Our MISSION is to work enthusiastically with the
AOBA Board in ways that add value to our members and support the
board in fulfilling article 1 of its by-laws, Purpose. Namely:
1. To promote public awareness and membership appreciation of the
alpaca's unique qualities.
2. To educate the membership on the care and breeding of the Alpaca.
3. To promote the growth of the alpaca industry as a whole.
4. To foster the establishment of the breed outside of its native
land by encouraging husbandry and breeding practices based upon, but
not limited to, herd health, overall soundness and wool production.
5. To establish and maintain an alpaca registry.
Our VISION is to create an organization where our members enjoy
effective communication between themselves and the AOBA Board and
are delighted with the work of both the Affiliate Congress and the
AOBA Board.
Our STRATEGY is to identify issues and opportunities within our
membership which need to be addressed and to then jointly develop
solutions within the Affiliate Congress which the AOBA Board can
review and implement as appropriate.
We VALUE honesty and optimism in all we do.
Roles and Responsibilities; all Affiliate Congress members are
expected to take a proactive role in the affairs of the congress.
Membership is voluntary; all AOBA affiliates are eligible to
participate.
The most recent update and news from the AOBA Board President,
Amy McCroskie, to the Affiliate Congress - July, 2007.
1. Membership Database Purchases
First and foremost, the purchase of the membership database was
reviewed immediately after the board met with the Congress in
January. At our February 20, 2007 meeting, the purchase policy was
amended so that members no longer have to purchase the entire
database. Members may now purchase names from the database on a "per
state" basis at $0.35 each, but email addresses will still not be
included in the purchase. The office in Nashville will provide
mailing labels for the purchases, not computer (spreadsheet) files.
Affiliate organizations may purchase the names in the membership
database at $0.30 per name. The purchase is still a "one time use"
and a written agreement to protect the one time use of the names
purchased will be required with each purchase.
As we discussed via telephone, email addresses are not available for
purchase due to widespread abuse and a large volume of complaints
from our members. Our membership database is AOBA's most valuable
asset and our responsibility is to protect it from abuse but allow
it to be used within proper guidelines at the same time. Promoting
individual farms, promoting their sales, promoting regional
affiliate sponsored events and AOBA certified shows is a great thing
and we want everyone to succeed in those endeavors!
2. Update - AOBA move to Tennessee
As you are already aware, board members met with Affiliate Congress
members in January where interest was expressed to dissolve the
existing Colorado corporation and reopen it in Tennessee. AOBA is a
Colorado nonprofit corporation, organized and operated exclusively
for agricultural purposes as described in Section 501 (c) (5) of the
U.S. Internal Revenue Code. The Articles of Incorporation were filed
in Colorado on January 6, 1993.
Because we are a Colorado Corporation doing business in Tennessee,
we have appropriately obtained a Certificate of Authority as a
foreign corporation with the Tennessee Secretary of State. The
certificate was granted to AOBA on April 24, 2006.
As a part of the discussion in January, board members and Congress
representatives agreed moving the association to Tennessee would
allow a change in the language of Article XIII of the Bylaws so that
"an affirmative vote of 2/3rds of those voting" could be
incorporated to replace the current wording requiring an affirmative
vote of 2/3rds of all members eligible to vote. Everyone at the
meeting agreed this would be the only change to the bylaws. The
existing 30% quorum response necessary to validate a legal election
would remain language in the bylaws in the State of Tennessee. Board
members offered to obtain a legal opinion on this matter and report
back to the Congress.
That legal opinion was obtained from a Tennessee attorney,
well-versed in corporate law and able to help guide us through the
process in order to do it properly. The opinion was reviewed at the
board's face to face meeting in May.
The Tennessee law firm actually recommends a merger of the
association into a newly formed Tennessee nonprofit corporation as
opposed to the liquidation of the Association. It is felt choosing
to merge the Association into a newly formed Tennessee nonprofit
corporation would avoid time and expense involved in liquidation
where individual assets must be retitled. Upon the merger of the
Association into a newly formed Tennessee nonprofit corporation, all
of the Association's assets and liabilities will automatically
become assets and liabilities of the newly formed Tennessee
nonprofit corporation by operation of law.
With counsel's assistance, A Plan of Merger would be developed and
would be submitted to the membership for approval. It would require
approval by a majority vote of the members. Assuming the requisite
approvals are obtained, the new Tennessee Corporation would file
Articles of Merger with the Tennessee Secretary of State and the
move to Tennessee will be complete.
Now that the board members have reviewed the opinion and the
recommendation of the process involved, we have agreed to place it
on a special ballot for approval by the members. Our desire would be
to have the special ballot this fall, but certainly would like to
review this further with the Congress representatives to make sure
this is the direction in which everyone wants to proceed.
3. Affiliate Presence on the AOBA Website
Everyone agrees this is a top priority. We currently have new
software for various programs under development that are due to be
uploaded in Nashville very soon. Included is new membership
software, new Show Division Software and a complete overhaul of
AOBA's websites and F&RG portals. Our desire would be to give the
Affiliate Congress the presence desired without major reprogramming
of our websites that will be involved in the overhaul in just a
short amount of time anyway. Gordon will be contacting you to
determine your desires and to implement whatever we possibly can
implement "now" without interfering with the programming that is
already involved in implementation of the other programs. I know
this is not the optimum answer, but a reality we all have to
understand and work with.
4. Request for Training Fleeces from the JTCC and JAC
In the past, fleece training for judges and apprentices was done all
over the country and had to "tag along" with the other major
training and certification clinics. It was incredibly expensive to
ship training fleeces all over the country for the various clinic
opportunities and required a high number of man-hours to make sure
an adequate number of fleeces were available for the clinics.
When the Nashville office opened its doors last year, one of the
greatest assets was actual square footage that could be set up for
training and seminars. All of the Total Immersion Fleece training
clinics now occur in Nashville, where the training fleeces no longer
travel around the country, eliminating a great deal of expense and
frustration for everyone. However, those fleeces have now been used
for almost one entire year and many of our judges and apprentices
have been tested on their knowledge of those training fleeces.
The JTCC and JAC's request for additional training fleeces is to
replenish the supply of fleeces available for training. In the past,
many breeders have voluntarily donated fleeces from their farms for
this purpose once the fleeces aged past the ability to show them any
longer. Huacaya and Suri fleeces are necessary for training and
would be voluntary donations from the membership. Thousands of
donated fleeces are not necessary - a couple of hundred in various
colors would work extremely well for training purposes.
5. Programs to help small Affiliate Organizations with funding
In August, 2006 when the Congress was formed, AOBA agreed to cover
communication expenses, photocopies, misc. meeting supplies and the
hotel meeting room for the congress to meet twice a year, plus a
group meal for everyone in attendance. The Congress stipulated each
affiliate would provide transportation, lodging and meals for their
representatives to come to the meetings. Those guidelines are what
were submitted to us for approval, which we did approve at our
September, 2006 board meeting.
With this in mind, is there any possibility whatsoever some of the
larger affiliate organizations can assist the smaller ones with this
type of funding? The board discussed a lot of various possibilities,
but ultimately determined no funds are available in the budget to
quickly assist potential July meeting attendees. We also do not
subsidize any of the other committees in this manner. That is why we
are wondering if the Affiliate organizations can develop an internal
assistance program to help with travel expenses for the smaller
organizations that may not be able to bear the expense.
6. Face to Face Meeting with the Affiliate Congress, July, 2008
From board level, it was felt a brief orientation on "How AOBA The
Corporation" really works. Committee organization and reporting
structure, how recommendations are made for board review, show rule
revisions, how to conduct votes so that all members have a
voice…basic communication skills 101. Guys, this "orientation" was
solely my idea in an effort to give the Affiliate Congress structure
as a whole. If you don't want to do it and the attendees do not want
it, we certainly don't have to go through it. I was only trying to
help the three of you help the other representatives with a
structure that our other committees use.
7. Various Committee and Board Updates
Obviously, I can only supply a few "high points" with all the
committee work that is progressing across the country today but I am
grateful for the opportunity to talk about some of the work being
done. It's still an exciting time for AOBA members and all of our
various standing committees are working on a lot of projects that
benefit the entire membership, just as they always do. All of the
board meeting minutes and standing committee meeting minutes are
posted to the member's website at www.alpacaowners.com if you would
like to review specifics. High points are as follows:
a. The Show Division Committees accepted comments for rule revisions
and has conducted their annual meeting to implement the recommended
changes. The summary of changes is expected to come to the board for
approval within the next few weeks. With several new shows scheduled
for January and February, 2008, it is critical for the handbook
production process to be completed earlier this year.
b. The JTCC and JAC recently reorganized the 2008 schedule of
training and certification clinics for judges and apprentices. On
the "current" schedule of clinics is the Form & Function clinic
scheduled for July in Golden, Colorado; the Oral Reasons clinic in
Shawnee, Oklahoma and the recertification clinic in Hillsboro,
Oregon in December. The Total Immersion Fleece clinic is scheduled
for July in Nashville.
c. The Education Committee has already been working on the speaker
grid for the January, 2008 Fiber to Fashion Conference for a couple
of months. The committee also surveyed the membership recently on
the subject of Distance Learning. They are also finalizing review of
The Alpaca Producer's Handbook for recommendations back to the board
on production of the handbook.
d. The Fiber Committee is also hard at work planning the Fiber to
Fashion Conference and Student Design Competition. A new "line item"
donation possibility is available to members and other interested
parties that wish to donate sponsorship funds toward the Student
Design Competition.
e. The Marketing Committee is reviewing and making recommendations
for website revisions, both on the public site and member's site,
including the F&RG program. They are also working on National Farm
Day material along with all the other marketing programs that run on
a daily basis. They are also reviewing marketing decisions for The
International Year of Natural Fibers in 2008 as well as revisions to
the Donated Female Alpacas for the national conference auction and
an RFP for a National Marketing Director position to be hired in
late 2007 or early 2008.
f. The Affiliate Grants Committee is reviewing grants at various
stages of completion and approval. At any given time, they have
approximately 15 grants in the queue for review in all categories.
g. Government & Industry Relations Committee (GIRComm) is working on
creation of a repository of legal issues and resulting outcomes that
affect zoning and taxation across the country since both issues can
have a direct impact on alpaca breeders along with other livestock
growers. They are also heavily involved in implementation of
National Alpaca Farm Day from a legislative standpoint and the
distinction between "livestock vs. exotic" legislation with the
National Farm Bill on a national level.
