BothellBob
Member
- Joined
- Oct 26, 2005
- Messages
- 103
Fellow High Roaders:
I am a member of an NRA affiliated gun club which operates a range. With several other members I am serving on an ad hoc committee charged with reviewing our club’s operation and proposing changes to our bylaws.
These bylaws have undergone only the mildest of amendment since the clubs beginnings in 1945. We started as a small sportsmen’s club with 80 undeveloped acres (and a mortgage) at the end of a rural dirt road. Club business was conducted at monthly meetings of the members. The club was very social, but perhaps becoming a bit run down, when in the late 1980s some of the membership undertook a major maintenance, rebuilding, and expansion effort.
We now have 2,000+ members with five buildings, multiple archery/rifle/pistol/shotgun ranges, public hours, full and part time employees, no debt, but a non-profit business with a $500,000+ annual budget, and a prime location on the suburbanized, and highly regulated, border of King (Seattle) and Snohomish (Everett) counties.
We are trying to run a small business and a relatively large gun club with volunteer officers and directors (the same group who assumed control of the club nearly 20 years ago) and rules that were never intended for the kind of operation we have become. Surely other clubs in the nation have faced the difficulties and challenges in adapting to the kind of growth, time requirements, and complexity we have experienced. Our ad hoc committee would like to contact such clubs and learn how they have shaped their bylaws, governance, and organization; and how they managed their transition. If you are aware of some clubs that might serve as examples for us, we would very much appreciate knowing which they are and who we might contact.
Please let me know. Thanks,
-BothellBob
I am a member of an NRA affiliated gun club which operates a range. With several other members I am serving on an ad hoc committee charged with reviewing our club’s operation and proposing changes to our bylaws.
These bylaws have undergone only the mildest of amendment since the clubs beginnings in 1945. We started as a small sportsmen’s club with 80 undeveloped acres (and a mortgage) at the end of a rural dirt road. Club business was conducted at monthly meetings of the members. The club was very social, but perhaps becoming a bit run down, when in the late 1980s some of the membership undertook a major maintenance, rebuilding, and expansion effort.
We now have 2,000+ members with five buildings, multiple archery/rifle/pistol/shotgun ranges, public hours, full and part time employees, no debt, but a non-profit business with a $500,000+ annual budget, and a prime location on the suburbanized, and highly regulated, border of King (Seattle) and Snohomish (Everett) counties.
We are trying to run a small business and a relatively large gun club with volunteer officers and directors (the same group who assumed control of the club nearly 20 years ago) and rules that were never intended for the kind of operation we have become. Surely other clubs in the nation have faced the difficulties and challenges in adapting to the kind of growth, time requirements, and complexity we have experienced. Our ad hoc committee would like to contact such clubs and learn how they have shaped their bylaws, governance, and organization; and how they managed their transition. If you are aware of some clubs that might serve as examples for us, we would very much appreciate knowing which they are and who we might contact.
Please let me know. Thanks,
-BothellBob