As people become acquainted with the Alliance Council and learn a little about what the Council is and does, members of Council are asked questions like, “Why can’t the Council post surveys a few times each year?” “Why can’t the Council get old minutes posted?” "How come the Council never has one open session?" “Why does the Council still meet at Sounders Headquarters?” And so on…
The answers are all pretty much the same: the Alliance Council is without any financial resources, meaning: our resources are made up of the ideas we create and the efforts we contribute. We simply don’t have enough resources currently to get to everything. We have barely started creating our own mailing list. We don't have access to the Club's mailing list of Alliance Members. If money is needed, it’s currently coming from our own pockets. Luckily, what we have needed to take on so far has been inexpensive. Meeting space has been generously provided by the Club, and as far as ideas go – we often collaborate and brainstorm back and forth.
So why would I write about lawyers and writers and prayers? Well that’s how we get by, and in a way, that’s what we need. It’s time to recruit for the Alliance Council. For example, the Council has a Constitution with bylaws, but not enough people to be operating a rules committee. We need a rules committee to be looking at those bylaws and making necessary adjustments. The Constitution and bylaws are a relatively short, but tedious document that people are tired of dealing with. With a couple more good attorneys on the Council, we could make really light work of this – one or two sessions at most to get some language updated and clarified.
The Council needs more writers so that we can divide that work, but more importantly: share the spotlight. More people writing would give more of our alliance members the opportunity to get to know more Council Members and the topics that drive us. We are great at tweeting, and we like the idea of having blogs for our members. But even though writing a blog is a short task, it's one that people have to work into their busy lives – and that kind of task needs to go to people who are comfortable with it.
As far as prayers – well I’m not actually religious, so maybe that’s a fib. But I do worry about the number of times I call upon the one attorney we have on Council, or the one community organizer, or the one other writer. They are all fabulous, but we need a few more. Alliance Council should be about fifteen to sixty minutes of work per person, per month, between meetings. If it’s more than that, then it’s a strong indicator that we need people with specific sets skills and experience – and that’s where we are today.
Last year we made a significant schedule change and voted to meet exclusively on first Tuesdays. It was the day that worked for the most people, and when we enacted that step we knew we’d leave some behind: it’s not uncommon for only ten to make it to a meeting. We wear many hats, and can’t get to everything we’d like to or to everything Alliance members would like us to. But when I look at what the supporter groups have been able to accomplish, or at what owner-groups have done in clubs around the globe, I know that building this up is certainly within our capacity. Next up for us to take on: building a budget.
That’s where you come in: we have a stadium full of amazing and incredibly talented Sounders Season Ticket Members. We don’t just need random people, we need you, with your skills, your voice, and your contribution of knowledge. You have the ability to make a difference. The Alliance Council could greatly benefit from people with strong backgrounds in the areas of: finance/money management; project management, event planning, writing, marketing, community outreach, legal: lawyers, legal aids, law clerks; web design/production, video production, content management, and volunteerism. To nominate yourself for Alliance Council, you’ll need your login email and your account number (it’s on your MatchPass): https://vote.soundersfc.com/Login.aspx. Thank you for considering it!
