Guild Charter PDF

Prospective members may contact a current member and have their name proposed at a meeting or current members may use the private Facebook page or a meeting to suggest individuals they feel would be an asset to the guild. Current members will discuss any knowledge they have to help decide if the group wishes to invite the individual to participate in a trial period. 

A membership request form must be completed by the prospective member and submitted to the guild. This form will provide the guild with information that will help in the decision to invite prospective members to try out the guild and to determine the level of skill/craft of a prospective member. Guild membership will only be considered for persons age 21 and older. 

Once interest in joining the guild has been expressed through the submission of a membership form, the prospective member should:

• Attend two guild events (ie: meetings, brew days, beer fests, etc.). This is considered a trial period, allowing a two-way assessment between prospective member and guild members.
• If the prospective member has a Facebook account, they must friend request guild leadership, at minimum, in order to communicate effectively, and join the SBM Prospective Members Page. During this time, prospective members are encouraged to become friends with as many guild members as he/she wishes in order to encourage comradery.

After trial period, a guild representative will reach out to the prospective member to ask if they would like to join the guild as a full member.

Guild prospective member will be officially offered membership on the guild prospective page and will officially declare if they are accepting or declining full membership, additionally indicating that they have read and accept the guild charter. 

Upon acceptance of full membership, the new member will be added to the Members page, pay the membership fee, and purchase a guild work shirt. 

Upon request, the new member will be provided access to the Google calendar and will be sent an email by the Membership Committee with additional guild information regarding shirt purchase, Google calendar use, upcoming events to which the member was not previously invited, etc.

New members will make a one-time, non-refundable $45 contribution towards future guild expenses. The current contribution amount will remain in place until the guild membership feels an adjustment is appropriate and votes to change the amount. 

The duties of the Vice-President shall be as follows:  

• To assist the President with his/her duties. 
• To maintain a current list of all Standing Committee Chairs and Ad Hoc Committee Chairs      in the Files area of the Suncoast Barley Mashers private Facebook page. 
• To work with Standing Committee Chairs and Ad Hoc Committee Chairs to ensure that      monthly committee reports are posted to the Files area of the Suncoast Barley Mashers private Facebook page by the Chairs. 
• To help maintain and moderate the Guild’s public Facebook page by posting content on behalf of the Guild, reviewing content posted by other parties and removing inappropriate content, including unapproved advertising and promotion. 
• To help maintain and moderate the Suncoast Barley Mashers private Facebook page and the SBM Prospective Members private Facebook page by reviewing content posted by other parties and removing inappropriate content, including unapproved advertising and promotion. 
• If the President is absent from a Steering Committee meeting, the Membership Business and Elections meeting, or a special membership meeting, the Vice-President shall assume the President's duties for that meeting. 
• To stay abreast of and seek out competitions throughout Florida and the surrounding states, as well as AHA competitions, and make Members aware of their existence and associated deadlines through the Guild’s Google calendar and private Facebook page. 
• To coordinate Guild participation in external beer festivals, brewing demonstrations and      other activities and events hosted by external parties which support the goals of the Guild. 

The duties of the Secretary shall be as follows:

• To take the minutes of SBM Steering Committee meetings, the Membership Business and      Elections meeting, and any special membership meetings, and to post the minutes to the Files area of the Suncoast Barley Mashers private Facebook page within one week of the meeting. 
• To arrange in advance for another Steering Committee member to take and post meeting      minutes if he/she will be absent from a meeting. 
• To perform or oversee the Charter modification process and the modification of any Guild      forms (e.g., the membership form) and Guild process description documents (e.g., the membership process), and to ensure the most current approved version of the Guild Charter is posted in the Files area of the Suncoast Barley Mashers private Facebook page and the SBM Prospective Members private Facebook page. 
• To maintain backup files of Guild meeting minutes, forms, documents, and approved      versions of the Guild Charter. 
• If the President and Vice President are absent from a Steering Committee meeting,the Membership Business and Elections meeting, or a special membership meeting, the Secretary shall assume the President's duties for that meeting and assign another Member to take and post the meeting minutes from that meeting. 
• To perform or oversee the design and maintenance of the Guild’s website, ensuring the      pages remain accessible and the content stays current.
• To review email coming in to all general/default Guild email accounts at least every three days, to forward to the appropriate officers and/or committees, and to arrange for another Steering Committee member to take over this duty whenever he/she will be unable to perform this duty. 
• To perform or oversee the setup and maintenance of Guild email accounts, websites,      online storage, and social media accounts, to maintain a list of current passwords for all online accounts, and to ensure the President and Vice President have the current passwords. 

The duties of the Treasurer shall be as follows:   

• To administer the Guild finances, and to collect and document monies owed to the Guild. 
• To notify members by email regarding special assessments, and notify the Membership      Chair of any overdue assessments. 
• To manage Guild bank accounts, PayPal accounts and any other financial accounts and      tools, ensuring that the President, Vice President and Treasurer have monitoring and administrative abilities for all Guild financial accounts and tools. 
• To reimburse approved expenses incurred by members on behalf of the Guild. 
• To maintain hardcopy and/or digital/scanned copies of receipts for Guild purchases and reimbursed expenses. 
• To      post a yearly financial report to the Files area of the Suncoast Barley Mashers private Facebook page, including cash on hand, balances in all financial accounts, monies owed to the Guild by internal and external parties (including any applicable due dates), future encumbrances, and the cost value of the current inventory of Guild merchandise. 
• To ensure that the guild’s insurance policy and online presence accounts for email/web are paid on time and no lapse of coverage occurs. 
• To coordinate the purchase of goods or paid services needed to accomplish the duties and      goals of their committee, obtaining advance approval from the Steering Committee before making any purchase or obligating the Guild in any way. Purchases/obligations over $50 will be put to a majority vote of the general membership for approval. 

• To ensure that the responsibilities of their committee are successfully performed in a      timely manner, and in a manner that reflects positively upon the Guild. 
• To recruit volunteers from among the Guild Members to help accomplish the goals of their committee. There is no set number of committee members per committee, and no limit as to how many committees on which a member may be active. Steering Committee members may also serve as Standing Committee members. 
• To provide oversight, coordination and communication during the membership process      (application, trial period, approval, , etc.), posting polls for Members to vote on potential prospective membership for applicants and full membership for current Prospective Members. 

Terms for all Officers and Standing Committee Chairs will be for a period of two years, commencing on January 1st. 

SUPPORT OF LOCAL CRAFT BREWERIES
Suncoast Barley Mashers guild is not associated with a particular brewery, venue or commercial entity and strives to support and encourage all the craft breweries and other commercial entities supporting craft brewing and craft beer throughout the Tampa Bay area.    

GUILD ACTIVITIES AND MEETINGS 

• Invitations to special events will be communicated to the entire membership prior to the selection of members/brews to represent the group, and all active members in good standing will be granted an equal chance to participate. Members should rotate through limited events in order for each member to have the opportunity to present their beers. If additional spots are available, prospective members will be eligible to participate. 
• Members are expected to represent the guild with high quality home brews. When      participating in a keg- based event, the keg will contain at least four gallons of brew. 
• No one under the legal drinking age is ever allowed behind the taps of the guild at any fest or tasting.

When officially representing SBM at a public or paid admission event such as a beer festival, members will wear an official SBM shirt. Wearing a guild shirt is optional (though highly recommended) when attending an event planning meeting with other organizations or attending a beer event as a group.  

The guild banner will be displayed whenever possible at events in which the guild is officially participating. A file will be maintained on the private Facebook page to document current responsibility for the banner and where it was last used. The member currently in possession of the banner will transport it to the next official event or convey it to another member who will take over responsibility. The member who takes the banner to an event is responsible for ensuring it “comes home” from the event and is responsible for updating the banner location file. 

Guild members will conduct themselves in a manner that reflects positively upon the guild when wearing their official SBM shirt or otherwise officially representing the guild. Behaviors that reflect poorly upon the guild include, but are not limited to: 

• Public inebriation 
• Violating the rules of brew competitions (whether BJCP/AHA-sanctioned or unsanctioned) 
• Campaigning or attempting to sway the vote during people's choice judging 
• Publicly expressing disrespect for other guilds, clubs or individuals in the craft beer community 

Negative behavior when representing the guild may affect a member's rights to represent the guild in subsequent events or may result in revocation of guild membership. 

At both internal and external activities and events, guild members will only serve alcohol products to people over the legal drinking age; if the guild is serving at an event and someone looks under age 21, the member will request I.D. if the hosting organization has not provided its own age check and provided a proof of age token, such as a hand stamp or wristband. 

At both internal and external activities and events, guild members are responsible for themselves. Guild members may participate in meetings, events and activities and consume alcohol as a group, but the group in no way is responsible for a member’s personal actions and conduct. 

REPRESENTING THE GUILD - Expressing differences of opinion in social media discussions are totally acceptable, but members should do so with respect and make clear that it is their personal opinion when any portion of the topic relates to beer, brewing, craft beer venues, brew organizations, guilds and clubs. Official SBM accounts (Facebook, Twitter, email, etc.) will not be used to express negative commentary unless officially decided by the guild membership. For example, the guild may decide to officially state the group's dislike of a new law that is harmful to the craft brewing industry or home brewing communities. 

PUBLIC FACEBOOK PAGE – External events in which the guild is participating may be posted on the public Facebook page, but this page is not an advertising forum for other beer/brewing commercial ventures. Advertising will be removed from the page and repeat offenders may be blocked. Photos of guild events may be posted to the page following the event and should be limited to photos that would not reflect negatively on the guild. Public posts to thank guild supporters and host venues are encouraged. 

PRIVATE FACEBOOK PAGE - Discussions on the private guild page, along with documents and other files posted to that page are not to be disclosed or distributed to individuals who have not been granted access to the page. Discussions/polls relating to specific membership pledges/decisions will be deleted prior to adding the member to the page. Members will be given a week to respond to official polls/votes, after which time anyone not voting will be considered to have abstained or cast a default vote, as specified in the original post. Events will be created on the private Facebook page to advertise (to members) and coordinate guild activities (face-to-face or electronic meetings, field trips, brew days, etc.) and to centralize discussion pertaining to the activity. 

EMAIL – Email messages sent from the info@barleymashers.org account will only reflect the official view of the guild. Messages will be signed by the member sending the email and "On behalf of Suncoast Barley Mashers" will appear on the line under the member's name. The member will also indicate any title/function within the group, if appropriate. A copy of sent and received email will remain in the account for at least six months if considered short-term and non-controversial (Example: coordination emails for an event or a thank-you email to a guild supporter), or indefinitely if related to ongoing guild business or "controversial" topics (example: complaint from a member or outside party). 

GOOGLE CALENDAR - A private Google calendar has been established for the guild and all full members have read/write access to the calendar. Note that a Gmail account is required. Although internal guild events will also be posted on the Google calendar, members should look to the private Facebook page for event details. 

Modification of guild charter requires a 75% majority vote of current members. Members will be notified of the suggested modifications, with the notification specifying all details of what is being added, removed or modified. Notification will take place both on the Facebook private page and with email sent to each member via the email address on file with the guild. Members will have a minimum of three weeks to cast their vote. Lack of response by the member within the specified time will be counted as a YES vote. 

Appendix documents are considered to be working documents that can be modified by the guild without a formal vote. 

  In the event the Suncoast Barley Mashers guild disbands as an organization:

• Any monies remaining in the organization will be donated to a Pinellas County Area non-profit organization. 
• Any equipment on loan to the guild by a member or other individual or organization will      be returned to its owner. 
• Any equipment and supplies belonging to the guild will be sold to the highest bidder      among current guild members and the monies donated to a Pinellas County Area non-profit organization. If no guild members are interested in the available items, they will be donated to an active area homebrew guild/club. 
• All guild-related social media accounts will be shut down and/or deleted.