Dear Members,
Over the last year, the Board of Directors has been focused on putting in place business processes that have stabilized our society and positioned us to move forward with innovative programs and events. Our passionate team has worked together through a number of challenges and we feel that our annual business framework reflects best practice and provides a stable foundation from which to continue rebuilding our organization.
As we move forward we realize that significant changes to our bylaws and policies are necessary to support our growth targets and foster engagement. The proposed bylaws that have been presented to our members by the Board of Directors were extensively researched over many months. They were validated by Sport Law and Strategy Group, an independent consultant (see document here) and the proposed membership framework has precedents in this province in other sports (BC Speed Skating Association and BC Alpine Skiing Association).
These new bylaws were crafted to support our Strategic Plan. They were designed to move the sport forward through strategic community engagement, partnership, innovation and accessibility.
We recognize that our members value democracy, however, over the last 3 years most of our members have chosen not to exercise their right to vote. Even during a period of crisis, we had less than 6% of our voting members attend our AGM. During years of stability, this number falls to about 1.5%.
This data tells us that most of our members are not engaged in the administration of Cycling BC, they just want to race their bikes, and that’s ok. However, we recognize that there is a core group of volunteers, of dedicated people who are ready to give back. These are the people who put on events and serve on the Board for their clubs. They are engaged and informed, and familiar with the issues that challenge our sport. They are decision makers for their local clubs and through our new bylaws, we are hoping they will be decision makers for Cycling BC.
Our vision is to engage a smaller more manageable group of members. Our proposed bylaws will help break down the barriers between Cycling BC and its key stakeholders. We want to know and work with each of our members, we want to sit down together and invest in our sport. As was recommended by the Sport Law Strategy Group, we will develop a consultative process to develop terms of reference and appointments to our committees. We will engage our clubs to be involved in this process and to put people forward for our committees.
Good things are happening for our sport. Much of it may not be visible to the members yet because business frameworks happen in the background. As a policy board, our job is to provide oversight, insight and foresight to support our Executive Director in his vision to make British Columbia the best place to race bikes on earth.
We hope you’ll join us.