Commentary by Zack Hughes, VPS Board Member
Have you ever seen this?
“We are having a membership meeting.”
“Come renew your membership.”
Why does it matter? VPS is a membership-driven organization. A member has obligations and has power! What obligations and power?
Our membership is empowered to: act on matters brought before them; elect members to our board of directors; and approve or reject changes in our bylaws. The membership holds VPS accountable to our community! You are the stakeholders! If this were corporate you would be shareholders!
Here is example of why the membership matters. Someone had suggested getting rid of the position of Executive Director at VPS. At the time the bylaws had no section on an Executive Director. The person had made a compelling argument. Thankfully the board rejected the idea, although they could have gone the other way. To prevent this from occurring in the future I inserted proposed language in the bylaws that requires VPS to have an Executive Director. The bigger point here is now the membership would have to approve undoing this; that’s YOU!
I urge you to learn more about membership at VPS: visit our website https://www.vermontpsychiatricsurvivors.org/members/about-membership/ or call the VPS Office 802-775-6834.