BCOA Bulletin January-February-March 2008 - the Basenji Club of ...

IT’S YOUR CLUB....By: Karla Schreiber, Vice-PresidentSeveral years ago, the folks at Microsoft came up with theslogan “Where do you want to go today?” Microsoft packed a lotof meaning into this simple question. The slogan references theexplosive growth of the on-line “universe” – the Internet – andboldly asserts that Microsoft is the company that will allow us allto navigate that universe with impunity. We can set our course, andMicrosoft will help us get there. The company positioned itself toconsumers as the premier vehicle for accomplishing internet andtechnology-related goals – a bold and ambitious statement!“I want to belong to a BCOA that is proactive,well managed financially and otherwise, and focused onmultiple (not just one or two) long and short-term goals andinitiatives involving multiple aspects of the fancy. I also wantto belong to a BCOA that possesses the confidence, as anorganization, to be innovative and forward thinking. Do youwant to belong to that kind of Club? “As BCOA and all of its members, elected representatives andhard-working volunteers begin a new year, I want to pose the samequestion that Microsoft asked, with a twist. Microsoft is a forprofitcorporation that exists to sell goods and services to the publicand make a profit for its shareholders. BCOA, in contrast, is a notfor-profitAKC parent club comprised of members dedicated to acommon goal: preserving and protecting the Basenji as a uniquebreed outside of Africa. The question I want to ask is not “wheredo YOU want to go today” – but where do WE want to go – notjust today, but tomorrow, and throughout the coming years?It is easy for us, as individuals (and for corporations, too) tobecome very caught up in day-to-day affairs. Few people on theplanet know this as well as single parents – a group I’ve been acard-carrying member of since my son was two years old. Thebig picture? Long-term planning? How about living through theafternoon! There’s work, and laundry, and dinner, and homework– day after day. Then, toss in a few emergencies just to liven thingsup. Add a broken water pipe, a dog with diarrhea or a child with theflu to the mix, and suddenly the “normal” (grueling) daily routinestarts to look like a cakewalk! Everything has a tendency to slidewhenever we have to focus on putting out fires. Corporations,including AKC parent clubs, have these problems, too. Whenconflicts, disputes and emergencies constantly take center stage,just trying to accomplish what “must get done” becomes a burden– and long-term, goal-oriented planning often doesn’t happen (orat least it doesn’t happen as it should). Add to the mix the fact thatmany AKC parent clubs are run entirely by volunteers – most ofwhom have day jobs, families, their own dogs to care for, etc. --and the lost opportunities that can result from ongoing conflicts,disputes and “emergencies” become staggeringly apparent.In the coming days, months, and years, where do we – a groupThe Basenji Club of America, Inc. BULLETIN - 12of individuals bound together by concern for and the love of ourbreed – want BCOA to go? What kind of organization do we wantit to be? There are a few things we can’t change. BCOA is acorporate entity. There are State and Federal rules that BCOAmust abide by, a certain structure that it must maintain (divisionand delegation of decision making between the membership andits elected representatives), etc. Outside of those parameters,however, there is a vast universe of places we can go and thingswe can do. Do we want BCOA to be reactive, or proactive? Do wewant BCOA to run like a well-oiled machine, or putter along likean old VW? Do we want BCOAto be innovative and forwardthinking, or do we want BCOAto be stultified by petty disputesand in-fighting over issuesthat, in the long-term, do littleor nothing to move the Clubforward?I can’t answer these questionsfor anyone except myself. I wantto belong to a BCOA that is proactive, well managed financiallyand otherwise, and focused on multiple (not just one or two) longand short-term goals and initiatives involving multiple aspects ofthe fancy. I also want to belong to a BCOA that possesses theconfidence, as an organization, to be innovative and forwardthinking. Do you want to belong to that kind of Club? If youdo, we have a lot in common. In order to accomplish ambitiousbig-picture goals like these, however, our focus will need to beon common ground, not differences. As a fancy, we will need tofocus more on celebrating our successes and work harder at lettinggo of our disappointments, misunderstandings, and inevitablemiscommunications. We can pull together – or we can pull apart -but the basenji as a breed can only really benefit from one of theseoptions – and that’s first one.So, BCOA members, board, officers, committee membersand volunteers - as we begin 2008 -- where do WE want to gotoday, and tomorrow, and in the future? When we work togetherfor common goals, we move mountains. We moved a mountainin 2007 – a year that marked the development and release of ourDNA marker test for Fanconi Syndrome. That mountain definitelydid not move on its own, however. It moved as a result of theefforts of hundreds of fanciers around the globe, after years of trialand error, sweat and tears, grit and determination. If there wasever a shining example of what we can do as a fancy when we pulltogether, we saw it in 2007. What’s next? There are challengesand goals still on the horizon. The choice is entire ours, as a Club.We can pull together, or we can pull apart. We can fret over thingsthat happened in the past – we can allow negative feelings to festerand divide us - or we can put those things aside and get down tothe serious work of deciding what we want BCOA to accomplishfor our breed today, tomorrow, and in the future.