UPDATE - At the December 5, 2018 Minnesota PRSA Annual Meeting, the proposed bylaw changes were approved by the membership. The changes to the bylaws are outlined below. To view the approved bylaws visit HERE.
The field of public relations and communications is continually growing and evolving. As a professional organization serving this industry, Minnesota PRSA needs to be reflective of our profession and the needs of our members.
As Minnesota PRSA enters its 66th year, the chapter is facing some significant challenges that if not addressed now will impact the long-term viability of the organization. The Minnesota PRSA leadership team and our committees have been working tirelessly through the year to identify and implement strategies to strengthen the organization and deliver value to our members (and our larger communications community).
As part of this effort, the Minnesota PRSA Board of Directors recommends a number of changes to the chapter’s bylaws. The current bylaws were last updated in 2015. The recommended changes fall into four areas:
- Allowing for up to two (2) non-accredited members on the chapter’s board of directors. This change is in line with the composition of the PRSA National board and provides our chapter with an expanded candidate pool as well as the opportunity to engage a more diverse and younger set of candidates. Candidates for executive positions (Treasurer/Secretary, President-Elect, President and Ethics Officer) will still require Accreditation.
- Combining the position of Treasurer/Secretary. This change compresses the length of service commitment for holding a leadership position. In recent years, much of the work load required for both positions has been delegated to the chapter’s association management firm so the requirements should not be overtaxing.
- Creating a Diversity & Inclusion Officer position. Similar in scope to the Ethics Officer, the Diversity & Inclusion (D&I) Officer will lead the chapter's D&I efforts and serve as a resource for our membership. As a chapter, we are committed to D&I efforts and must lead by example. We engaged local D&I leaders to help develop this position, and their input and expertise was key in creating this new position and bylaw.
- Clarifying, Condensing and Updating language. We took this opportunity to comb through the bylaws and identify areas where clarification was necessary, condensing was warranted and the updated language is more reflective of our larger society.
These changes have been reviewed and approved by the PRSA Governance Committee as well as the PRSA Board of Directors.
In accordance with our chapter bylaws, the Minnesota PRSA Board of Directors is presenting these changes to the membership 30 days in advance of the chapter’s Annual Meeting slated for December 5, 2018. The attached document provides a side-by-side comparison of the current chapter bylaws and the proposed changes.
If ratified by the members in attendance at the annual meeting, the revised bylaws will go into effect on January 1, 2019.