Reminder about Constitution and Bylaws vote

[Elizabeth Cristina Stiegman]

JAA Members -

Just a quick reminder about voting on the new Constitution and Bylaws for the JAA.  Please take some time to read through this document (a PDF version is attached to this email and there is a copy on the website) and go to the JAA website, http://www.aasswjaa.org/index.html, to vote, as well as to contact the National Staff with any questions you might have.Voting will be extended through this Friday, April 8, 2011.  

Once again thank you for all your thoughts, suggestions, and support during this past year of changes.

 

Sincerely,

Elizabeth Stiegman

JAA National President

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Elizabeth Cristina Stiegman <jaa....@gmail.com>
Date: Wed, Mar 30, 2011 at 8:51 PM
Subject: JAA Update
To: jaa...@googlegroups.com, jaa-...@googlegroups.com

Members of the JAA:

 

Let me first begin by thanking all of you for your various thoughts and suggestions throughout the year.  Your anonymous feedback has helped my staff and I know in what direction to lead the JAA.  The participation of various members in our two quarterly round tables as well as the involvement of the AAS and SW National Staff has also been of the upmost help and support in this past year of changes and redirection for the society.  One of the biggest ideas suggested by many members in both their feedback through the site as well as personal discussions with my staff and I, is the idea that the JAA is an Alumnae organization whose goals should include providing opportunities for Alumnae to get together with one another on a chapter, state, and national level; opportunities for the Alumnae to lend a hand to the active chapters and squadrons, and to provide financial support to members of Arnold Air Society and Silver Wings in the form of scholarships to ARCONs and NATCON.

 

In order to be able to better raise funds and distribute scholarships to the members of Silver Wings and Arnold Air Society, the National Staff of the JAA has actively been taking steps in order to secure 501(c)3 status for the JAA.  The road to securing this status has been a shaky one, however, I am pleased to announce that we have recently been able to secure a CPA who is willing to donate his time and expertise in helping us to apply for this status.  In researching and preparing for this distinction, it became apparent that one of the core requirements was an official Constitution and Bylaws.  While in the past, our organization and its activities had been regulated by the JAAM, it became clear that this document did not meet the requirements and would have to be re-written in the form of a formal Constitution and Bylaws.

 

Working on the creation of this document has been a long process which we have dedicated a large amount of time and resources to.  We began by asking the Alumnae associations of other university and organizations to provide us with copies of their constitutions and bylaws.  After reviewing these documents, it was apparent that the constitution and bylaws of most alumnae organizations contained not only similar information but followed a similar skeletal structure.  With that information in hand, we began the process of working the information from the JAAM into a living Constitution and Bylaws for JAA.  After many months of hard work on, and several hundred revisions, we are proud to present to all the members of the JAA the attached proposed Constitution and Bylaws for the General Assembly of the JAA.

 

The document which we had voted on as a National Staff to present to you is one which we are proud to have created and which encompasses many of the thoughts, suggestions, and wishes expressed to us throughout the last year by you the members.  While there are some changes from the JAAM, such as conducting votes via email so that all members can have a voice/vote on the matters of the JAA, most of the information was taken directly from the JAAM.  Now that the National Staff has settled on this proposed constitution and bylaws, we are calling for a vote of the membership to ratify and adopt this document so that we can move forward with the 501(c)3 process.

 

Please take some time to read through this document and go to the JAA website, http://www.aasswjaa.org/index.html, to vote, as well as to contact the National Staff with any questions you might have.  Voting will be open through Wednesday, April 6, 2011.

 

Once again thank you for all your thoughts, suggestions, and support during this past year of changes.

 

Sincerely,

Elizabeth Stiegman

JAA National President

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Mrs. Elizabeth C. Stiegman
JAA National President

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Mrs. Elizabeth C. Stiegman
JAA National President