We are in an association which supports the relationship with a twin town in Germany. The association seems to be run by a very small group of people, who decide everything without seeming to consult the members much. We are often frustrated by what little is on offer, and sometimes make suggestions. These are usually either ignored, or, as recently, when I asked why the activity we are most interested in doesn’t restart till November, while all the other activities restart in October, I get an answer like this:
"Bonjour,
parce-que c’est comme cela !
Dommage que cela ne te convienne pas, mais c’est encore le Conseil d’Administration qui décide des dates !!!"
To me it would seem that the way to push for change would be to get elected to the Board, or however it is that the association chooses its board members.
Yes, very much so. The best thing to do is to look at the statutes of the association, which are available through the Prefecture, if you don’t want to go via the Board. Associations have AGMs, you could bring up the issue of the calendar and/or ask around with other members to see whether there is a more general interest in having it changed that you could then submit to the board as a proposal for debate and/or resolution.
@RicePudding beat me to it! However, I would add that, since Associations are a legal entity and registered nationally, the Statuts (equivalent to Articles of Association for a company) are published in the Journal for the state. They are administered departmentally though.
The requirement to have a meeting, at least annually, with a minimum percentage of members present is a legal one and Officers/Committee for the Association are elected/confirmed then. As far as the association to which you belong is concerned, you could offer yourself for the committee and hence get involved in the processes, if elected.
As far as the other association you are interested in is concerned, you wouldn’t have any influence unless you were a member since the AGMs are for members only. As I said, the legal administration is at Departement level so your Prefecture might possible have imposed calendar restrictions although that would be most unusual.
The only suggestion I would make is to get yourself involved in the Association so that you have a chance of changing it if you don’t like it - via the AGM at least.
Depending on the Statutes of said Assn… President, Secretary, Treasurer would be the minimum committee… whereas some Assns have Deputies for everything… and, again, according the the Statutes, the committee can decide something/everything or nothing without involving “members” …
OK some things one can’t keep referring to Members or they’d never get done… but an Association which (appears) to disregard legitimate input from its Members is not a very nice Assn (in my view).
I’ve sat in on many an AGM, where things are aired and thrashed about a bit. Sometimes heated and sometimes very snide/offensive comments are made …
The person who gets their point across, is the one who remains calm and always polite…
Even if the “point/question” doesn’t get dealt with to one’s entire satisfaction… at least it’s been aired and heard by all present…
From my own experiences, non-members are welcome at the AGM as it is one way of folk learning more about the Association and how it runs… and a way for the Association to gain new Members…
During the AGM it is made plain that non-members cannot vote… they can ask questions/discuss… but not vote… and there will often be a flurry of activity as folk “payup” if they’ve let things lapse and/or wish to become members…
Some Assns do insist that Members must have joined prior to the AGM (maybe a particlar date) are the only ones who can vote, so it’s worth checking beforehand…
Be practical. Are there other people that share your views ? What is your status. UK citizen with CDS, EU citizen with right to vote in certain circumstances or French national. Like it or not you may well be regarded as an outsider if you are 1 or 2 of the above and your credibility will be reduced accordingly. If you can find allies among the local populace change may be easier to come by. Being a sole voice crying in the wilderness is plain hard work.
I agree Stella, but ‘entitled’ is not always the same thing as ‘enabled’. As has been said, you need allies.
Some years back the rescue association that I was a member of found itself attacked by a group of members which got so bad that once when I was directed to collect a cat from a foster home (a ‘rebel’ member) they refused to give it to me. Eventually an EGM was called and the rebels were outnumbered and left but not before one very vocal lady had tried repeatedly to interrupt the meeting by alleging that the young woman who was doing the obligatory translation of everything that was said, was not doing it correctly. She was though and I felt very sorry for the young teenager who was doing a perfect job.
From my own personal experience, at an AGM, there will be an opportunity for questions/comments “from the floor”.
Raising the hand, signifies you’ve something to say… … best to be fully prepared and ready for a discussion which might or might not follow…
As for “allies”… if one is integrated, there’s bound to be someone with whom one can discuss things in advance, for moral support… if not… one just has to be brave.
Trying to get elected to the Board would mean standing against people who are used to being elected unopposed for goodness knows how many years. I would risk making myself even more unloved than I already seem to be! Even if I were to be elected, I would have to fight the others on the board tooth and nail.
No, that would be much too much hassle. I want a quiet life.
No, we don’t think it is. The only remaining reason for belonging to it is that, as the town is twinned with a German town, everybody is a Germanophone, which makes it interesting for us, my wife being German and my having lived most of my life in Germany.
I just thought that, as the twin town is German, and with our above mentioned German connections, one might be inclined to lend a bit more weight to our suggestions. Seems I was wrong.
Thank you for confirming that. It was the apparent tone of the answer that bothered me as much as the content, hence my question, “is this normal?”
I think the best thing would be just to take it for what it is, pay the (thankfully low) subscription, get out of it what we can, forget about suggesting any improvements and ignore the Board.
P.S. The president herself has now replied, explaining convincingly why the one activity doesn’t start till November. She still complained about us never going on the bus excursions they put on. We’ve tried a couple and didn’t enjoy them, and so never went again. She seems to be very offended as she thinks she puts a lot of work into organising them. But we don’t see what they have to do with the twinning.
I know of a CdFetes President who loved coach trips and kept trying to organize 'em to his favourite places.
After a couple of years of trying… he got the message…
mind you, give him his due, he did get lots of things up and running locally and we were very glad to join in and help.
Helpers are always in short supply and a good way of integrating.
Sounds like you’ll need to bide your time… and keep gently mentioning your wife’s German links
