As many of you have figured out, NES Memberships are now available to purchase, but before you buy one, lets talk about what they are and why they exist.
As our community has grown, recently topping 5,000 people in our Facebook group, so have things like gear purchasing and the team involved in leading the community.
To formalize (and make sure we’re square with the tax man!), we needed to become a 501(c)(7) organization. You helped with the rather large cost of that earlier this year, and thank you.
This does NOT make us a charity. This means we are tax exempt social club. Like your local running club may be.
To file as a social club, we needed a board. At this time, I’d like to introduce you to that board.
- Paul Jones – President
- Jessica Wohlen – Treasurer
- Sandy Rhee – Clerk
- Beth Jones – Director
- Mike McKenzie – Director
Each of us has spent the last 4 years on the administration team for the New England Spahtens – and along with Nate, James, Jeremy and Ellen were around as founders in the beginning – thank you to those four for their efforts in helping us get where we are today – life circumstances and changes mean they have since stepped down from their admin roles over the past couple of years.
A requirement of being a 501(c)(7) is having a membership base. Something more than simply joining a free, open Facebook group, but an actual, paid membership base. These are the members that will vote on board positions, attend annual meetings – and in time, stand for those board positions if they desire, and so, we are now offering annual memberships for the New England Spahtens.
As we develop our website to reflect this new option, we will be publishing our By Laws – which are required for a 501(c)(7) and took many evolutions to get right.
What does this mean?
We’re taking nothing away from the existing group.
If you can do it today, you can continue doing it, going forward.
- We are however, sending you a unique (and pretty flashy) membership patch, free, for your trouble. Rock it with pride!
- We will be periodically offering early purchasing options and unique swag items purely for our members.
- You will have the rights to sit in on our annual meetings, held in early July every year.
- You will have the rights to vote on, or stand for positions on our board when elections are held.
- You will also be supporting the New England Spahtens community financially – with your membership helping us to pay for our hosting and operating expenses, and assisting us in growing the community and family we’ve come to love.As an individual, this will cost just $30 per year. Student and family packages are also available.
Feel free to reach out to anyone of the board with questions – we’re always here.
Learn more about becoming a 2017 member, right here.
