Thank you all for your understanding with the challenges of the February meeting. The intimidating forecasts and the mayor’s advance declaration of a snow emergency left us all feeling more than a bit silly when only a few flakes fell. (We are reviewing our policies on cancellations and notification.) Please join me in hoping for a clear and sunny day on March 10th!

From time to time it’s important to review the documents that govern how any organization functions. Recently I asked a small group of PGGNE members to review our Constitution (available on the web site at www.pggne.org/index.php/about-pggne/constitution or on pages 3-5 of your printed membership directory) and make recommendations to the board for updates to this framing document. We will be asking voting members to cast ballots to embrace some proposed changes at the April meeting.

I’ll say more about the Constitution at the March meeting. Please take a moment now to read a few thoughts about it:

• I imagine many PGGNE members have never reviewed this document and I’d like to encourage you to do so. Most of the changes being proposed are really housekeeping updates, modernizing our framework to allow for the use of efficient tools like e-mail and addressing some unnecessarily confusing language and plainly archaic procedures. And there is, apparently by design, some mystery in the processes.
• It seems that PGGNE has always required a core group of volunteers devoting an extraordinary amount of time to its operations. By my calculations, it takes about 160 hours of volunteer time per month (in addition to a full Wednesday in Boston) to keep PGGNE running relatively smoothly. Add the time from our able support team at the Center for Association Management (CAMI) and the total comes in at about 200 hours per month.
• Over the last several years we have added the Basics Track to our monthly programs, expanding our offering by a third each month. We have reached out to non-members in New England through webinars/simulcasts. We have worked with other councils and organizations on shared program initiatives. We have done focus groups and planning retreats. We’ve fortified our Mentoring Program.
• This expansion of our programs has attracted new members and strained our core volunteers. One proposed change to the Constitution will permit the nominating committee to present a slate (at the Annual Meeting in May) of up to 14 individuals to serve as the executive board for the following program year. We recognize the need for more volunteer effort to sustain PGGNE operations and are looking for meaningful ways to enlist more volunteers. While not all volunteers should serve on the board, the proposed revisions to the Constitution will, if adopted, permit (but not require) the expansion of the board by two people. We believe this modest expansion will provide some additional flexibility to help avoid volunteer burnout and sustain the quality programs for which PGGNE is known.

We’ll post a marked-up version of the proposed changes to the Constitution on the web site shortly. Stay tuned for more details and (voting members) please plan to bring your ballots to the following meeting in April. In the meantime, please do your part to conjure a beautiful spring day for our March meeting

Thanks!

Hugh Montgomery
President