Update: To get a more diverse roster of candidates and allow more people to consider the position of MNFurs board. We have elected to push back the election timeline from what was released in the last newsletter. Because of this change, the new timeline is listed below.
Hello, MNFurs! This is your elections committee with an announcement to make. As you may or may not know, MNFurs is a volunteer-based 501c3 not-for-profit organization. What that means is that we not only have volunteers but also a board of directors to help things run smoothly within the group, and we will be starting the election process for two seats on the board of directors.
Starting on September 23, we will start accepting nominations for board members, so start thinking about if there is someone you believe would be a good fit for an MNFurs board position; otherwise you can nominate yourself as well.
We will be using the website to make full announcements throughout the whole process, but feel free to contact [email protected] if you have any questions about things such as running for the board, how to vote in elections, or what is expected as a board member.
Dates for Candidates and Voting Members (all deadlines are at 11:59pm CST date of and of the year 2022)
- 9/23 – Nominations Open
- 10/22 – Nominations Close
- 11/3 – Candidate Bios Due
- 11/9 – Volunteer Hours Cutoff
- 11/10 – Candidate Q&A (Location TBD)
- 11/16 – Voting Opens
- 12/1 – Voting Closes
To Submit a Candidate
To submit a nomination, email your nomination to [email protected]. You may nominate either yourself or another community member you feel would be a perfect fit for the board. Nominations must be submitted by October 22nd at 11:59PM CST.
While we hope we do not need to change anything, the election committee reserves the right (within reason) to change or add dates/time/location of events as needed.
Questions and Answers for Everyone
Voters
Q) What is a voting member?
A) We are all members of Minnesota Furs. Voting members are people who volunteer 20 or more hours helping out Minnesota Furs and their events.
Q) How do I get voting hours?
A) By helping out Minnesota Furs perform their nonprofit role. This can include volunteering to run or help out events like picnics or an Oval meet, throwing an event that is recognized by MNFurs as an MNFurs activity, volunteering or staffing for Furry Migration, volunteering for MidWinter Frolic, and helping out the election committee! These hours must be verified by Minnesota Furs before being accepted and must be submitted before November 9th. Any volunteer hours happening after that date will be applied to the next year’s elections.
Q) How do I confirm my hours?
A) Contact [email protected]
Q) Will there be additional voting opportunities?
A) As we are looking at new conditions due to COVID-19, all voting will take place online this cycle and electronically at participating MNFurs events.
Q) Where is this Geek Partnership Society at?
A) Geek Partnership Society (GPS for short) is located at The Waterbury Building, 1121 Jackson St NE, Suite 106, Minneapolis, MN 55413.
Candidates
Q) Can I nominate myself?
A) Yes you can! It is pretty much expected that people will nominate themselves.
Q) What if I cannot make it to an event of the election process?
A) While the election committee will make every intent to help reschedule and reorganize, we cannot guarantee that we can accommodate all requests.
Q) What are my duties if I am elected to be a board member?
A) You need to be able to perform these actions and duties:
- Perform the fiduciary duty of board of director
- Duty of Care
- Duty of Loyalty
- Duty of Good Faith
- Duty of Prudence
- Duty of Disclosure
- A good definition can be found here https://www.law.cornell.edu/wex/fiduciary_duty
- Attend board meetings – attendance of board meetings by board staff is required by bylaws of Minnesota Furs. Times are set by a consensus of the board.
- Attend the Board Retreat held in April. Keep in good standing with the community. This includes 20 hours of volunteer hours outside of direct board duties. Expect to put in a significant amount of hours beyond that – the average board member for a non profit puts in at least 200-600 hours of volunteer work per year.
- Know the bylaws of Minnesota Furs: Conflict of Interest and other operational documents for some of these documents please visit https://www.mnfurs.org/about/mnfurs-operational-documents/ Minnesota Furs Operation documents.
- Are representatives and ambassadors of our organization..
- Your job is not to run events and conventions like MidWinterFrolic, Furry Migration, but to be the oversite to make sure they are meeting their duties from our status as a non profit.
- Need to have Leadership and Management Skills.
- Need to communicate, coordinate, and manage the departments in their purview.
Q) If I become a board member of Minnesota Furs do I get paid?
A) Minnesota Furs board members do not get paid.
Q) I am a private furry and I don’t want my information out there publically. Can I do this anonymously or just use my fur name?
A) Being part of a board of directors of a nonprofit requires us to report your legal name to the government and have it available publicly. You have to expect people to be able to find that you are part of the organization and the Furry Fandom.
If you have any comments or questions please feel free to email [email protected] or use our forums