Dear Jon,
Thanks for those words of reason! Yes, you would think so. However, we are in
a certain "Red State" in which longtime residents, including members of other
community organizations, keep telling us the state doesn't care much whether
non-profits file their by-laws, let alone follow them. Since our state does
have a pretty small bureaucracy, far away in a more important city, it may also
be that they simply don't have time to spare looking into a situation that from
their perspective seems like small potatoes. We certainly encountered this
last year when our president-for-life arranged a donation of "compost" that
turned out to cause severe problems for many people's vegetables. She was
never willing to supply an analysis, just said people had misapplied it, and
when someone called the state ag division, they were very disturbed to find out
that a local business was producing something unsatisfactory and promised to
come test it. But then they never came, and finally said that due to a change
in management they were too short-staffed, and it was too late in the season
anyway, etc., etc. So we're not sanguine that the state has any ability to ask
that rules be followed.
But it does seem logical to me also that any organization's by-laws should have
SOME kind of validity. So I will add that to our list of approaches. Maybe the
IRS would care!
Thank you, and happy gardening!
Claudia
On Monday, February 2, 2015 10:23 PM, "[email protected]"
<[email protected]> wrote:
To retain their 501 (c)3 status, I believe they do have to follow their bylaws.
Happy Hoeing for Him,Jon Jon Stevens, Executive DirectorGrowing Gardens For
Life269 Russell RoadCamano Island, WA
98282-8512www.growinggardensforlife.orgjon@growinggardensforlife.org1.425.330.0433
-------- Original Message --------
Subject: [Community_garden] Garden governance
From: Claudia Pine <[email protected]>
Date: Mon, February 02, 2015 11:20 am
To: "[email protected]"
<[email protected]>
Dear fellow community gardeners,
I am writing to ask for your input on improving garden organization. How do we
put the voice of the community into community garden governance? More
important, how do we get the voices of the garden renters heard, and
considered, by a longtime board of directors that is no longer even elected,
let alone responsive?
My city has a series of community gardens all started up, and run, by the same
non-profit. We use city land and water and other resources, but there is no
city voice on the tiny board that runs the gardens, and no member/gardener
voice either.
I'm looking for reports or personal accounts that describe how often this
happens... how often it leads to collapse of the gardens... or how (and by what
means) such "personality-driven" garden groups change to become more democratic
and inclusive. Or, become taken over by their local city (bureaucracy?!?) when
it gets tired of the complaints...
Does this sound familiar to anyone?
- Our board is a small group of founding couples and close friends.
- They never step down.
- Even though the by-laws require annual general meetings, with annual
elections by members, from a slate including active gardeners, to a board that
is supposed to be mainly gardeners (as opposed to board members choosing other
board members) ... we never have them.
- Decisions are usually made "ad hoc" without any review of records, or
statistics, to see what the real problem might be.
- There aren't any records kept. Or shared.
- No financial reports. Where is the rent money going? Only some of it comes
back to the gardens for maintenance and improvement.
- Volunteers are expected to step forward and manage each garden's
orientation, annual rentals, training new gardeners, solving daily problems,
repairs, improvements, etc. They have no vote on the board, however, and serve
at the discretion of the board.
- Members, whether new or long-time, who ask tough questions, suffer
retaliation, even threats to take away their garden space.
There are NO other community gardens in our city or even the surrounding area
of the county for us to go to.
The result is that people just quit, if they have room to garden at home. Or
quit gardening, period. Or retreat to gardening their own plot while doing
little to no common-area work. The result is empty plots every year -- rampant
weeds -- and actual deterioration or damage to the plots, soil, etc., orchard
trees, etc. We don't compost. We don't recruit. We rarely donate to food
banks let alone open up plots for food-insecure to grow their own, or others to
grow for them.
Is it due in part to our organization's flaws that we're not growing? often not
even talking to each other? A failed community as well as a failing garden?
We are looking for solutions!
Links or pointers to any reports on what happens in such situations (preferably
what happens to fix them)...
Alternatives we have thought of include:
- bad press (newspapers or TV). Not terribly constructive sounding.
- letters to the editor would just cause more retaliation against those who
write them.
- lawsuits (seriously ugh).
- ask the city attorney to suggest to the non-profit that their use of city
property requires a community voice in decision-making. We seem to be not the
only private-public group in town that has dwindled into a banana-republic
despite an ambitious, community-building original plan, however, so it may be
that our city doesn't care.
- We are also thinking about a formal request to the city/county for a new
community garden, but that would again come straight back to the problem of
fixing the existing organisation.
Then again, maybe most community gardens are not, despite their mission/
vision/ bylaws, participatory & democratic.
Maybe the default is benevolent (?) dictatorship, hidden by the beauty and
bounty that are still produced, the hopeful optimism of each year's new
members, and the silent resignation of longtime gardeners.
Please tell me that's wrong. :-)
We are looking for positive solutions!
Happy growing!
gardenerswest
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The American Community Gardening Association listserve is only one of ACGA's
services to community gardeners. To learn more about the ACGA and to find out
how to join, please go to http://www.communitygarden.org
To post an e-mail to the list: [email protected]
To subscribe, unsubscribe or change your subscription:
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