A Special General Meeting of IFFA will be held on 27 March at 2pm at [a venue to be confirmed]. The SGM has been called as a result of the strategic planning process that has been underway for over a year now. The business of the SGM is to consider a complete revamp of IFFA's Statement of Purposes and Rules.

IFFA's Committee has developed a proposed new Statement of Purposes based on feedback from members and its own thinking which is shown below. The proposal clarifies who IFFA is for, clarifies IFFA's purpose and introduces a long term vision to which IFFA members (hopefully) aspire.

The Committee also proposes that to modernise IFFA's rules, a complete new set of rules be adopted, based on the Model Rules provided by Consumer Affairs Victoria, with a number of specific changes to bring make the rules reflect current practice and to expand the IFFA Committee membership and add a life member category.

The standard rules include a fixed cycle of payment of memberships, with memberships falling due on 1 July each year. It is not proposed to amend this section of the model rules, which means a change to the current practice of rolling membership payments. Managing the transition to the new rules the Committee has proposed that:

• No member should be penalised financially from the move
• Minimal inconvenience to members
• The arrangement should be simple and easy to understand
• We do not lose members as a result of the new scheme.

IFFA may lose some income in the short term. However there are long term benefits (lower administration costs, etc) by moving to a single subscription date that over time will outweigh any short term losses. The Committee proposes that anyone who has paid in the period July - December 2009 will pay a reduced subscription (say $10) for their 2010 membership which commences on the 1st July 2010. Anyone who has paid (or will pay) in the period January - June 2010 will have deemed to have paid until 1st July 2011.

The proposed amendments to the model rules are shown below.
The model rules themselves are available on the Consumer Affairs website.
The model rules amended to reflect the proposed rule changes can be downloaded below.

Proposed rule changes

1. That IFFA's Statement of Purposes be replaced with the following:

2. That IFFA's rules be replaced by the Consumer Affairs Victoria Model Rules with the following amendments:

2.1 At various places as appropriate insert the name of the
association as "Indigenous Flora and Fauna Association"

2.2 At clause 20(3)(c) include the Public Officer as a member of the
Committee of Management

2.3 At clause 21 include the following as additional Officers of the
Association:

2.4 At clause 25(2) increase the number of people required to convene
a special meeting of the Committee from 4 to 7 and at 27(1) increase the quorum
for committee meetings from 4 to 5

2.5 Add a not for profit clause at clause 32(4) as follows: (4) Not-for-Profit:
The income and property of the organisation shall be used and applied solely
in promotion of its purposes and no portion shall be distributed, paid or transferred directly or indirectly by way of dividend, bonus or by way of profit to members, directors, or trustees of the organisation.

2.6 At clause 4, add a sub-clause as follows defining the types of membership IFFA currently offers:

2.7 At Appendix 4 set the schedule of membership fees as the current
values as follows:

2.8 Add a new category of membership called "Life Member" with an Entrance Fee of $500 and an Annual Subscription fee of $0. Another sub-clause would be added to Clause 4(13) as follows: (f) Any individual may apply to become a Life Member. Appendix 4 would be also amended to reflect the fees payable by a Life Member