Paws for GDUI News You Can Use - VOL. I, NO. 13, March 2021

A Publication of Guide Dog Users, Inc.

President: Sarah Calhoun

Editor: Andrea Giudice

Co-editor and GDUI Immediate Past President: Penny Reeder

Guide Dog Users, Inc. (GDUI)

A special interest affiliate of the American Council of the Blind (ACB) since 1972

https://guidedogusersinc.org/

Toll-Free: 866.799.8436

From the editor: Hello fellow GDUISters

Here in Connecticut, March has come in like a lion and, one can hope, will go out like a lamb. While the wind howls and the temperatures make me glad for a parka, there is a new issue of “Paws for GDUI- News You Can Use” to enjoy along with a cup of tea or cocoa. Yes, if you are from one of those hot places you can make it an ice tea or a frozen “hot” chocolate.

This month we have announcements, sometime sensitive, interesting articles, information about open GDUI board positions (last article) and words from our president.

Sending cyber hugs and wags, Andrea and Mr. A

From the President: Greetings GDUI members and friends!

I hope this newsletter finds you well! We have been thinking about our Texas members and friends, everyone across the country who have suffered a terrible snowy winter, lack of water and electric for several days to weeks. Hopefully, our friends have been able to recover and return to their day to day living.

We hope you and your four-legged loveable furry guide dog celebrated a wonderful Valentine’s Day! Our dogs love getting that extra treat or toy to join in on the human special events! Don’t forget March 17, Saint Patrick’s Day! Think green!

GDUI has a busy schedule on our calendar with elections, Membership renewal and the 2021 virtual convention! To keep up to date, please visit the GDUI website at www.guidedogusersinc.org

Please consider running for a position on the board of directors. This is a wonderful way to get involved, learn more about GDUI and be a part of keeping this organization terrific!

Coming up soon will be an announcement of several exciting fundraising events! They will be announced on GDUI email lists, social media platforms and of course, our website!

Spring is just around the corner and we can begin to plan those enjoyable long walks outside with our guide dogs as we soak up the sun, get exercise and breathe the fresh air!

Lakota and I hope you and your families and friends are well! Hopefully this year will not be as challenging as last year.

From our house to your house, Lakota and I wish you and your guide dog many happy tails and trails!

Sarah Calhoun, President

Guide Dog Users, Inc.

Announcement: March 10, GDUI Community Call

Getting a Guide Dog During COVID-19: PM ET, PM PT, PM HT

Thinking about getting your first or successor guide dog but unsure whether now might be the best time because of COVID-19? Come hear from clients of several guide dog schools who will share their experiences of training with new guides in these most unique of times.

Announcement: Ann Chiappetta books free on smashwords (from March 7 until March 13)

Hi folks-

Smashwords is having a big book sale on all eBook titles. From March 7 to March 13 all my titles on www.smashwords.com are free.

Go to https://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/AnnChiappetta

To download all or any of my titles. To make this guide dog related, my memoir, Follow Your Dog a Story of Love and Trust, is free.

I hope you come along for the word journey with me and share this link, it’s only free from March 7 until March 13, 2021.

#smashwords #ebookweek21

Ann Chiappetta, Author

Announcement: Patient Safety Week Webinar by En-Vision America

March 18, 2021 11 am PT/PM ET

What does it take to Make Change Happen??? Join us during Patient Safety Week for a conversation about advocating for medical error prevention and effective communication at the pharmacy counter. This will be a great opportunity for anyone who is planning a visit to the hospital, patient advocates, doctors, nurses, pharmacists, English as a second language advocates, and anyone working a grassroots legislation campaign looking for ideas and encouragement!

Register today! Registration gives you access to the webinar the day of the event and the recorded version and resources afterward.

Announcement: AFB turns 100!

For information about 100 years of AFB and our ongoing series of Centennial Conversations, visit: afb.org/100

Announcement: Hadley presents – Painting Blind with Artist John Bramblitt

Painting Blind

We are so excited to welcome world-renowned artist John Bramblitt to the podcast! In this episode, John shares how vision loss has shaped his painting and his life.

A downloadable transcript is available on our site, hadley.edu.

Have a suggestion for a future episode? Email us:

podcast@hadley.edu

call the Hadley Presents podcast line:

(847) 784-2870

Announcement: 2020 was most definitely a year to remember.

Join us for an audio described flashback to 2020 at the American Council of the Blind by visiting: https://youtu.be/Si_XcKIPB0U.

Article: Visually impaired accessible technology – BingNews – Friday, January 29, 2021

David Goldfield, Assistive Technology Specialist

WWW.DavidGoldfield.info

App will help visually impaired, seniors enjoy ride-sharing with self-driving cars

Self-driving cars will offer access to ride-sharing and ride-hailing with their suite of modern conveniences. However, many people with visual impairments who use these services rely on a human driver to safely locate their vehicle.

A research group led by the Virtual Environments and Multimodal Interaction Laboratory (VEMI Lab) at the University of Maine is developing a smartphone app that provides the navigational assistance needed for people with disabilities and seniors to enjoy ride-sharing and ride-hailing, collectively termed mobility-as-a-service, with the latest in automotive technology. The app, known as the Autonomous Vehicle Assistant (AVA), can also be used for standard vehicles operated by human drivers and enjoyed by everyone.

AVA will help users request, find and enter a vehicle using a multisensory interface that provides guidance through audio and haptic feedback and high-contrast visual cues. The Autonomous Vehicle Research Group (AVRG), a cross institutional collective led by VEMI lab with researchers from Northeastern University and Colby College, will leverage GPS technology, real-time computer vision via the smartphone camera and artificial intelligence to support the functions offered through the app.

The U.S. Department of Transportation awarded $300,000 to AVRG for the AVA project through its Inclusive Design Challenge. The initiative sought proposals for design solutions that would help people with disabilities use autonomous vehicles for employment and essential services. AVRG was one of the semifinalists.

“This design challenge was exciting to us as it falls so squarely in our wheelhouse” says Nicholas Giudice, a professor of spatial Computing at UMaine. “We have worked in the areas of multimodal information access and navigation for visually impaired people and older adults for years, and have recently started a research program investigating human-vehicle collaborations for increasing the trustworthiness and accessibility of autonomous vehicles. This development project connects the dots by allowing us to bridge several areas of expertise to ensure that the technology of the future is ‘accessible for all.'”

Users will create a profile in AVA that reflects their needs and existing methods of navigation. The app will use the information from their profiles to find a suitable vehicle for transport, then determine whether one is available.

When the vehicle arrives, AVA will guide the user to it using the camera and augmented reality (AR), which provides an overlay of the environment using the smartphone by superimposing high-contrast lines over the image to highlight the path and verbal guidance, such as compass directions, street names, addresses and nearby landmarks. The app also will pinpoint environmental hazards, such as low-contrast curbs, by emphasizing them with contrasting lines and vibrating when users approach them. It will then help users find the door handle to enter the vehicle awaiting them.

“This is the first project of its kind in the country, and in combination with our other work in this area, we are addressing an end-to-end solution for AVs (autonomous vehicles) that will improve their accessibility for all,” says Giudice, chief research scientist at VEMI Lab and lead on the AVA project.

“Most work in this area only deals with sighted passengers, yet the under-represented driving populations we are supporting stand to benefit most from this technology and are one of the fastest growing demographics in the country.”

AVRG studies how autonomous vehicles can meet various accessibility needs. VEMI lab itself has explored tactics for improving consumer trust in this emerging technology.

AVA advances both groups’ endeavors by not only providing another means for people with visual impairments and other disabilities and seniors to access self-driving vehicles, but also increases their trust in them. The project also builds on a seed grant-funded, joint effort between UMaine and Northeastern University to improve accessibility, safety and situational awareness within the self-driving vehicle. Researchers from both universities aim to develop a new model of human-AI vehicle interaction to ensure people with visual impairments and seniors understand what the autonomous vehicle is doing and that it can sense, interpret and communicate with the passenger.

The app will offer modules that train users how to order and locate rides, particularly through mock pickup scenarios. Offering hands-on learning provides users confidence in themselves and the technology, according to researchers. It also gathers data AVRG can use during its iterative, ongoing development for AVA and its integration into autonomous vehicles.

“We are very excited about this opportunity to create accessible technology which will help the transition to fully autonomous vehicles for all. The freedom and independence of all travelers is imperative as we move forward,” says VEMI lab director Richard Corey.

VEMI Lab, co-founded by Corey and Giudice in 2008, explores different solutions for solving unmet challenges with technology. Prime areas of research and development pertain to self-driving vehicles, the design of bio-inspired tools to improve human-machine interaction and functionality, and new technology to improve environmental awareness, spatial learning and navigational wayfinding.

Article: Social distancing while blind takes dogged perseverance

Jake Koch works to socially distance during the pandemic with the help of a guide dog, white cane

Everyone has had to adapt at a rapid pace over the past year because of the COVID-19 crisis. Many adults are working from home while students school from home; many go-to pastimes are on pause and we’ve all had to learn to make masking and social distancing second nature.

But for those with visual impairment or blindness, social distancing is no easy task.

Jake Koch, Gresham resident and community outreach specialist for Guide Dogs for the Blind’s Boring campus, has experienced this first-hand. Even with his guide dog, Koch, who has bilateral microphthalmia — a physical disorder of the eyes, resulting in small, partially developed eyes, which renders him legally blind — Koch says he sometimes has to rely on other people to help him keep his distance.

“Apart from being a professional in the industry, I do also travel with a guide dog and am visually impaired myself,” Koch explained. Koch travels with a 6-year-old black lab named Forli. “Pretty quickly, I realized that (socially distancing would be a challenge). I’m an avid traveler. I travel both for work and for pleasure, whether it’s local, regional, national, so I’m out and about. I’m an extrovert. I enjoy being out and about in the city and around friends and in public places, so at first it was a bit overwhelming. (At first) nobody really knew anything about the novel coronavirus, including myself.”

What also became quickly and overwhelmingly apparent was that guide dogs would not be able to perceive all of the safety precautions humans have in place during the pandemic.

“In the past 10 months of traveling through public spaces, what I’ve learned is the dogs, unfortunately, don’t understand the concept of social distancing,” Koch said. “I think the primary reason for that, in my personal and professional opinion, is social distancing is a social construct; it’s a social norm. It’s not black and white; it’s not factual like a curb or a set of stairs that are really obvious (obstacles that signal) you need to stop here or you’re going to get hurt. The way a dog perceives social constructs is they go ‘what is the safest, easiest path of least resistance that I can get my handler and myself through the environment.'”

“Our guide dogs don’t understand directional arrows, signage and taped-off measurements to ensure social distancing, and our white canes don’t feel them,” added Dorianne Pollack, alumni board member for Guide Dogs for the Blind. “Unlike sighted people who have learned to navigate in a socially distanced world, we’ve been left to fend for ourselves.”

An added challenge that makes navigating social spaces during the pandemic even more difficult for those with visual impairment, is because everything has evolved so quickly, yet the ADA hasn’t been able to catch up. This has led to inconsistencies in markings and signs for distancing in public places like grocery stores and to Koch, seeking supplemental ways to better get around and safely.

“I’ve ended up taking a hybrid approach,” Koch said, explaining that he has been using both Forli and a white cane to navigate. While guide dogs see and avoid objects, white canes can help the user detect and avoid would-be obstacles and people. This way, Koch has the dog to get him to his destination and the cane helps him orient himself to other people.

“The average cane offers 4 to 5 feet of detectable space,” Koch explained. To achieve 6 feet of separation, he added, sometimes he will simply ask someone around him if he is distanced enough. He also always wears a mask for safety when he has to be in public places.

For the most part though, like many who are immunocompromised, have other conditions that make them at greater risk or are simply trying to help slow the spread, Koch has grown accustomed to using things like grocery delivery instead of shopping in the store. He has also taken to walking, when he can, to avoid public transportation where it is harder to make sure others are keeping their distance.

“The people moving around me is where it gets tricky,” Koch said.

In “normal” times, Koch says he typically gets quite a few people who come up to him and want to pet Forli, offer help or ask questions. Nowadays, while petting Forli is discouraged, Koch said: “Pandemic or not, if anybody wants to help, I appreciate people asking: ‘May I assist you?’ and self-identifying.”

Koch explains that while saying “How can I help you?” tends to sound somewhat ableist, implying the person with visual impairment needs help, asking “May I assist you?” is a more empowering offer of help.

Folks who wish to help someone with visual impairment in public spaces might be of assistance by kindly approaching the person and saying “I just wanted to inform you that you aren’t six feet away. May I help you?” Use specific directions such as “take two steps left” and never touch the person.

At Guide Dogs for the Blind, staff have worked very hard to ensure clients who must visit are safe and also offer guidance and assistance to their 2,200 graduates out navigating similar circumstances to Koch.

“We use video conferencing to help navigate people,” Koch explained. He added that Guide Dogs for the Blind has also partnered with the ‘Be My Eyes’ app, which offers assistance to those with visual impairment to do everyday things like reading labels and navigating.

“My normal is managing my blindness in a sighted world,” said Guide Dogs for the Blind client Bruce Gilmour. “However, COVID-19 has imposed big changes and adjustments to my normal. Aspects such as curbside pick-ups, online ordering, social distancing, language barriers, using touch to see in a no touch world, knowing where to stand appropriately at a transit stop, etc., have challenged my normal. Consequently, daily affairs developed around being independent and self-reliant have resulted in isolation, increased anxiety, and some really compromising scenarios where the public have lacked a complete sense of civility. Yes, indeed, we are all in this pandemic together which has put a lot of pressure on the nice values of normal like being kind, calm, and patient.”

“Change is hard for everybody,” Koch said. “Things changed very quickly. I think that’s what was very overwhelming. Be kind, be compassionate and offer assistance if it is needed. Also, feel free to step back or forward (from a person with visual impairment) to keep distance.”

Article: GDUI is SEEKING NOMINATIONS

GDUI 2021 Election Announcement

Do you know someone who has made significant contributions to dog guides and their handlers? Guide Dog Users, Inc. (GDUI) wants to hear from you.

Each year at its annual convention with the American Council of the Blind (ACB), GDUI recognizes three outstanding individuals who have made significant contributions to the lives of guide dog teams through their dedication, work, advocacy, and support. Each award is given to honor the individuals for which they are named, and to recognize the outstanding recipient of the year.

The Ethel Bender Award. This award is presented each year to honor a sighted person who has provided significant service to the cause of enhancing the well-being of the guide dog and handler community.

The Moffitt-Gleitz Award. The Moffitt-Gleitz Award is presented to a person who is blind and has significantly contributed to the well-being of the guide dog handling community, and who by his or her contributions, has earned the gratitude and recognition of Guide Dog Users, Inc.

The Lieberg-Metz Award. This award recognizes an individual who has advance the well-being of guide dog and handler teams through the writings or media presentations.

If you know someone whom you believe is deserving of such recognition, please submit your nomination to Margie Donovan, Awards Committee Chair at margie.donovan1@outlook.com, no later than April 1, 2021. Please put in the subject line “GDUI Award Nomination”. If you need assistance in writing your nomination, you may contact Margie as well.

Your nomination should include the following information:

The name of the award you are nominating for.

Give the person’s name and contact information that you wish to nominate, and the reason why you believe he/she is deserving of an award.

All nominations should be no more than 350 words.

Article: Announcing the GDUI 2021 Elections

Interested candidates should submit an application, resume and cover letter to the Nominations Committee Chair, Margie Donovan at elections@guidedogusersinc.org by the deadline of March 31, 2021

The 2021 GDUI Elections will commence on Saturday, May 29 at 12:01 a.m. EDT and run through Sunday, June 6, 2021 at 11:59 p.m. EDT.

GDUI is seeking candidates for the following positions in our upcoming 2021 elections.

1 Interim Secretary ending in 2022

1 Interim Director ending in 2022

2 Director Seats (3-Year Term) ending in 2024

The two open director positions will be filled by the two candidates who receive the largest and second-largest number of votes for director. The Interim Director position will be filled by the candidate receiving the third-largest number of votes for director.

GDUI members in good standing are eligible to run for a position on the GDUI Board. Interested candidates should submit an application, resume and cover letter to the Nominations Committee Chair, Margie Donovan at elections@guidedogusersinc.org by the deadline of March 31, 2021.

The information supplied within the cover letter, application and resume will be shared with the GDUI members eligible to vote in this election.

GDUI members who have paid their dues by this year’s record date of April 9, 2021 will be eligible to vote in the upcoming elections.

GDUI is proud of our universally accessible voting system in which each member of GDUI is entitled to a voice in the election of our GDUI Board.

If you have not renewed your membership, now is the time to do so. An at-large membership in GDUI costs $25.00 per person per year. Dues may be paid online by going to https://guidedogusersinc.org/join/, by credit card by calling 1-866-799-8436 or by mailing your check to the above address and made payable to GDUI.

Important dates to remember:

In order to be eligible to vote in the 2021 GDUI election your 2021 GDUI dues must have been received on or before the record date of April 9, 2021.

We will hold two Candidate Forums prior to the election. Phone numbers for these calls will be publicized closer to the dates.

Candidate Forum 1. Thursday, May 6, 2021 7:30 p.m. EDT

Candidate Forum 2. Saturday, May 15, 2021 1:00 p.m. EDT

Between the dates of April 1, 2021 and April 15, 2021, we encourage members to submit questions for your candidates. Please submit your questions to the Nominations Chair, Margie Donovan at elections@guidedogusersinc.org and include “Candidates Forum” in the subject line of your message.

Election period: Saturday, May 29 12:01 a.m. EDT through Sunday, June 6, 2021 11:59 p.m. EDT

Amendments: Any questions relating to Constitutional Amendments should be sent to Maria Hansen at Byalaws@guidedogusersinc.org by March 15, 2021.

Application for Candidacy:

GDUI has three major responsibilities:

To promote the acceptance of guide dog teams by all agencies, employers, educational institutions, commercial establishments, and the general public;
To work for the expansion, standardization, and enforcement of legal provisions, both civil and criminal, governing the rights and responsibilities of guide dog users in the areas of public access, employment, housing, personal injury to dog and handler, transportation, and recreation; and
To work in cooperation with guide dog training providers by contributing constructive input concerning selection, training, health care, and accommodations for both canine and human students, and providing constructive suggestions that will improve the quality of the training experience.

With these goals in mind, please answer the following questions.

Date:

Position for which you wish to be a candidate:

Applicant’s Name:

Street Address:

City/State/zip code:

Phone numbers:

Home:

Cell:

E-mail Address:

Are you a guide dog user?

Describe your background (Educational, occupational and general experience).

Why do you wish to serve on the GDUI Board?

Which of your skills and experiences would most support Board activities? Please describe a time when a group of which you were a part accomplished its goal(s).

What caused the group to be successful? How did you contribute to this success?

The GDUI Board of Directors uses e-mail to communicate with one another. Are you able to communicate effectively using this medium and do you have access to e-mail?

The GDUI Board of Directors meets every other month by telephone. Meetings last from two to three hours. Other ad hoc telephonic meetings are sometimes called as well.

Board Members are often asked to chair and serve on committees and perform tasks on behalf of GDUI as directed by the officers and committee chairpersons. Will you be able to find time to perform the tasks described above?

Candidates, please note: Your cover letter, application and resume will be sent in its entirety to the GDUI members eligible to vote in this election.

GDUI Officer and Director Position Descriptions

All GDUI officers and Directors must:

Be willing and able to participate in regularly scheduled meetings and e-mail discussions.

Always act in a dignified manner and interact respectfully with fellow directors and Officers and agree to abide by GDUI’s current code of conduct for board members.

Work as a team member to maintain and protect GDUI and its mission.

Become well versed with GDUI’s By-Laws.

Respect the authority of the GDUI By-Laws and work within their guidance and the requirements of the GDUI Articles of Incorporation.

Be a collaborative participant in the democratic process–respecting the outcome of votes of the membership and votes of the board.

Possess sufficient computer skills to participate in e-mail work.

Be flexible for scheduling meeting times. (The GDUI Board meets by phone conference bi-monthly for two or more hours, with committee meetings or other special meetings scheduled separately.)

Responsibilities and criteria for GDUI Secretary Position

The GDUI Secretary must be willing and able to accept the legal, fiduciary and ethical responsibilities of an organizational secretary, in accordance with standard nonprofit practices and procedures.

The Secretary must:

Record (in document-form) meeting minutes for business meetings of the GDUI Board of Directors.

Arrange for the audio-recording of meetings if it is the secretary’s desire to take minutes from an audio-recording.

Possess thorough and quick note-taking skills in case an audio-recording of a meeting fails.

Have the ability to use notes, memory, and/or recordings to reproduce accurate accounts of meetings for minutes.

Use writing skills and discretion to summarize (or write in detail when appropriate) to create informative meeting minutes.

Submit drafts of meeting minutes in time frames which allow other board members to submit suggestions/corrections before a final draft is submitted for approval/ acceptance at the subsequent board meeting.

Send minutes and attachments to the Web Master for posting to the GDUI Web Site.

Assist GDUI by researching and reproducing content from previous minutes as is practical.

The secretary is expected to attend all board meetings. If the Secretary is unable to attend a board meeting, after informing the President, the Secretary will arrange for a competent recorder for the meeting which the Secretary will miss.

The Secretary may not miss three (3) or more meetings in any twelve month period without being excused.

Responsibilities and criteria for GDUI Board of Director position

Each member of the GDUI Board of Directors must be willing and able to accept the legal, fiduciary and ethical responsibilities of an organizational director, in accordance with standard nonprofit practices and procedures.

Board members are expected to attend all board meetings.

Members of the GDUI Board of Directors shall inform the President, in advance, if unable to attend a particular board meeting.

A GDUI board member shall not miss three (3) or more meetings in any twelve-month period without being excused.

A majority of Board members will be guide dog users.

GDUI Code of Ethics – revised June 20, 2017 Code of Ethics of Guide Dog Users, Inc. This board of directors code of ethics was adopted by the Guide Dog Users, Inc. Board of Directors on June 20, 2017.

Preamble:

Guide Dog Users, Inc., (hereinafter, “GDUI”) or “organization” is a not-for-profit, tax-exempt organization formed to promote, develop, educate, and otherwise further the guide dog team community as listed in its Articles of incorporation and bylaws. GDUI’s principal membership class consists of individuals and affiliates engaged in advocacy, legislative and civil rights. The business of the organization is managed under the direction of the GDUI board of directors. The board’s code of ethics serves as a code of conduct for organization volunteers in their capacity as board members. Code violations may result in sanctions imposed under the Procedures for Review of Board Member Conduct. The principles and requirements that comprise the code and procedures are based on and are designed to ensure full compliance by GDUI and its officers, directors, and volunteers with the fiduciary duties imposed on such individuals by Washington, D.C. non-profit code, the federal tax code’s prohibition on private inurement and private benefit, and other requirements of federal tax exemption, common law due process requirements, federal and state antitrust and unfair competition law, state tort law, and other legal precepts and prohibitions. At the same time, the code and procedures are not designed to supplant courts of law in the resolution of disputes within non-profits. Moreover, the checks and balances built into the code and procedures are designed to strike the proper balance between ensuring full compliance with the legal obligations described here and ensuring the integrity and efficacy of the code on the one hand and, on the other, the protection of board members, through the use of reasonable due process procedures, against patently false, malicious, or groundless accusations that could result in significant business or personal harm if not properly handled. Members of the board affirm their endorsement of the code and acknowledge their commitment to uphold its principles and obligations by accepting and retaining membership on the board.

Board of Directors Code of Ethics

Members of the board (including ex officio members of the board) shall at all times abide by and conform to the GDUI bylaws and the following code of conduct in their capacity as board members:

Each member of the board of directors will abide in all respects by the GDUI Members’ Code of Ethics and all other rules and regulations of the organization (including but not limited to the organization’s articles of incorporation and bylaws) and will ensure that their membership (or the membership of the entity for which they serve as officer, director, employee, or owner, as the case may be) in the organization remains in good standing at all times. Furthermore, each member of the board of directors will at all times obey all applicable federal, state and local laws and regulations and will provide or cause to provide the full cooperation of the organization when requested to do so by those institutions and their persons set in authority as are required to uphold the law.
Members of the board of directors will conduct the business affairs of the organization in good faith and with honesty, integrity, due diligence, and reasonable competence.
Except as the board of directors may otherwise require or as otherwise required by law or the organization’s bylaws, no board member or member subscribed to the Board list shall share, copy, reproduce, transmit, divulge or otherwise disclose any confidential information related to the affairs of the organization and each member of the board will uphold the strict confidentiality of all meetings and other deliberations and communications of the board of directors.
Members of the board of directors will exercise proper authority and good judgment in their dealings with organization members, suppliers, and the general public and will respond to the needs of the organization’s members in a responsible, respectful, and professional manner.
No member of the board of directors will use any information provided by the organization or acquired as a consequence of the board member’s service to the organization in any manner other than in furtherance of his or her board duties. Further, no member of the board of directors will misuse organization property or resources and will at all times keep the organization’s property secure and not allow any person not authorized by the board of directors to have or use such property.
Each member of the board of directors will use his or her best efforts to regularly participate in professional development activities and will perform his or her assigned duties in a professional and timely manner pursuant to the board’s direction and oversight.
Upon termination of service, a retiring board member will promptly return to the organization all documents, electronic and hard files, reference materials, and other property entrusted to the board member for the purpose of fulfilling his or her job responsibilities. Such return will not abrogate the retiring board member from his or her continuing obligations of confidentiality with respect to information acquired as a consequence of his or her tenure on the board of directors.
The board of directors dedicates itself to leading by example in serving the needs of the organization and its members and also in representing the interests and ideals of the guide dog user community at large.
No member of the board of directors shall persuade or attempt to persuade any employee of the organization to leave the employ of the organization or to become employed by any person or entity other than the organization. Furthermore, no member of the board of directors shall persuade or attempt to persuade any member, exhibitor, advertiser, sponsor, subscriber, supplier, contractor, or any other person or entity with an actual or potential relationship to or with the organization to terminate, curtail, or not enter into its relationship to or with the organization, or to in any way reduce the monetary or other benefits to the organization of such relationship.
The board of directors must act at all times in the best interests of the organization and not for personal or third-party gain or financial enrichment. When encountering potential conflicts of interest, board members will identify the conflict and, as required, remove themselves from all discussion and voting on the matter. Specifically, board members shall follow these guidelines:
o Avoid placing (and avoid the appearance of placing) one’s own self-interest or any third-party interest above that of the organization; while the receipt of incidental personal or third-party benefit may necessarily flow from certain organization activities, such benefit must be merely incidental to the primary benefit to the organization and its purposes;
o Do not abuse board membership by improperly using board membership or the organization’s volunteers, services, equipment, resources, or property for personal or third-party gain or pleasure; board members shall not represent to third parties that their authority as a board member extends any further than that which it actually extends;
o Do not engage in any outside business, professional or other activities that would directly or indirectly materially adversely affect the organization;
o Do not engage in or facilitate any discriminatory or harassing behavior directed toward organization staff, members, officers, directors, meeting attendees, exhibitors, advertisers, sponsors, suppliers, contractors, or others in the context of activities relating to the organization;
o Do not solicit or accept gifts, gratuities, free trips, honoraria, personal property, or any other item of value from any person or entity as a direct or indirect inducement to provide special treatment to such donor with respect to matters pertaining to the organization without fully disclosing such items to the board of directors; and
o Provide goods or services to the organization as a paid vendor to the organization only after full disclosure to, and advance approval by, the board, and pursuant to any related procedures adopted by the board.