National Beekeepers' Association Branch Organisation Ideas

This page contains some ideas relating to job responsibilities and methods of making your NBA branch more effective...

You might also want to read about how to deal with the press to get good publicity for your branch...

The President (Chairperson) of the Branch

The Chairperson in conjunction with the constitution of the National Beekeepers Association of New Zealand is basically engaged to:

• To conduct the meeting through its Agenda.
• To ensure that every person in the meeting has an equal opportunity to be heard, and have his or her point of view considered.
• To ensure that every person has an equal right to vote on any issue.

Powers of the Chairperson

• To decide who shall address the meeting.
• To rule on questions of procedure and points of order.
• To prevent irrelevant discussion.
• To refuse badly worded or ambiguous amendments or motions.
• To ask any person who is speaking to resume his seat if he is out of order.
• To demand a poll where there is doubt about the result of a show of hands.
• To adjourn the meeting if it gets completely out of control or if a quorum lapses.

Obligations

• To know why the meeting was called.
• To know who may attend and who may speak.
• To have agenda and meeting notice well in advance. That notice of meeting complies with constitution.
• To open meeting at notified time (not ten minutes late) after checking that a quorum is present.
• To welcome guests and visitors.
• To ensure the smooth passage of business in accordance with the agenda.
• To sign minutes of the previous meeting if approved by the meeting.
• To ensure that all rules are obeyed.
• To be impartial.
• To close the meeting.
• To authenticate by his signature all acts, orders and proceedings of the meeting declaring its will.

Qualities of a Good Chairperson

• Impartiality: The Chairperson has a complete set of rules to follow, and these must be applied in exactly the same way to all members of the assembly.
• To listen and keep quiet: Be an attentive listener rather than a disruptive talker. Being a good listener displays sincerity and courtesy towards the members present.
• A good memory: A good listener will improve his memory on matters already resolved at the present and previous meeting.
• Common sense: Do not show panic, nervousness, impatience, or anger.
• Sense of humour: A Chairperson should take his work seriously but not himself.
• A clear voice: To be heard through out the room. Speak clearly.
• Firmness and tact

The Agenda

A typical agenda should include:

• Opening welcome by the chairperson - mention any guests.
• Apologies - secretary - call for acceptance of apologies.
• Minutes of previous meeting - secretary moves that they be accepted as a true and correct record.
• Matters arising from minutes pertinent - discussion only.
• Correspondence - inward - secretary reads pertinent sections, and moves for acceptance. Discussion on correspondence lead by Chairperson.
• Outward correspondence - secretary reads pertinent sections - moves for approval of outward correspondence.
• Notification of General Business - call for any items members may wish to raise, to enable you to plan the latter portion of the meeting.
• Treasurers report - accounts for payment, etc.
• Committee reports.
• General business.
• Set next meeting date.
• Close meeting

Typical Agenda for Annual General Meeting

• Opening and Welcome.
• Apologies.
• Correspondence.
• Confirmation of Minutes of previous A.G.M.
• Presentation of Annual Report (normally by President)
• Adoption of Annual Report.
• Presentation of Treasurer's Report and Balance Sheet.
• Adoption of Treasurer's Report and Balance Sheet.
• Election of Officers.
• Vote of thanks to out going officers.
• Special business e.g. changes to constitution.
• Notices of Motion.
• General Business.
• Close

The Secretary of the Branch

Qualities Required

• Communication Skills: The secretary is the pivotal person in terms of communication both within the branch and between the branch and the outside world. The secretary must be able to communicate effectively with and relate well to other people.
• Organisational Skills: The secretary is responsible for the smooth running of the branch which requires good organisational skills.

Obligations of the Secretary

During meetings:

• To assist the president by the provision of an annotated agenda with the relevant supporting documents.
• To record the minutes of the meeting.
• All resolutions put to the meeting should be accurately noted together with the names of mover and seconder. It should be clear whether the resolution was carried or lost. It is rarely necessary to record the discussion pertaining to resolutions but it is sometimes useful to record the main points raised in favour or against.
• All incoming and outgoing correspondence should be listed either in the minutes or as a separate schedule.
• The financial report should be detailed and the accounts for payment/approval listed (together with the relevant cheque numbers to assist the auditor).
• To know the Rules of the Association and to advise the president, should the need arise, on the Rules of the Association.

Between meetings:

• To ensure that members are advised of meetings of the branch.
• To ensure that resolutions passed by the meeting are carried out. This may involve writing letters or reminding members of duties to be performed.
• To receive and respond to correspondence or where appropriate refer matters to the president or other members of the committee.
• To ensure that the finances of the branch are kept in an orderly manner by:
• Writing receipts for all monies received (whether by cash or cheque).
• Banking all monies received and noting receipt numbers on bank deposit slip.
• Making all properly authorised payments on behalf of the branch by means of cheques drawn on the branch account.
• To ensure that a copy of the audited accounts and balance sheet are sent to the Executive Secretary as soon after they are approved as possible.
• To ensure that the meeting of the branch at which remits are to be formulated is held in good time.
• To ensure that remits formulated by the branch reach the Executive Secretary in good time.
• To ensure that the Executive Secretary is advised of changes in branch officers following the AGM.

Summary of Branch Secretary's Responsibilities Related to the NBA Rules

This summary describes only those duties of the Branch Secretary that stem directly from the NBA rules. It is provided to help you plan your branch's activity plan to ensure you comply with required dates and the MINIMUM requirements under the rules.

Meetings

As Branch Secretary you are required to keep a minutes book of activities of your branch during its meetings. Your branch is required to hold an Annual Meeting and at least one other meeting (whether a general meeting or a meeting of the Branch Management Committee).

Remember that your branch may choose to set its own quorum for meetings, but you may not set the quorum at less than 5.

Branch Annual Meeting

The Branch Annual Meeting must be held in April.

At the Annual Meeting, you as Secretary will need to have available for distribution copies of the statement of accounts. The statement must be audited by a non-member and signed, after acceptance by the meeting, by the Branch Chairperson. A copy of this statement must be forwarded to the Executive immediately after the Branch Annual Meeting.

Branch Officers

Also at the Branch Annual Meeting your branch will need to elect a Branch Chairperson and Branch Secretary. Your branch may also choose to elect a Branch Management Committee, which should have at least 3 people on it. Voting is one member/one vote at this meeting.

Remits to Conference

Branches or branch members can forward remits to be considered at the Conference of Delegates. These remits must be sent to the Executive Secretary at least 45 days prior to Conference. Depending on the dates of the Conference, this is at the end of May or early June.

All the remits are collated and then sent back to branches to consider. Another meeting will need to be held before the Conference. At this meeting your branch will do the actual voting on the remits (see below). It will also elect a Branch Delegate and a deputy to carry the votes to Conference.

If your branch doesn't get its remits to the NBA in time, they might still be considered, but only if not more than two delegates at Conference object.

Voting at the Remits Meeting

Voting on remits at the branch meeting is based on a weighted voting strength. Ordinary members and Life members get one vote each. Associate members and Honorary members do not get any votes. Commercial members get votes based on the number of hives for which they paid a levy.

1-10 apiaries: 1 vote

11-20 apiaries: 2 votes

up to a maximum of 25 votes

You will be supplied with a list of paid up members and their voting strengths by the Executive Secretary. If there is any argument about voting and whether or not someone has paid or the hive numbers, record all details and keep a separate record of the votes. Refer any problem to the Executive Secretary.

You may find it convenient at the remit meeting to have pieces of card to write the voting strengths for each member to give to them. Members can then hold the card in the air to make the tallying of votes in the different categories somewhat easier.

For remits to Conference of Branch Delegates members may:

• Vote 'for' or 'against' the remit.
• Abstain from voting.
• Make his/her votes available to the delegate to cast as he/she thinks fit.
• Withhold his/her votes to carry personally to the Conference.

The Branch Secretary records all votes in each category and prepares a clear and complete summary for the Branch Delegate to use at Conference.

How to Make Your Branch Funds Go Further...

Each NBA branch receives a capitation grant from the national office. This grant has never been intended to fund all branch activities. It is primarily intended to provide enough for the functions REQUIRED of each branch. In simple terms, that's really just holding an annual meeting of the branch and the keeping of the branch accounts, things specified in the NBA rules.

Of course we all hope that's not ALL you do in your branch! Like many other organisations (such as the Fruitgrowers Federation and Federated Farmers) a national levy is used to fund the national services, and branches/divisions raise their own funds to conduct local activities.

This paper is a set of ideas on ways that you might be able to increase your branch's revenues or decrease some costs. Not all of them will apply (or appeal!) to all branches, but I have written them down just to get you started thinking about your options. If you would like to add some more ideas to these, by all means send them to the NBA and we'll include them on the next version!

• Don't send out meeting notices for every meeting to all the people on your list. Most branches have mailing lists that include four types of beekeepers:
  • Active members of the NBA who actively take part in branch activities.
  • People who are members of the NBA but never take part in branch activities.
  • People who seem to come to branch activities but aren't actually NBA members.
  • People who requested at one time to receive some information about/from the branch and got put on the list.
• Review your mailing list regularly. Ask for feedback from other members about people on your list you don't recognise. Some 'freebies' are worthwhile to keep other organisations/people informed and to provide publicity about your activities, but review the list regularly to keep it current!
• Develop good liaison with local radio/newspapers to get your branch activities publicised - it might save you some advertising/postal costs!
• You don't HAVE to send ANY information to ANYONE except for (1) Notice of your branch AGM and (2) notice of the remits voting meeting.
• Get sponsorship for your newsletter. This could be on a 'per advertisement' basis, or someone who is willing to pay the cost of the entire issue. Be creative; think about the businesses the local beekeepers patronise and approach them with confidence. Make sure they realise how TARGETTED their advertisement will be, and how much the beekeepers appreciate them. Then make sure that all your beekeepers make a personal comment to the advertiser about having seen the advertisement.
• Send out a tear off portion with the first newsletter of the year, the one you send to EVERYONE on your mailing list. Ask them to return the form, indicating whether they want to get only (1) official meeting notices (2) notices of field day or (3) all written information from the branch.
• Have a regular meeting day, venue and time if you can (such as the 3rd Friday of each month...). This saves on advertising costs.
• Make sure your local Apicultural Advisory Officer has up to date information of branch officers and addresses, so new beekeepers can then contact them directly for branch information.
• Advise the local Citizens Advice Bureau/Information Centre of your branch officers and addresses.
• Charge a subscription for your newsletter. The rate could vary depending on whether the person wants all newsletters or only meeting notices. Remember you do have to send out notice the AGM and remits voting meeting regardless of whether someone subscribes or pays.
• Some local newspapers and radio stations run a community diary feature that can be used for free advertising of meetings. If you're in a geographically spread branch, you might have to deal with several papers/radio stations.
• Set up a 'telephone tree' to notify members of meetings, rather than posting notices. Identify your most 'responsible' members and give them each about 5 names and telephone numbers. Some branches will find this easier/cheaper to do than others. If all of your members are in the same telephone exchange, it is considerably easier than if there are a number of (toll) exchanges involved. Make sure you give them a deadline, giving the number of days they have to complete the phone calls. You can vary the 'height' of the tree, reducing or increasing the number of calls each person has to make depending on how many reliable callers you have and how many people you want to notify.
• Set up a 'fax tree' instead of or in conjunction with the telephone tree. This also saves the temptation to 'chat', since telephone trees can be costly on time.
• Send out the meeting notice for the AGM with the proposed meeting dates for the rest of the year. Though it takes planning, maybe you could arrange it for a 'batch' of meetings around Conference time - AGM, remit formulation meeting, pre-conference remit meeting and Conference report meeting.
• Use the NZ Beekeeper magazine to advertise your events/field days.
• Run raffles at your meetings.
• Charge for the cup of tea and biscuits if you have them at branch meetings.
• Charge an entrance fee for your field days. Set the fees so you don't discourage families, but still provides funds for the branch, such as having a maximum amount per family, no matter how many members attend.
• Keep a branch apiary. Use branch funds to buy a nuc. Solicit donations from branch members of a hive or equipment to start a few hives. Suggest that owners of neglected apiaries might like to solve their problem by donating hives to the branch apiary.
• Get sponsorship for your field day. Make sure you put up signs and make special announcements to thank the sponsors.
• Hold your meetings at beekeepers' sheds rather than renting rooms.
• Check out the cost of using a local library or staff room from a local school for your meetings.
• Offer branch members to speak about bees and beekeeping to a club or school in exchange for free/discounted use of their rooms for holding branch meetings.
• Invite a special speaker and charge for attendance. If the speaker has more appeal than just the local beekeepers, make sure you advertise and prepare for the numbers that might show up.
• Put on a honey/wax/baked good competition (perhaps in conjunction with your field day) and charge a fee to enter items for judging. Be sure to specify that the products entered belong to the branch, so you can auction them off for more money once the competition is over!
• Offer and advertise a service to pick up swarms and destroy wasp nests to make money for the branch. You'll need to keep a list of available members willing to go out to do the work.
• Conduct an auction of beekeeping gear on behalf of members, with a percentage of the returns to go back to the branch.
• Buy some equipment or material in bulk to make a savings for the branch members, but add on a percentage to go back to the branch for the organisational work.
• Buy quantities of bee-related advertising materials for resale to members.
• Don't feel that you HAVE to pay someone to audit your branch accounts. Anyone who is not a branch member can be suitable for serving as the branch auditor (though you DO want to make sure they are up to the task...)
• Produce and sell a branch cookbook, composed of recipes that you get from your branch members. Remember you can have advertisements in the cookbook as well.