From my first year in Kin, my wife and I attended the “Kinsmen Rehabilitation Foundation” (Kinsmen Foundation) AGM. I have attended all the AGM’s and chaired all the Mothers March’s. I became a Board member in 1998 for a 10 year period. As you can see, I am a Foundation booster, I believe that the Foundation is an excellent cause for the District to undertake and support. With the above information at hand about my personal history with the Foundation, I would like to share some of the recent actions of our Foundation Board and the CEO.
The Foundation Board had a meeting in Aug. 2010; at this meeting they reviewed a clause in the By-Laws;
“Each Organizational Member shall participate in the fund raising activities of the Society annually”
The Board and CEO discussed this clause and decided to interpret this as;
“All Clubs must pay an annual fee per year to remain a member of the Foundation. This fee will be retroactive to the past year.”
Later, at the AGM, the CEO decided that the fee would be $20. No Club had an indication of an amount prior to the AGM.
How they made that interpretation is beyond my comprehension. My interpretation would be that all Clubs must be active members in the Foundation. Clubs that did not donate or attend any meetings would receive a letter from the Foundation, warning of the need for them to assist the Foundation “before removing their status”.
The “Call to the AGM” was sent out to the Clubs on Aug.16th, with some information about this change. The Board stated the clause that I have above. They also gave their view on it;
“If your club has not made a contribution to the Kinsmen Foundation of British Columbia and the Yukon for the 2009/2010 Kin Year you will not receive voting privileges at the Annual General Meeting”
- · A “Call” is for the purpose of providing the time, date, and place for a meeting. It is not intended for the distribution of information.
- · What is considered a “contribution”?
- · What does the “2009/2010 Kin year” mean? From when to when?
- · Also this could not be done retroactively. You must tell members, prior to the installation of this order.
An additional letter was sent to the Clubs on September 24th, by the boards Chair. This letter made no mention of such a radical policy change. This letter was also very late for Clubs to have it on their agenda prior to FLC.
This change, in and of itself, is not a major impact to the Clubs. Really $20 per year to belong to such a great Foundation is a small price to pay. The purpose behind this action was an honourable one; they wanted more solid participation within the Foundation. The issue with this policy is the process that it was instated.
The following are errors in the Boards procedure with implementing this new policy;
- · To enact the policy retroactively to the previous year.
- · Minimum advance warning, and no warning at the FLC as to what was about to happen.
- · The interpretation of the clause in the by-laws is not in any way related to the actual wording.
- · The Board seemed to have a goal of embarrassing Clubs to extort money.
- · To arbitrarily change the policy as the AGM progressed. None of these policies were known to anyone, even the board. - Minimum $20 - Club must hand over money personally.
- · To not allow the membership any input to such a major change.
- · For a board member to tell the membership to “suck it up” is very disrespectable.
- · To have Clubs win awards for their service to the Foundation but not allow them a vote at the AGM.
- · They should have had a list of Clubs in good standing. One Club was disallowed to vote, and then received an apology letter because they were in error.
All the trouble that was caused could have been avoided. The Board made a major faux pas and did not think what the effect of their decisions would be. All Boards are “think tanks” this action was not thought out, the Board was trying to be a dictator and force us to contribute and participate in the Foundation. It did not need to be as it was; here are some moves that would have made this change accepted by the Clubs.
- · They could have brought this policy forward at this AGM, to be enacted next year.
- · They should have made sure that all Clubs fully understood the actions of the Board, prior to the meeting.
- · They could have excused Clubs this first year.
- · After the AGM they should have realized the impact their decisions made, and apologized to all the Clubs.
- · Allowed a lower membership fee, since no fee was told to Clubs prior to AGM.
We now need to be aware of the actions of the Foundation Board; we can no longer be complacent to their business. I find it very sad that the Board just wants a $20 donation from the Clubs. I hope that any Club not wanting to donate; will continue to support our Foundation. But, we must hold the Board accountable until they apologizes for being so arrogant.
So the Bull waits for the Board to “man up” and apologize.
