Background

As mentioned in our earlier email, we have been on a 2+ year journey preparing to apply for:

• 501(c)3 non-profit tax exempt status with the IRS
• Tax exempt status with the State of CA

These are important and necessary milestones to ensure the long-term stability of the organization. At a high level, we’ve had to complete several significant tasks In order to qualify for tax exempt status on the state and federal level:

• Form a corporation (new legal entity)
• Open new bank and Paypal accounts
• Draft bylaws that ensure we comply with the requirements for tax exempt status
• Draft a Conflict of Interest Policy and Disclosure form

Despite our best intentions and efforts, several of these tasks have taken much longer to complete than anticipated. As a result, we are now up against our filing deadline with the IRS (within 27 months of formation).

Meeting Actions and First Formal Board of Directors

At the meeting on Thursday evening (time & location here), we the “initial directors” must take several formal actions that are required prior to applying for tax exempt status with the IRS and State of CA:

• Adopt the Bylaws, Conflict of Interest Policy, and Disclosure Form
• Set the exact authorized # of directors to 5
• Appoint 2 additional directors to the board
• Set initial terms of all 5 BOD members
  • 2 will be 3 years, 3 should be 2 years (staggered, per bylaws)
  • After which all terms are 2 yrs per bylaws
• Elect officers of BOD (1-yr terms)
• Adopt fiscal year (ending 12/31)
• Approve applying for federal and state tax-exempt status

Chris Tirrell is the “incorporator” of the corporation but has decided to step down from his role as Vice President of the club (legacy organization). In order to facilitate a smooth transition, Chris has appointed the remaining officers as the “initial directors”:

• Shawn Mercy
• Mike Sale
• Harper Alexander

We are pleased to announce that the above initial directors have identified two very capable club members to fill out the board of directors:

• Chloe Stein
• Kevin Smeds

While several other club members have expressed interest in joining the board, we have decided it would be best to limit the number of members at this point in time. We genuinely appreciate the interest other members have shown and hope that you’ll continue to support our mission in a variety of ways. We can increase the size of the board in the future as we evolve as a club and organization.

Officers

Once the board is complete and our terms have been set we will proceed to elect officers of the BOD. We have discussed this topic at length and have decided on the following officers for a 1-yr term:

• Shawn Mercy – President
• Harper Alexander – Vice President
• Mike Sale – Treasurer
• Kevin Smeds – Secretary

While Chloe will not be an officer in this cycle, she will play an important role on the board of directors offering her perspective and ensuring the voice of the community and underserved demographics are represented in the formal decision making of the organization going forward.

Bylaws Feedback

We would like to thank everyone who took the time to review and provide comments on the draft bylaws. We will review the feedback during the meeting and speak briefly regarding why we have or have not made changes to the bylaws in response to the feedback.

Other Agenda Items

As we mentioned in our first email regarding this meeting, the first half of the meeting will focus on updating everyone on membership, the course, past and upcoming tournaments, club finances, and other important topics. We will not have as much time to discuss some topics as we have in the past but will make sure to cover the important topics in as much detail as possible.

One Last Thing

We need a TD for the 2025 Birthday Bash! Alex Georgopoulos has been the TD the past 2 years and is happy to support the next TD (team?). If you are interested in this opportunity and are not able to attend the meeting, please reach out! We are targeting Saturday, March 29th, 2025 as the date for the event.

If you’ve made it this far, thanks for reading and we hope to see you at the meeting!

Thank you,

Shawn, Harper, Mike, Kevin, and Chloe

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