NorCal 86 Owners Club: Brainstorm and nominations for community leaders
 

Fellow NorCal owners,

I apologize in advance for getting long-winded here.

Our beloved 86/FRS/BRZs have only been out on the market for a short time but we’ve seen tremendous growth in our community and the enthusiasm we share is contagious. I’ve met with many of you at the annual, monthly and weekly meets and we have a great group of people here. Those of you whom I’ve spoken with, openly or privately, I think generally share the same belief: our community needs a more responsible, democratic, and open approach to the leadership of our NorCal 86 Owners Club organization.
What does this organization do? Well at a minimum it helps maintain an official identity for our local community. Here are some of the things the NC86OC can and does participate in:

• organize large scale meets within the NorCal community (i.e. annual meet)
• organize even larger scale meets with other communities (i.e. meet ups and events with SoCal, Las Vegas, Oregon, Washington etc.)
• manufacture and distribute NC86OC “official” merchandise to let members support and represent (i.e. stickers, shirts, etc.)
• organize community-oriented activities to give back to the community (i.e. toy drives, charity work, etc.)
• coordinate and contact with local businesses/shops to arrange group/club discounts or benefits
• raise funds in order to allow the above activities to take place.
• conduct other activities that are in keeping with the spirit/purpose of the organization.

So while the idea of having a club seems easy and fun, it quickly becomes a logistical challenge to those who are entrusted with maintaining it. Behind the scenes there is a lot of work, a lot of effort, time and stress. We need to find one, or several individuals who are willing to take on this challenge, for very little reward or benefit. We also expect these people to act in the best interests of the community, and be honest, open and transparent about their actions and what they are doing on behalf of the community.

So I’m throwing this out there to you all, do you have thoughts on how to best run our collective organization? What activities or principles are important to you? Would you be willing to take part in working to make this organization successfully function?

I’ll share a few ideas of my own on how we can select and self-govern our group.

• one traditional method is to elect a single president who would be in charge of most duties and perhaps select other officers (VP, secretary, treasurer) to support him or her.
• Another method would be select a member council or “board of directors” who would collectively run the organization.
• Since NC86OC should be a community-oriented organization and not a for-profit business, I believe anyone selected for such a responsibility should be selected democratically and for a limited term of service. Perhaps no limit on the number of terms they can serve, but they must be re-elected back into service as opposed to simply remaining on board without accountability. These individuals should receive little or no compensation for their service. (But should be reimbursed for costs they incur on behalf of the club)
• This one’s a little radical. I believe anyone who wants to take on the responsibility in the organization, should be willing to invest and put forth some of their own capital into the organization. One idea would be to have the president, or board members, etc. be required to deposit something, like say $100 into the club funds. This would allow the club to have a functioning budget and actually have means to accomplish things. And gives the leadership incentive to act wisely on behalf of the club. If at the end of the term of service, the club still has the funds to do so, the council or board would refund the deposit to the departing member. And new leaders would deposit their stake in turn.

These are my own opinions and I welcome anyone to disagree or suggest other opinions on how things could be done. The point of this thread is to open up the floor to all of you and get your input on how we could get things done.

TL;DR version - give us your ideas on what the club should be doing for you. And nominate leaders you think will advance the interests of the club. Or volunteer to do so yourself.

Thanks for your time!

I think you just nominated yourself as president just by making this post my friend :thumbsup:

Joking aside, I like the last idea (bullet point), making the officers/board members "invested" in the community/club. How that money is spent, on the other hand, is the more important thing to decide and make clear. All stake holders should be in agreement before funds are spent. For example, I think the fund can be used to front costs for the annual meet, but not necessarily merchandising if not all are in agreement.

I think you'd be a great President Plato!

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whoops. I thank you and anyone else who would think so, but I respectfully decline the nomination to be president. I have other obligations and priorities that would prevent me from doing so. I would not be against being a member of the board or council if we decided to go with that approach. But I do not want to be the numero uno El Presidente. :)

I nominate @finch1750 for the office of El Presidente. :thumbsup:

I second @finch1750 as well.

As I said before in the meets, you are the defacto BOSS! Even though you say you are not. :)

Didn't we already decide on Finch at the last drive :P

I think finch1750 a good canidate just because of the success of the toy drive alone. He represents the active part of Stockton. Of course we'll see what he thinks of this "expansion" of NC86OC

I would be more than happy to help out guys!

AKA I'll help finch.

i like the last bullet point too. i don't like voting. i think there aren't enough people that would vote mostly because they don't care. i mean i think they care about going to meets, they just don't want to be involved with the "politics" of voting and all that. which again i think it's better that people put in some cash to be "allowed" the ability to help make decisions. i would have nominated you too @PMok along with @MyRx. if we did vote then i'd totes vote for @finch1750 if he was interested.

also i hope it is at minimum 2 people so that the burden isn't just on 1 person.

I also vote for PMOK to be Prez. But if we're going with the board council then perhaps we should have each board member be represented from different parts of NorCal based on city or areas. This would help bring different perspectives to the board meetings. This board member would also represent their local 86/BRZers for event planning etc.

+1 for @finch1750 He did such a great job with toy drive.

Agreed, we (unfortunately) all have real lives with real responsibilities, etc. I would hate for this to be a burden for one person or even a couple people.

^This, having a couple of representatives from each area would be great.

+1. He also put together the rear subframe bushing group buy.

So how about @finch1750 and @PMok be Chairman and Vice Chairman of the board? :thumbup: