South Dakota Corn Growers Association

“The association is a non-profit corporation that has three classes of members designated as "regular", "non-voting", and "corporate partnership". Members are required to complete an application and pay annual dues. Regular - any individual or business engaged in the production of corn in south dakota. Non-voting - any individual engaged in the interest of agriculture production in south dakota. Corporate partnership - any business engaged in the interest of agriculture production in south dakota. Each regular member has one vote and is entitled to vote in person at any special meeting and annual meeting of the association. One regular member shall be elected as a director from each of the nine (9) districts of the association. Elections are held during the annual meeting. Up to two industry directors will also be appointed by the board of directors.”

“See explanation for part vi, line 6 regarding directors elected from each district by the regular members at the annual meeting and industry directors appointed by the board of directors. Vacancies occurring on the board are filled by the board of directors.”

“At the annual meeting, members vote on proposed resolutions. Any changes to the bylaws may be rescinded by the general membership.”

“A copy of the return is reviewed and approved by the board of directors before it is filed with the irs.”

“If a board member cannot meet the irs definition to be an independent board member, they must disclose in writing to the association's president the conflict present and resolution may include approving or disproving any transaction, situation, removal from position until there is no longer a conflict, and modification of participation. Each board member signs a corn conflict of interest and disclosure statement agreeing to disclose any possible conflicts in addition to those listed on the disclosure.”

“The association's process to determine compensation of the executive director is to set the base salary based on experience, qualifications, skills, leadership, communication ability and industry standards. The association's officers conduct an annual review of the executive director with input from the board of directors to determine any salary or bonus based on job performance and other factors as deemed necessary.”

“A written performance appraisal is used in evaluating key employees. Key employee compensation is determined by an evaluation process. The process is overseen by the executive director. Base salary and the range for merit raises are set by the executive director based on job responsibilities, experience, qualifications, and industry standards. In evaluating potential merit raises, the executive director annually will look at a variety of skills and factors indicating job performance.”

“Yead-end financial statements are available at the annual meeting. The association bylaws and policy book are available on its website.”