the process for that? How can a member protest the gift? IMO it's just easier (and smarter) to say - the club does not support charities & does not give away its funds.
--chiba

I understand your concerns, Chiba. And actually, i agree with most of them.

There are ways to construct bylaws that could create rules about how things like this could be done. For example the Board could create a committee to come up with a reasonable set of rules on who, what, where, and how much could be donated to any legal charity such that the club's bottom line wouldn't be effected in any substantial way.

For example, the committee could come up with rules like these:
1. Any charity to be considered must have a top rating in Charity Navigator (or some other nationally acceptable charity rating service)
2. The charity must be within a 50 mile radius of the US Capitol building (keeping it local).
3. No more than a max of 10% of the club's average balance for the calendar year immediately preceding the gift(s) date may be used in any 1 calendar year.
4. The Board would select the date on which the gifts are to be made by for the calendar year.
5. The Charity Committee would pick up to, say, 5 organizations to receive gifts, and the amounts.

I think it's pretty easy, pretty clear, and keeps things local. Another option would be to ask members if they want to participate. If they do, then a small portion of their dues--maybe $2--could be used for yearly gifting. If they don't then their full dues would go to the club.

I believe there are lots of ways to do this and do it carefully, and in a way that could give the club a good name. After all, motorcyclists continue to get a bad rap from lots of different directions. Here's one way for us to step up and help motorcyclists and particularly BMW motorcyclists get some good press.

Before giving it a try, we need to ask ALL of the members what they think. I know that the Bob Higdons/Nancy Oswalds of the club are against it. But they only count as 1 vote each. But what I don't know is if the majority of the members would support such a thing. I think before anything is done, a poll should be done via the US Mail--because we know that only about 10% of the members are online--and see if there is general support or not. If not, then I'm OK with not asking. But what if the numbers come back in support of doing some giving?

That is why I think that the club should not tie its hands by saying "NO" without adequately querying the members, which has not been done.

[henwin]

I did not receive the June edition of the BTS and cannot find an electronic (my apologies if I missed the posting).
Can someone post the June version?
Thanks.
Steve

Hi Steve:

You have to go to the main page of the site to get access to it (bmwbmw.org):
http://www.bmwbmw.org/bts/2010/bmwbmw_bts_2010-06.pdf will take you right to the June issue.

[RocketMan]

When this has been brought up before the consensus seems to have been that since charitable giving is such a personal issue that it is best to leave such to each member thru their own means. For any charity, no matter how worthy, there are going to be some who do not want to support the one over some other charity for one reason or another. I just don't think that the extra work involved to ensure the use of club funds for charitable giving are given to the "right" charity is something we should ask of the board members.

Even clubs as large as the MOA don't do this for a whole host of reasons and I believe they even have a separate foundation for such to support various programs that fall outside the main goals of the club, i.e. that of supporting the membership and club activities.

RM

[ChaseH]

Before giving it a try, we need to ask ALL of the members what they think. I know that the Bob Higdons/Nancy Oswalds of the club are against it. But they only count as 1 vote each. But what I don't know is if the majority of the members would support such a thing. I think before anything is done, a poll should be done via the US Mail--because we know that only about 10% of the members are online--and see if there is general support or not. If not, then I'm OK with not asking. But what if the numbers come back in support of doing some giving?

This thread is going to soon cross into ad hominem attacks. Without knowing what the comment means, I throw myself into what's labeled the Higdon/Oswald party. I hope you all support the causes close to your hearts, Corey and I certainly do. That's not what the membership dues are for and I cannot envision a system that addresses even a majority opinion on giving. Geographic proximity isn't enough, and perhaps not even appropriate. We also, as far as I know, aren't run by referendum but by a representative system on the board. One who's sacrificed more than I'm willing to support the club and one which is desperate for new blood.

Perhaps a good compromise to allow the club in name to support a cause and thereby improve our standing in the community would be through separate fund raising. At some or all of our events we could raise funds through sales, raffles, etc. and use those proceeds for these causes. Participation would thereby be completely voluntary.

[ChaseH]

I did not receive the June edition of the BTS and cannot find an electronic (my apologies if I missed the posting).
Can someone post the June version?
Thanks.
Steve

Hi Steve:

You have to go to the main page of the site to get access to it (bmwbmw.org):
http://www.bmwbmw.org/bts/2010/bmwbmw_bts_2010-06.pdf will take you right to the June issue.

That's June 2010

[henwin]

I did not receive the June edition of the BTS and cannot find an electronic (my apologies if I missed the posting).
Can someone post the June version?
Thanks.
Steve

Hi Steve:
You have to go to the main page of the site to get access to it (bmwbmw.org):
http://www.bmwbmw.org/bts/2010/bmwbmw_bts_2010-06.pdf will take you right to the June issue.

That's June 2010

You are SO right. My mistake. I was under the impression that one could get the current issue from the either the BTS page or the home page. It appears that I am wrong once again. it makes no sense. I wonder why it is? Do some folks pay for the privilege of getting the issue?

[Maria V]

The June BTS has simply not been posted to the site. No big conspiracy, folks. The newsletter goes out by hardcopy only if specifically requested. The exception is the election/ballot issue and perhaps one other issue.

[Chiba]

The link for the BTS Archives: http://www.bmwbmw.org/node/21 . It doesn't look as if the June 2011 issue is linked yet; I'm sure it'll be up soon though.

...I hope you all support the causes close to your hearts, Corey and I certainly do. That's not what the membership dues are for...

Bingo & I agree a million percent. I give my time & a little money to the causes that mean something to me - and come to think of it, not one of them is motorcycle related. Weird. I'll have to give that some thought.

Henry, I very clearly remember the last time this was brought up, and you & George Falcon (RIP) were very clear in your positions, as were Bob & Nancy.

My entirely unsolicited advice is - if you want to affect change in the club, run for office. Take a leadership role and then... lead. Rehashing old issues in the forums isn't (IMO) an effective way to change the club's processes.

--chiba

[henwin]

The link for the BTS Archives: http://www.bmwbmw.org/node/21 . It doesn't look as if the June 2011 issue is linked yet; I'm sure it'll be up soon though.

My entirely unsolicited advice is - if you want to affect change in the club, run for office. Take a leadership role and then... lead. Rehashing old issues in the forums isn't (IMO) an effective way to change the club's processes.
--chiba

Don't sell yourself short, Chiba. Your opinion isn't falling on deaf ears!

[BMWGirl]

The main thing is, this issue has had an overwhelming response every time it's brought up and it just needs to be put to rest once and for all.

[BKling]

If people want the "club" to give to charities, then why don't members go around at club functions and ask for donations from members in attendance? They could then send the money gathered to the selected charity in the names of those who decided to donate, i.e. From Select Members of BMWBMW.

Martha and I give to charities that are near and dear to us, our family and our friends.

I don't pay dues to a club for that purpose, controlled or not. And, no matter the rules and controls, someone's going to get bent about who got what and who didn't.