I am not exactly sure what you are looking for. A few people along with myself just started a club up through our college. We are still working things out but we are startign to get a bunch of sponsors interested. Here are some of the things we did. we set up a bank account for dues and clearly mapped out what dues would be spent on. We also defined member status. we have active and enrolled. sicne we are getting free stuff from sponsors we dont want to give it to everyone who sent an email about being interested. We are working now on what makes you an active participating member.

we didnt have elections or anything it was mainly who wanted to do what from the original people. I guess in time you would need some election process for the officers. A good place to look for info on that would be the USAT site. lol. We try not to have too many rules. we add them as needed. good luck

The Tri club I belong to has their constitution on the club website: http://www.swimfasttrifast.com/Constitution22904.htm

I hope this helps.

-Cheryl

Sweet,

I just sent you an email at: christopherasweet@hotmail.com

I hope it helps.

Tucker

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Shop at: TriSports.com

"Stick to the facts man, they are good enough, no need to go making stuff up." - STP

Chris,

E-mail me off-line and I have everything you need.

I have set up one tri club and working on my second bike club as 501c3/501c7 tax exempt entities. From filing the Sec of State Inc docs, getting FEIN, opening checking account, filing Form 1023 with the IRS, getting Resale certificates, insurance etc.

Willy in Pacifica (Tax CPA)
wnevin@fremontgroup.com

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Willy in Pacifica

Thanks for everyone's help. If there are more out there, keep them coming. It is nice to have a few different examples to draw from since we are starting from scratch.

Thanks

Sweet

Regarding TRI CLUB Bylaws...do you recommend following USAT Bylaws? Or should a Club create their own. It is my understanding that we should have our own and follow USAT for events they sanction.

and also...Have you ever heard that TRI CLUB boards have had to follow conflict of interest if USAT has a conflict of interest clause? In other words, has USAT ever dictated that you cannot be on the board if you are a coach or have a business related to TRI?

this thread is 12 years old, fyi.

okay.....but I am doing multi searches for an answer....thanks

While there are some USAT bylaws that you can model off of, I think they would be very much inapplicable on many many items. One issue I will warn you about having dealt with it, don't set your quorums or requirements for amending the bylaws too high. My experience is that the vast majority of folks just don't care about bylaws and you'll have a tough time getting enough folks in one place or to send in internet responses when you need to change something.

As for conflict of interest clauses, your local coaches are some of the most involved folks. As I think about it, our tri club has had at least one coach on the board for its entire existence, not always the same person. While I haven't always completely approved of how that's worked out - mostly it's been fine. You can add behavior guides for board members to cover coaches advertising their services at club events if that is something you are worried about, or whatever you would like to proscribe.

And no, USAT has never said anything about it, if the club registration check clears - they are fine.

Thank you. Makes total sense. Trying to formulate some Bylaws and hoping to keep it simple while at the same time covering the most important. I appreciate the response.

Wow, you really went digging in the archives. Last post on this thread was in 2005!

Does USAT have suggested club bylaws? They didn't at the time I was working on this. You wouldn't want to use USAT's general bylaws since they are for a much different type of organization.

Your second question about conflict of interest confuses me. If you set up your organization as a 501 c 3 then it is a entirely separate entity from USAT. Yes, you can register as a USAT club every year, but as I recall there is very little in that registration agreement that would restrict what an individual club could do. Having a coach serve on the board is a great question to deal with upfront when creating bylaws. I do see the potential conflicts of interest, but also a wealth of knowledge and passion for the sport.

Chris

Thanks for the response.

I have been trying to find where USAT may have made some rule within their Bylaws with regards to Board members being coaches or business owners that might be a conflict of Interest. It is merely a search I am doing.....as I was told it was in the USAT Bylaws or used to be.

The TRI club I am a member of does not have their own Bylaws. Since I became President this past January, every policy or rule mentioned has been verbal with a reference to USAT Bylaws. So I am trying to develop some Bylaws and the ones I have read from USAT seem to be more designed for a national organization and not a club of about 80-100 members. Plus, I am leaving the area for 2 years and now we (the board) are soliciting volunteers or nominations and the verbal rule use to be that if they were a coach for profit, they could not serve as a Board Member which seemed odd to me. Most professionals are ethical and a conflict of interest can be addressed if it was to become a problem especially with such a small club.

Thanks again! I even wrote USAT and it seems that through my correspondence with them....there was no rule regarding small clubs like ours and actually no rules on the resume of a Board member.

In my opinion....a proven athlete/coach on the board would be an asset....

Another easy solution would be to add ex officio / non-voting positions to your local club. Potential conflicts of interest would be greatly reduced under that structure.