[denny]

Have you all seen this?  Before I state my position, what do YOU think?

The board of directors of the Brewers Association, the 501(c)(6) parent organization of the American Homebrewers Association (AHA), recently met and approved a restated set of association bylaws. The existing bylaws were drafted last century, had undergone many amendments over the decades, and needed modernization to comply with current best practices.

A summary of substantive changes related to the AHA includes the following:

    Board Size: The Brewers Association board size will be reduced to 18 beginning in February of 2024, then reduced again to 17 beginning with its first board meeting of 2025. This reduction puts the number of board members closer to (but still larger than) not-for-profit board size and will streamline decision-making
    Packaging Brewers Designated Directors: beginning with the first board meeting of 2025, the maximum number of elected Packaging Brewer Members will be reduced from seven to six.
    At-large Directors: beginning with the first board meeting of 2025, the maximum number of board-appointed, at-large directors will be reduced from five to four.
    American Homebrewers Association Directors: effective with the first 2024 BA board meeting, the two AHA-designated directors will be eliminated.
    The AHA Governing Committee has been renamed the AHA Committee and given the same standing committee status and governance structure as other BA committees. Its charters have been updated (view here).

As transition steps, 

    AHA Governing Committee chair and current AHA representative to the BA board, Shawna Cormier, was elected as an at-large director for a one-year term beginning February 14, 2024.
    AHA Governing Committee representative Roxanne Westendorf will remain on the AHA Committee and end her term as BA Governance Committee chair and BA board member. 
    Current AHA Governing Committee members have been invited to serve on the AHA Committee, and the committee chair will appoint future members. 
    Active AHA members interested in participating in the new AHA committee can learn more here.

[BrewBama]

I saw.  I figured it’s just more internal politics.  I lost interest years ago.

[Richard]

I have no idea of how the AHA and the Brewers Association interact and whether the proposed changes are good or bad. I do think that a board size of 18 is unwieldy.

[brewthru]

Denny, please explain your concern(s) enabling us to understand the OP.

[tommymorris]

It seems the BA continues to diminish the AHA. In this case they have stripped it of power within the larger organization. That concerns me because my dues go to AHA not BA.

[mainebrewer]

I've been a member for ten plus years but had already decided not to renew my membership since the AHA isn't really relevant to me any longer. This just reinforces that decision.

[dmtaylor]

It seems the BA continues to diminish the AHA. In this case they have stripped it of power within the larger organization. That concerns me because my dues go to AHA not BA.

This. ^^

Downsizing in the 2020s is a thing everywhere and there is no avoiding it.  That part is normal.

Stabbing yourself in the heart, however, goes beyond what is necessary to survive.  They're eliminating two positions.  One might consider them heart and soul -- no?  However, I must also admit I have no idea what these people do day to day.

I've been a member for ten plus years but had already decided not to renew my membership since the AHA isn't really relevant to me any longer. This just reinforces that decision.

And this ^^.  Why am I paying dues to the AHA if the BA is actually in control and could just drop the whole AHA at a whim in another couple years?

Dang, we should have seen this all coming when they dismissed Gary Glass a few years ago.  What a boneheaded move THAT was, IMO.  Now let's add insult to injury.

That's my take, without being an inside scooper.  I'll be very curious to hear Denny's views.

[BrewnWKopperKat]

Have you all seen this?

I didn't see it before you posted it.

[...] what do YOU think?

Subscriptions are "pay for performance".  And I choose to have a limited budget for home brewing related subscriptions. 

Quality content for home brewing beer from AHA was hit hard in 2020 & 2021.  It may have stabilized (but at a much lower level) in 2023.

I understand the value of conferences (connections, not content) and will consider attending HomeBrew Con in the future as appropriate to my interests. 

I'm not competition brewing at the moment.   I have access to a couple of active home brew clubs for "tough love" feedback as well as a couple of regional competitions that these clubs organize.  If/when I decide to "level up", there's the "Master Homebrewer program" to consider.

[redrocker652002]

I am not sure what to think.  I use this forum for the info given and received.  I opted to join because I was grateful for the info and I get 10% off if I pick up items at my local Morebeer.  Does this pay for the membership?  Not really as I have most things shipped to  me.  I actually disabled my auto renew, but turned it back on.  I might disable it again and make this a year to year decision.  I don't glean much from the magazine (to be honest, i don't really read it as I opted for a print version that has not come to me in the last two or three issues).  But, for me, the info I get here is worth the cost of the membership. 

[denny]

Denny, please explain your concern(s) enabling us to understand the OP.

My concern is with changes made to the AHA, not the BA.

[denny]

It seems the BA continues to diminish the AHA. In this case they have stripped it of power within the larger organization. That concerns me because my dues go to AHA not BA.

Well put

[hopfenundmalz]

Appointed AHA Committee members could lead to cronyism. I hope they choose wisely.

[denny]

Appointed AHA Committee members could lead to cronyism. I hope they choose wisely.

Not only that, but no elections speaks to me of not caring what the membership thinks.  I hope this turns out better than the email made it sound.

[Kevin]

I've been a member for ten plus years but had already decided not to renew my membership since the AHA isn't really relevant to me any longer. This just reinforces that decision.

Sadly I have to say I am doing the same. I've already turned off the auto-renew function. I started doing a side by side comparison of Zymurgy magazine with BYO and Zymurgy consistently has far fewer articles that mean anything to me as a homebrewer. There have been issues within the past 12 months that, after thumbing through all the articles, I've immediately thrown in the trash within moments of bringing them in from the mailbox. That's just sad and highly frustrating.

[erockrph]

This seems to confirm my suspicions that I've had since Gary Glass's position was eliminated. The AHA is becoming a mere footnote within the BA, and we should expect to see a continually diminishing role until it is possibly eliminated altogether. We just need to be wary of the motivations of the BA while they're calling all the shots.

That being said, is there enough left in this hobby to support a full-time standalone organization that could stand on its own two feet without the BA supporting it? Because that's really the only better alternative that I could picture - a separate organization from the BA. I just don't see the current state of the hobby to be able to support something like that. Like it or not, this marriage of convenience is probably the best we got for the time being.