Sonex Builders and Pilots Foundation annual member meeting

[Sonex1517]

Greetings Fellow Sonex Enthusiasts,

Now that we've reached July, your board members at the Sonex Builders and Pilots Foundation are hard at work preparing the Oshkosh AirVenture 2014 airshow. We're pleased to announce that this year's annual Membership Meeting will once again be held at Oshkosh on Monday, July 28th, the opening day of the show.

Here are the details:
- 2014 SBPF Annual Membership Meeting
- Located at the Oshkosh flight line adjacent to the Sonex Aircraft, LLC display
- Monday, July 28th, 2014.
- 11:00 a.m. Local time

We hope that anyone who is a member of the SBPF, has an interest in joining, or has an interest in Sonex aircraft is able to attend. We plan on offering updates to our current status, offer insights on future events, and if you're a voting member, this year will be an election of Michael Farley to a three-year term as a director of SBPF. Please plan on attending this important event!

One important item on the agenda we'd like to bring to your attention is the possibility of the SBPF establishing affiliations with other dedicated Sonex clubs. In recent months, the Sonex Builders and Pilots Foundation board members have received several requests from various regional and local Sonex associations with regards to the possibility of forming an affiliation between the SBPF and these independent groups.

In response to these requests, the board members reviewed the original bylaws and realized they do not address the proposed affiliation of independent groups, so we are asking for member input.

The question we'd like to ask our members is, do we want to expand our official affiliations to share resources, membership, and information with regional organizations that have Sonex-related events? Overall, the board members are generally in favor of the prospect of clubs joining together because of the increase in participation of the community, as well as the ability for owners and pilots to more easily share stories and information. The ability for the Sonex community to expand even farther is a very exciting idea!

As we considered our possible options, we took a few moments to review our mission goals when the Foundation was first created. As we already stated, one very important goal, decided on upon the establishment of the Foundation, was that we did not want to take over, compete with, or in any way direct any established group, regional organization, or association such as the American Sonex Association (ASA), Florida Sonex Association, etc. As such, one aspect of consideration is that the board of directors has already decided that we do not want to get involved in exchanging money or administering the activities of these organizations.

Ultimately, we are requesting our members determine whether or not the Sonex Builders and Pilots Foundation expand our official affiliations to address these requests.

We welcome comments as well as any points of discussion our members wish to address during this year's membership meeting. If you’re unable to attend Oshkosh but have input about the affiliation discussion, please comment on the thread posted to sonexbuilders.net or by contacting one of the SBPF officers.

Thank you for your consideration, and we look forward to visiting with you at Oshkosh 2014!
Robbie Culver, President
Michael Farley, Vice President
Eric Seber, Secretary
Carl Orton, Treasurer