Rural Organizing Project

“MEMBERSHIP. Any local autonomous group which subscribes to the purpose and mission of ROP may be eligible to become a member. All potential members must identify as rural/small town community-based organizations, pay annual dues and be approved by the Board of Directors.”

“MEMBERSHIP VOTING RIGHTS TO CHOOSE THE GOVERNING BOARD. Each member organization selects a single representative to participate in the voting and business of the annual meeting. At the annual meeting, the selected representatives elect the Board of Directors.”

“OTHER MEMBERSHIP VOTING RIGHTS. Changes or amendments to the By-Laws must be ratified by 2/3 of those members voting at the next annual meeting, or a special meeting could be called for that purpose. Under Oregon corporation law, certain important decisions such as merger, consolidation and dissolution require membership approval.”

“990 REVIEW PROCESS. The draft 990 is emailed to all Board Members for review. The Board reviews it approves it for filing via e-conference or email. If any changes are made, the final copy is emailed to all Board Members before filing.”

“CONFLICT OF INTEREST POLICY MONITORING. The conflict of interest policy covers board members, officers and staff members. The Board is responsible for determining whether a conflict exists and for reviewing actual conflicts. If the Board determines that a conflict exists, the interested party may make a presentation to the Board, but, after the presentation, must leave for the duration of the discussion and vote on the transaction or arrangement involving the conflict. The Board shall investigate alternatives to the proposed arrangement. After exercising due diligence, the Board shall determine whether the transaction is fair to ROP. The transaction can only be approved at a board meeting by a vote of a majority of directors who have no direct or indirect interest in the transaction. The board minutes shall contain the names of those who had a conflict of interest, the nature of the financial interest, a summary of the determination of whether a conflict was present, a description of the motion made, the vote on the motion, the names of the directors and a record of the vote taken.”

“DISCLOSURE. ROP considers requests for governing documents, conflict of interest policy documents and financial statements on a case-by-case basis.”

“Program Service Expenses 48,058, Grants and allocations 0, Revenue 3,563 ADVANCING DEMOCRACY FOR ALL. Community leaders in Lebanon, Cottage Grove, Klamath Falls participated in Democracy at Work in Rural Oregon Demystifying Budgeting for Local Changemakers workshops that broke down the basics of local budgets empowered participants to organize in their own communities for city, school board county budgets that truly fund local priorities. Local media sources across rural Oregon are getting sold to faraway corporations reflecting less less of what matters most to rural communities, threatening the democratic process as people can no longer access trustworthy relevant information. In response, ROP created the Rural Media Center to support struggling media infrastructure. We produced 8 episodes of Rural Roots Rising, a podcast monthly radio show that is created by for rural Oregonians who are creatively courageously building stronger more vibrant communities for a just democracy. Rural Roots Rising aired on 12 community radio stations, podcast platforms online at ruralrootsrising.org. cont Sched O”

“ADVANCING DEMOCRACY FOR ALL cont From strategy sessions and hundreds of one-on-one conversations with leaders across rural Oregon came the Roadmap to a Thriving Rural Oregon. The Roadmap outlines the priorities that our communities need to move from barely surviving to thriving. It connects the dots between organizing happening across our network of more than 80 outonomous groups so we can move together to ensure all rural Oregonians have what we need, including broadband internet, childcare, housing, healthy food, clean water and much more.”