General Policies and Procedures

Note: General policies and procedures are apart from the OSBA Constitution and Bylaws. They may be added to or changed at any time by the OSBA Executive Board.

MEMBERSHIP

Dues for OSBA membership will be determined by a vote at the general membership meeting with a recommendation from the executive committee.

Membership in the OSBA is for the designated member only. There will be no joint memberships, business memberships, or special rates.

New member dues received after August 31 will be applied through the succeeding year.

OSBA maintains the privacy of its members. A printed directory is provided to the membership annually with member preferences for information to be shared for personal use by members only.

ACCOUNTS

A minimum of $20,000.00 will be retained in the General Fund for emergency use and will not be used without the approval of the executive committee. In the event of such use, all of the monies borrowed will be returned to the General Fund at the earliest possible date.

Research donations will not be deposited in the General Fund. These donations will be maintained in a separate account, the Research Fund.

Deposits through PayPal will be collected and maintained in a separate account from either the General Fund or the Research Fund. They will then be transferred to the General Fund from the PayPal account. Any PayPal deposits designated for research will be deposited into the Research Fund account.

All monies that are donated to the Research Fund and generated by the OSBA annual conference auctions will be deposited into the Research Fund account.

All monies that are collected for research from local associations, raffles, and direct donations for specified researchers will be deposited into the Research Fund account and immediately sent to the designated researcher.

EXPENDITURES

Other than regular monthly authorized expenses, all expenses for reimbursement must be authorized in advance by the executive committee. When a meeting is not possible, a decision will be made through e-mail/phone with rule by a simple majority of members in good standing.

Except for reoccurring expenses, two signatures will be required on all checks written over $500.00.

Payments will not be refunded to membership until checks written have cleared the bank.

The amount of funds donated by OSBA for research each year will be determined by a vote from the executive committee. Payments to research will be removed from the Research Fund account.

FALL CONFERENCE

Full refunds for registration at the annual conference will be given up until 15 days before the conference; no refunds after that date or for no shows.

Admission to the vendor area at the annual conference is limited to those who are registered for the conference.

Aside from names of those who may wish to remain anonymous, the names of those who make contributions to the conference, including all who donate items to raffles and auctions, will be provided to the newsletter editor for acknowledgment in the OSBA newsletter.

DONATIONS

The OSBA will make an annual donation to and in support of the American Beekeeping Federation.

The OSBA will provide a receipt noting its 501(c)(3) status to all who donate items to the silent auction and the benefit auction at the fall conference; similarly, the OSBA will provide a receipt to all who have winning bids on items at both the silent auction and the benefit auction.

REGIONAL AFFILIATED ASSOCIATIONS

Each affiliated Oregon beekeeping association must have at least five paid OSBA members, including the president, as stated in the OSBA Constitution. In addition, each association must pay an annual surcharge in order to be affiliated with OSBA. 

Each affiliated association will annually submit appropriate fees and a form designating the names and addresses of their OSBA-paid members, their officers, and the member who will represent the group at executive committee meetings. Fees may be waived for an affiliated association covered by insurance from a source other than OSBA.

It is the responsibility of the association seeking affiliation to identify five members of their association for the year of affiliation who are also members of OSBA for the year of affiliation.

For each affiliated association, as stated in the OSBA Constitution, only the association’s president in good standing—or an OSBA-member proxy under the same stated conditions—will have a vote on the executive committee.

OREGON MASTER BEEKEEPER PROGRAM

The OSBA and Oregon State University (OSU) will collaborate on the ongoing development and ongoing functioning of the Oregon Master Beekeeper Program.

COMMUNICATIONS

Press releases and advertising will be reviewed by members of the executive committee prior to publication.

The OSBA official logo will be displayed on the OSBA website, the OSBA newsletter, and correspondence requiring official OSBA stationery.

The OSBA official logo must not be used otherwise without preauthorization from the executive committee.