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 Greetings Fellow D1 Members
I was recently asked “what does an ARBA Board of Director’s job entail?” There is no simple answer to that question. Part of the answer is in the ARBA Constitution and By-laws (C & B’s) which can be found on the ARBA website under “forms”. The oath taken by a Director requires the promise to uphold the C & B’s. Some of the required duties found in the Constitution include upholding the mission (Article II Object) and performing the duties listed in Article VII Section 5 which, in summary, is to run the business of the ARBA and appoint district representatives to help toward that end. Article IV describes the authority of the Board which is essentially to make and enforce rules. The By-laws give the Board the responsibility of approving committees in Article III Section 1, interpreting the C & B’s and making rules in Article V Section 1, and imposing penalties and discipline in Article V Sections 5-8. You can easily find and read that information for yourself, so I won’t go into it here in detail.
Like many organizations, the full range of Director’s duties are not completely described in the ARBA Constitution and By-laws as they are silent on many commonly expected Board responsibilities. Commonly expected by whom? First by the legal requirements of the IRS and secondly by organizations that define and teach “best practices” for nonprofits. The ARBA is designated by the IRS as a 501(c)(5) nonprofit, tax exempt, agricultural membership organization. This designation makes the ARBA exempt from taxes itself but it prohibits the ARBA from offering you a deduction for donating or belonging to it. To maintain tax exempt status, the ARBA has to follow specific IRS regulations and it is a critical responsibility of the Board and its Directors to see that this occurs.
To flesh out the generally accepted duties of a nonprofit Board of Directors, we can turn to the many universities and organizations that study and define best practices for nonprofits. One of the best is “Board Source” and it can be found at www.boardsource.org. You can purchase training materials from them or access free information on their web site. Go to the “Knowledge Center” and check out the many articles and responses to frequently asked questions. Board Source is a highly respected resource for a wide variety of nonprofit specific information. One of their Q & A responses is to the question “What are the basic responsibilities of nonprofit boards?” I will summarize their list here as it pertains to the ARBA and add information from my own 30 years of experience serving on local and state wide Boards.
First, most boards determine the purpose, mission and/or vision of the organization. The purpose(s) set out in the Articles of Incorporation and the organization’s Constitution define the mission. It is the Board’s responsibility for most nonprofits to reevaluate and change the mission, as needed, over time. This is not true for the ARBA because it is a member organization and its C & B’s give that responsibility to the members instead of the Board. In the ARBA’s case it is the Board’s responsibility to follow and enforce the mission as set out in the C & B’s and to only make rules that conform to the organization’s mission.
The second Board responsibility is to hire an Executive Director and this is an ARBA Board responsibility. I think many members assume that the Board and Directors oversee all of the staff of the ARBA. That is not true. The Board hires, supervises, evaluates and, if necessary, terminates the employment of the Executive Director. In turn, it is the Executive Director who has hiring, firing and supervision authority of the staff. If the Board goes around the Executive Director and intervenes directly in personnel actions with the staff then it is overstepping its bounds. That is a common misunderstanding and frequent source of conflict between Boards, Executive Directors and, in the case of the ARBA, its members.
The third primary Board obligation is to ensure adequate financial resources and to monitor and protect the assets of the organization. The ARBA Officers and Directors are expected to develop and approve an annual budget, approve major expenditures, oversee building and equipment assets and supervise a financial plan that looks to the organization’s future. It is important that Directors have strong business and financial expertise to fulfill this important responsibility so that members can enjoy ARBA activities well into the future.
A fourth function of the Board and its Directors, often considered boring but essential, is approving policy for the organization. The ARBA C & B’s note the Board’s authority to do this and it takes many practical forms in the organization including how judges and registrars are certified and trained, how complaints are handled, etc.
A fifth duty is planning for the future—called strategic or long-range planning. This activity sets the long-term goals of the organization, identifies and implements the short term objectives to get there and is typically done with significant input by the Executive Director and sources outside the organization. For example, the ARBA would also be wise to include a committee of knowledgeable individuals with backgrounds in strategic thinking, systems development, technology, policy development, collaborative ventures and individuals who are knowledgeable of similar membership organizations outside of the rabbit world. My personal opinion is that the ARBA is currently weak in this area and would benefit from planning as described here.
A sixth area of responsibility is to monitor and improve programs and services. The ARBA provides a wide variety of programs and services through its central office and committee structure. One example of recent activity by Directors in this area was an attempt to improve Convention Youth contest procedures. Another example, not currently under consideration by the Board but that I will throw out here, is the status of the ARBA’s Research and Development effort. We do not have enough money to fund significant grants. There have been very few recent requests for our grant money. No grants were funded last year and, I think, none are currently funded. Perhaps R & D is not the best way to use ARBA resources to serve members. What if we gave those resources to our legislative committee and charged them with the responsibility to a) collaborate with other organizations that have similar issues; and b) to intervene when groups or municipalities attempt to limit or eliminate our members’ right to raise rabbits and cavies through zoning law changes, airline restrictions, border crossing constraints, etc.? That thinking may be challenging to those who believe in the ARBA’s R & D effort but it is one example of how the status quo needs to be challenged if we are going to be able to consider new ideas that might create or improve services that directly affect members.
Another obligation of the Board’s Directors is to ensure the organization’s ethical integrity (adherence to legal standards and ethical norms) and to advance its public standing through a clearly articulated mission and good work. This requires a complex set of activities and close collaboration between Board members, the Executive Director and staff.
Lastly, the responsibility of most nonprofit Boards is to find and elect new Board members to carry on the organization’s mission. That is not the case for the ARBA where the membership elects Board members. Most nonprofit Boards require specific qualifications to be considered for a position on the Board and they maintain a “matrix” system that outlines the qualifications of current Board members in order to cover a wide range of expertise on the Board. Unfortunately for the ARBA and its membership, the only real qualification to become a Director is the ability to get elected and that does not assure that the organization’s leadership will have a wide range of appropriate expertise.
The question was simple enough—“what is the responsibility of an ARBA Director?” As the length of this response suggests, the question was easier to ask than answer. I hope this is helpful.
Best regards,
ARBA Director, District One
4685 W Griffin Creek Road
Medford, Oregon 97501
districtone@jeffnet.org |
