The Howard County Bird Club

A Chapter of the Maryland Ornithological Society (MOS)

Proposed Bylaws Changes for Howard County Bird Club

To be voted on at September 9, 2010 Meeting

All voting Howard County Bird Club Members:

We must amend the Constitution and Bylaws of the Howard County Bird Club to make it compliant with IRS regulations for non-profit organizations. If we do not make these changes, we will lose our tax-exempt status!

You may download a PDF document with the changes to the Constitution and Bylaws of the Howard County Bird Club to be voted upon at the September 9, 2010 regular meeting:

Title of the document. Change the title to "CONSTITUTION AND BYLAWS OF THE HOWARD COUNTY BIRD CLUB, A LOCAL CHAPTER OF THE . . ." See explanation for change number 2 below. We need to be consistent with our name in this document.
Article I, Section 1: declare the name simply to be "Howard County Bird Club" as recommended by the Board of Directors in the spring of 2010, and as filed with the IRS in obtaining our EIN (Employer Identification Number). Also, delete the sentence "The popularized name is "Howard County Bird Club" because this is no longer necessary.
Article II, Section 1. Add the words "serving Howard County," in the first sentence where we define ourselves as a local chapter of MOS. I suggest this change because it distinguishes us from other local chapters and clarifies our relationship to the state organization. Nowhere else in the document do we do this.
Article III, Section 3. Fix the indentation of the section to flush left, like the others.
Article III, Section 3. Replace "Manual of Operation" with "Bylaws". The membership year for MOS is defined in the Bylaws (the fiscal year is defined in the Manual of Operation).
Article IV, Section 2. In the second sentence, replace "fiscal year" with "membership year". This appears to simply be an error, as it has been our practice that new officers take authority on September 1, not May 1.
Article IV, Section 2. Strike the sentence "The time between the annual meeting and the beginning of the fiscal year shall provide a transition of authority." First, this makes no sense if the new officers take control on the start of the membership year (September), and second, it is simply not necessary and could create confusion about who can sign documents.
Boxed approval notice under the title. Move the box and text to the end of the document; change "annual" to "regular", change the date to "September 9, 2010". Append a signature line for the President. The IRS expects chartering documents to be signed paper, not just electronic files, for legal reasons.
"By-Laws" has been changed to "Bylaws" wherever it appears as a spelling correction.

Ward Ebert

President, Howard County Bird Club