Bowen Agricultural Alliance

On Saturday May 15 the Bowen Agricultural Alliance held a community discussion forum at Cates Hill Chapel, the third of its kind since BAA got off the ground in mid-2009. A major theme for the morning was around the type of structure that BAA might evolve into to advance projects that BAA supporters are involved in.

At our previous BAA forum (November 28, 2009), we were all pretty clear that we wanted BAA to remain virtual, effective and inclusive—that is, that we would not pursue any organizational structure.  This approach works well if all that’s required is networking and skill-sharing and we have a large network of volunteers who are quite self-motivated.  To some extent, that is happening and some of the initiatives outlined in our founding meeting are well under way on a purely volunteer basis.

Other initiatives have been identified that need help:  a push, in terms of dedicated human resources, money or organizational support.  These would include a regular farmers’ market; community-supported agriculture; a farmers’ co-op and possibly even a full-scale farm operation.  Some of these have been well explored and it’s clearly an issue of time and money to get organized.

At our May 15 meeting, we reviewed some of the possible options for organization and the notes (below) outline briefly the advantages and disadvantages of some options that exist.

We decided to explore how people feel about incorporating under the Society Act—a step that would answer the questions, “For whom does BAA speak” (its members) and “Who speaks for BAA?” (its membership, through whatever individuals and process we choose for deciding BAA’s position on any issue).

Once incorporated, we would have some fundraising ability.  We could also choose to pursue charitable status, or to contract with another charity with a similar mandate, in order to access charitable funding.

Those of us who were in the meeting May 15 were persuaded that an organization is needed and that we could work to ensure it remained inclusive and flexible, meeting needs of members as they arise.  In order to proceed, we need 5 individuals to agree to sign the incorporation documents and call a first meeting of potential members.

If you are interested in becoming a founder of the incorporated BAA, please email an indication of interest to Stuart (stuart_cole@shaw.ca) and we will set up a meeting at which we can sign the documents required.

Structure possibilities

1. Become a society under the BC Societies Act

Benefits:

• It’s simple and fast
• It would allow us to apply more easily for Municipal Grants in aid and other grants
• Apart from a few things that are mandatory under the Act, there is room for any society to set up bylaws that allow members to participate fully in decision-making and to create a rather ‘flat’ organizational structure. (By law, there need to be 5 first incorporators whose duty is only to apply for incorporation and convene a meeting of members.  The members then elect a board of directors, which must then appoint or elect the traditional officers:  President, Vice-President, Secretary and Treasurer).

Disadvantages:

• We could not issue charitable tax receipts unless we took the additional step of becoming a registered charity under the Income Tax Act.
• We would need to maintain annual filings with the Province, keep a set of books and minutes and have an annual AGM.
• Filing costs about $200 and there is an annual filing fee of $25.

A team lead by Karen Wristen, with support from Carol MacKinnon & Kim Howden, will investigate this possibility, and seek how to include the Bowen ‘new paradigm’ possibilities within this option.

2. Become a “registered charity” under the Revenue Canada registration process

Benefits:

• Can offer tax receipts for donations – makes fund raising easier

Disadvantages:

• No guarantee that our “mandate” will qualify under fairly antiquated “Charitable Status” requirements
• Can take more than a year after incorporation under Society Act to get charitable status; no guarantee that we will get it.
• Need to file annually with Revenue Canada
• Must restrict advocacy activities to no more than 10% of our total resources (human, cash and volunteer)

3. Stay “As is” with no structure and no roles

Benefits:

• Allows us to create a “Made on Bowen” solution which connects us in all sorts of ways; allows us to stay inclusive, flexible, open
• A group of “adherents”/members already exists
• We can avoid the time required for “administrivia”

Disadvantages:

• We would need to poll the entire ‘membership’ for every decision
• Our online processes would need to work superbly
• Less clear who “speaks” for BAA
• Strong potential for initiatives and projects to stall without leadership

4. Align with an existing Charitable organization

Benefits:

• ‘piggyback’ on another organization’s mandate to have them provide the charitable status
• Organizations we might pursue include: Farm Folk City Folk; Bowen Island Community Foundation; TIDES

Disadvantages:

• We would need to ensure that our mandate is in alignment with the mandate of the larger organization.

Sally Freeman to investigate the Bowen Island Community Foundation possibility.

5. A new “paradigm” that is Bowen-made, emerging from the evident community energy and support