Review of the Management Committee

Restructure of the BUMS Inc Management Committee

Overview

The BUMS Inc Management Committee will comprise five positions – President, Vice President, Secretary, Treasurer and Events Manager & Gigmeister.

Tasks and projects required to run BUMS Inc will be ‘contracted’ out to BUMS members with the skills, training and resources so that we ‘spread the workload’ through the BUMS community. The Management Committee will remain responsible for the operation of BUMS Inc in line with our Rules of Incorporation.

Background

Typically, volunteer organisations find it difficult to recruit members to serve on the committee that runs the organisation. Everyone wants to play bowls, eat at the tuckshop, play ukulele or whatever the organisation exists for – but fewer people want to get involved in organising it. The reasons for this include:

• An aversion to being on a committee,
• Fear of getting involved in politics,
• Worrying about not having the necessary skills.
• Unwillingness to commit for a long period of time,
• Not having enough spare time.

BUMS Inc is no different. In recent years BUMS has relied on the amazing and sustained efforts of a few committee members to manage BUMS and deliver the services and activities that BUMS provides to you. The current committee does not believe this approach is sustainable and has been exploring alternative models.

A new model

The committee will be a small executive comprising the President, Vice President, Secretary, Treasurer and Events Manager/Gigmeister. They will be responsibility for managing BUMS according to the Rules of Incorporation.

The committee will delegate tasks and projects to volunteers within BUMS. To work effectively these volunteers must have clear roles (tasks, deliverables, timeframes) and be provided with instructions, training, and reporting obligations.

The aim is to reduce the workload on the committee and involve the wider BUMS community in running BUMS. This model can be implemented progressively and capture the skills and experience of many BUMS members.

Ideally, we can create a pool of members who can acquire the skills and experience to complete the tasks and projects. In this way we can share the workload and knowledge, so we don’t become over reliant on a few people.

The committee will comprise five positions.  Their roles and responsibilities are described here. The management of our IT requirements and control of our equipment and other property will be contacted out to BUMS members.

Delegated tasks

Our aim is to delegate tasks and projects to BUMS members. Here are some examples of tasks, time commitments and skill requirements. Delegating needs careful preparation so we can ensure the tasks are done properly.

 

Task	Time required	Skill requirements
Collecting money and forms from new members and renewal payments at jams.	Once or more a month at a jam.	Explaining BUMS membership. Collecting and accounting for cash and EFTPOS payments.
Processing new member applications and renewals.	A weekly administrative task usually after jams. The busiest period is June to August.	Commitment to respect member’s privacy. Updating a spreadsheet. Sending confirmation emails to members.
Applying for financial grants.	A week or two periodically to complete online forms, liaise with committee and submit applications.	Experience of grant administration. Ability to ‘sell’ BUMS and its community involvement
Monitoring and posting on our social media accounts	Daily monitoring of Facebook sites and Messenger. Posting updates of news and worthy events.	Social media familiarity. Responding to requests to develop and make posts. Creating attractive posts.

Here are some more examples.

• Running raffles – sourcing prizes, promoting the raffle, selling tickets and drawing winners.
• Creating lists of financial members for jams.
• Maintaining records of attendance at jams for insurance and statistical purposes.
• Proof reading of planned communications and web pages.
• Overseeing our community bands.
• Maintaining our music library.

The committee will provide training and documentation and set out reporting requirements and deadlines.