For those who are curious, below is a list of board duties before, during and after each show. In addition to this, the board typically meets the Tuesday after a show (sometimes Thursdays, depending on schedules). At meetings, we:
- Do a postmortem of the previous show to examine what went well and what we might want to change in the future.
- Determine patterns for the next show. We keep a spreadsheet of how many times we do each pattern to make sure they are evenly distributed throughout the show year. In addition, we use Google’s random number generator to determine which patterns will be the two mystery jackpots.
- We brainstorm and select prizes for the next show.
- We report on fundraising efforts and any special programs we may have lined up (like a silent auction).
- We get a report on our funds and see how far we’ve made progress against our end-of-year awards goal. Since we give out saddles for first place, have split most of our divisions and have more than 50 members, we are anticipating needing $12,000 for year-end awards for 2021-2022.
In addition to the items listed below, between shows we fundraise and do a lot of communicating with members and potential new riders. We also report in to CGA and, with Brittney now being on the CGA Board of Directors, she travels to mandatory meetings in Northern California. She does so at her own expense, even though in the future we would prefer to be able to have the club fund these trips since they are for club business.
This brings up an important part of the role of a board member, which is one of being a heavy contributor to the club. Those who haven’t fared well on the board in the past have either 1) viewed the board member role as one of privilege/power or 2) tried to use their role to prioritize a specific rider or child before the overall interests of the club. Instead, our board members contribute every month out of their own pockets, paying for items without requesting reimbursement, funding prizes out of their personal funds and investing an extraordinary amount of time to make our club’s experience as great as we can, with the understanding that we are all volunteers. There are NO board member privileges or perks, except for the privilege of being of service. Board members should be the heaviest contributors to the club.
Regarding the roles below, Sara does all of the Equipment Manager work, Andrea does the job of Social Media and Website Manager, Christine does Treasurer and Volunteer Coordinator duties and Brittney is our Show Secretary, with Christine and Rosie Johnson also helping with show secretary duties as they are immense. Please reach out to us if you have questions. We are not looking for new board members at this time as we like our lean board and fast, efficient meetings (usually 30 minutes or less), but we always welcome help and appreciate the many club members who have stepped in to help where needed.