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BYLAWS OF THE BERKS COUNTY PARROT HEAD CLUB
Article I - General
A. Name: The organization shall be called the Berks County Parrot Head Club (BCPHC).
B. Purpose: The purpose of this nonprofit organization is to promote friendship and organize social activities for people who share an affection for a tropical spirit, island music and a desire to contribute to the betterment of the community through a variety of volunteer and charitable efforts and functions.
C. Disclaimer: We are recognized by, but in no way attached to Jimmy Buffett or any of his business interests. Clubs are allowed to use the trademarked term "Parrot Head" but NOT Jimmy Buffett's name or any of his other trade marks.
Article II - Membership and Dues (amended 7-06)
A. Club Membership: Membership in the BCPHC shall be open to all, regardless of age, sex, creed, national origin or sexual preference. A member will be considered in good standing so long as his dues are current.
B. Benefits of Membership: Members in good standing will be entitled to receive Club mailings, attend Club events, be eligible to vote in Club elections, purchase Club merchandise, be eligible to earn "Parrot Points" for the purchase of Parrot Heads in Paradise, Inc. (PHiP) concert tickets, and be eligible to attend Meeting of the Minds (MOTM).
C. Dues: Annual memberships will renew October 1st, payable to the Berks County Parrot Head Club. Dues amounts are as follows:
1. Single: $20
2. Couple: $25
3. Additional Family Members: $5
D. Dues Notices: (amended 7-06) Annual dues notices will be published in the newsletter (Parrot Poop) preceding October 1st, mentioned at monthly general membership meetings, and/or USPS mailed.
E. Termination of Membership: (amended 7-06) Any member with dues in arrears as of the December general membership meeting will be considered inactive.
As the BCPHC will not condone any behavior contrary to our objective, the Executive Board will review the actions of any member acting in a manner injurious to the Club or to other members, guests or hosts of the Club and, if such harmful actions are unanimously determined by the Executive Board to be detrimental to the Club or in adversity to the purpose of the Club as described in Article I-B above, said member will be notified in writing of his or her suspension from Club membership.
F. Membership Lists: (added by amendment 6-10-03) In and effort to avoid unwanted spamming or mail solicitation, the membership list shall be maintained by the Club secretary and shall not be disbursed to the general membership, but rather distributed only to Board Members or Committee Chairs and used only for contact of the general membership for Club purposes.
Article III - Officers, Board Members and Elections
A. Officer/Elections: The Club will elect the following officers for a two year term under the conditions listed below; President, two Vice Presidents, Secretary and Treasurer. Elections will be held during the November business meeting. An election notice will be sent to all members in good standing with the newsletter prior to the November election. This notice will include the offices to be elected; the date, location and time of the election; a statement that the election will be on a secret ballot by simple majority of those present at the meeting; and an invitation to attend. Nominations will be from the floor during the September business meeting or in writing and sent to the Club address of record postmarked no later than October 1st. Any member wishing to run for an office will be entitled to a 1-2 minute speech during the meeting. Elections will be conducted by the founders, unless running for an office, in which case they would be conducted by a member in good standing not running for office. Vacated positions shall be appointed for the duration of the term by the majority vote of the Executive Board.
B. Executive Board/Officers: The Executive Board will consist of the Club President, two Vice- Presidents, Secretary and Treasurer. The Executive Board will be responsible for insuring all Club activities are conducted within the guidelines of Parrot Head in Paradise Inc., as established in the PHiP bylaws established at the 1997 Meeting of the Minds, and the Club Statement of Purpose as outlined in Article I-B. The Board will be empowered to make decisions between business meetings to insure these goals are met. All decisions will be by majority decision. Any and all Board decisions will be reported at the next general business meeting. The Board will act on recommendations received from the general membership at the general business meetings and forward projects/concepts to the general membership at the general business meetings.
C. Responsibilities of Officers:
President: The President shall
1. have such powers and duties as are usually exercised by such an office;
2. be Executive Officer of the Club and preside at all general business meetings, special meetings, and meeting of the Executive Board;
3. assign the individual responsibilities of the Vice Presidents;
4. work with committee chairpersons and Vice Presidents in order to help insure all assigned tasks are completed in a timely manner;
5. have the power to call special meetings of the Club and the Executive Board;
6. appoint, subject to the approval of the Executive Board, members to the Standing and Special Committees, including vacancies;
7. deal with other matters as may be placed in his or her charge by the Executive Committee or membership;
8. deal with and try to resolve complaints and issues within the Club and with PHiP; and
9. serve as liaison with PHiP or designate this role to another member of the Executive Board on a case-by-case basis.
Vice-Presidents: The Vice Presidents shall
1. in the absence of the President, have the powers and duties of the President;
2. serve as liaison with other Parrot Head Clubs and BCPHC committees;
3. deal with other matters and or powers that are delegated to the position by the President or the Executive Board; and
4. work to insure all PHiP/local charity guidelines are met.
Secretary: (amended 7-06) The Secretary shall
1. ensure that minutes are recorded at all business and Executive Board meetings;
2. disseminate all general business meeting minutes via email in a timely fashion;
3. maintain a current database of all member emails; and
4. be the point person for all Club email communications.
Treasurer: The Treasurer shall
1. record and keep track of all financial functions and transactions, including membership dues;
2. notify the Secretary of all new memberships for addition and inclusion to the Club membership database;
3. balance accounts and issue checks for all charities and expenditures based on receipts supplied; and
4. be responsible for calculation of PHiP concert ticket point tallies.
Article IV - Meetings
A. Business/Board Meetings: General Business Meetings will occur at least every other month, initially beginning with monthly meetings. These meetings will be conducted by the Club President or, in his absence, a Vice President. A chair or vice-chairperson from each committee shall be present at these meetings. Any member in good standing may attend the business meeting. All Club decisions at the business meeting will be by a simple majority vote of those present. Minutes will be taken at all meetings and reported at the following meeting. All meetings will be held within the geographical boundaries of the Club.
B. Social Meetings/Fundraisers: The Club shall attempt to schedule at least two social events each year, one meeting being dedicated to a fundraising effort for a local charity and one being dedicated to a community effort or environmental project. Members will be notified of these events through regular meetings, newsletters or interim email broadcasts and the following rules will apply:
1. If the event is held in public area, both members and prospective members/guests are invited and guests or non-members will pay a TBD amount, based on a space-available basis.
2. If the event is held in a private area or where the Club has paid for the event, only Club members will be eligible to attend.
3. There may be some minimum age requirements associated with some Club events dependant upon the individual rules of the proprietors of the host locations. That is, some events may exclude members or guests under the age of 21.
C. Executive Board Meetings: The Board will meet on an as needed basis, at least semi-annually. Minutes from these Executive Board meetings will be made available to all members in good standing upon request.
A. General: The following standing committees are established in order to maximize involvement and participation of the Club members: newsletter, membership, volunteers, merchandise, charity, and events. Other special committees may be established by the President, Executive Board and/or general membership to deal with specific projects.
B. Committee Roles: The purpose of all committees is to ensure that day-to-day functions and special events are completed in a timely manner. To this end, the committees, working under a Chairperson, are given the detailed responsibility of specific events and activities. The committees are expected to work closely with the Executive Board on all projects/events. They are also required to keep the President and Board informed of all plans and progress. The functions of the various committees are as follows:
1. Newsletter - Prepare a newsletter minimally on a quarterly basis to include, but not limited to: articles of interest, current events, calendar of events, recognition of members, membership information and notification of board meetings and election of officers.
2. Membership - Promote new membership and retain existing membership.
3. Volunteer - Organize volunteers for events.
4. Merchandise - Obtain donations or sponsored merchandise for sale at Club events. Keep inventory of acquired merchandise, silent auctions and raffles.
5. Charity - Research information for charities to be funded by Club events. Serve as contact to chosen charities.
6. Events - Organize fundraising/charitable events and organize community/environmental projects, including securing the location and music, where applicable.
7. Sponsorship Committee (added to bylaws by amendment dated 4-2-03) - Make requests and contacts to the local business community for donations or contributions of services, products or money, which the Club shall use for raffles, silent auctions, etc., or to help defray out-of-pocket costs of charitable events. The sponsorship committee shall work in concert with both the merchandise and event committees.
A. Adoption of Bylaws: These bylaws have been approved by a majority of members in good standing at a general business meeting. Future modifications/ amendments to the bylaws will be accomplished by a majority vote at a general meeting, either from the floor or from recommendations of a special committee established for that purpose.
A. Altruism: Events and/or activities sponsored by the BCPHC will have a portion of the proceeds raised donated to a designated charity. The Club will donate time and/or money to at least one local charity each year. The Club will be involved in at least one environmental cause a year. The charity committee has the responsibility to make recommendations to the general membership as to which charities to support. Individuals may also recommend charities and should do so through the charity committee.
A. Point System: In compliance with PHiP, the BCPHC will establish and maintain a point system for the purpose of tracking and calculating members’ participation in all Club functions and events on various levels. Members with the highest amount of accumulated points will be offered the opportunity to purchase PHiP Club-allotted concert tickets on an availability basis. Point ties shall be broken by lottery.
B. Responsibilities: It will be the responsibility of the Treasurer of the BCPHC to insure that a member is in good standing to be eligible for points, and to track, maintain and record the points acquired by members in good standing. It will be the responsibility of the President of the BCPHC to obtain the Club-allotted tickets from PHiP, to notify eligible members of ticket availability and to provide a specific deadline within which a member must respond to the ticket purchase offer. It will be the responsibility of individual members to respond to an offer to purchase tickets and to remit payment for these tickets within the specific deadline issued by the Club President. If the stated deadline passes, the opportunity to purchase will go to the member(s) with the next highest point total. No tickets will be held without payment being received within the specified deadline. No more than two tickets per household will be issued. This figure may be adjusted by the Executive Board based on ticket availability.
C. Point system schedule: (amended 7-06) The executive board members of the BCPHC will not participate in the point accumulation schedule, but will all be eligible for purchase of Club tickets by virtue of their positions on the Club's board. For all other Club members, all points will be awarded as per the following schedule subject to approval by the Executive Board:
1. Committee Chairs: 40 pts;
2. Organize charity event or community project: 20 pts;
3. Volunteer at charity function or community project: 15 pts;
4. Active committee members: 10 points;
5. Attend meetings (business or committee): 10 points;
6. Donate "give-away" items: 10 points;
7. Special contributions/projects (e.g. write newsletter article): 5 pts;
8. Refer new member: 5 pts;
9. Additional points may be issued for other activities as determined by the Executive Board.
Parrot points will be calculated on a calendar year beginning January 1st.
A. Approvals: (amended 7-06) BCPHC members wishing to be reimbursed or approved for expenditures for BCPHC-related activities such as, but not limited to; construction materials, necessary supplies for official Club events, other official and/or Club sponsored functions, prior to spending money shall:
1. obtain approval, in writing, from any executive board member for expenditures not to exceed $100.
2. Obtain approval, in writing, from the executive board for expenditures of $101 to $999.99
3. Expenditures of $1000 or more shall not be approved by the executive board without first obtaining a vote of approval from the Club membership at a general business meeting
B. Process for Reimbursement: To obtain reimbursement, the member shall submit the written approval along with the receipts to the Treasurer. The Treasurer shall reimburse the Club member within 30 days of receipt of proper expenditure and approval documentation. Reimbursement requests submitted without written approval or authentic receipts will not be honored. No exceptions.
C. Operating Costs (added by amendment dated 4-2-03) will officially authorize the Club to withhold 10% of its net proceeds from each of its events, designated as "operating costs" to cover items such as, but not limited to, required deposits, purchases for raffles or silent auctions, advances, prepayments, etc.
A. Incorporation: The BCPHC filed nonprofit Articles of Incorporation with the Pennsylvania Department of State.
B. Tax Exemption: The BCPHC is characterized for federal income tax purposes as a 501(c)(4) organization. Note that contributions and dues to the BCPHC are NOT tax deductible. If for any reason the BCPHC disbands at any time, any residual monies in any accounts belonging to the BCPHC will be donated to charity and NOT returned to Club members.