Page 204 - MFB State Annual Meeting 2018 -- RESOLUTIONS BOOK

Recommendations on Michigan Farm Bureau Policies
#106 LEGAL DEFENSE FUND
1 The Michigan Farm Bureau Legal Defense Fund is
2 designed to provide financial support in connection with
3 legal issues of common concern to Michigan agriculture
4 and, in particular, those issues where the decision will
5 be viewed as establishing an important legal precedent.
6 During the past year, the Legal Defense Fund
7 Committee reviewed two grant requests from members
8 seeking assistance from the Fund. We commend the
9 members of the Legal Defense Fund Advisory
10 Committee for their efforts over the past year and thank
11 them for their service.
12 Financial support for the Legal Defense Fund is
13 derived from contributions received from MFB and the
14 county Farm Bureaus. Income for the period January 1,
15 2017 2018 through August 31, 2017 2018 totaled
16 $16,615 23,096.47, with $6,974 12,407.10 coming from
17 county contributions, $8,613 8,134.70 from Michigan
18 Farm Bureau and $1,028 2,554.67 in interest. The fund
19 had a balance of $225,434 250,457.92 on August 31,
20 2017 2018. We thank all of our counties for their
21 generous support.
22 We recommend county Farm Bureaus contribute to
23 the Legal Defense Fund a minimum of 10 cents per
24 member, based on prior year membership, and
25 encourage them to make additional discretionary
26 contributions whenever possible. Further, we
27 recommend that MFB continue to contribute up to a
28 maximum of $20,000 annually, or an amount equal to
29 that contributed by the county Farm Bureaus.
30 A letter requesting contributions, outlining
31 significant activities supported by the fund and the
32 present status of the fund balance, should be sent to the
33 county Farm Bureaus prior to their annual budgeting
34 process. The Chief Operating Officer of MFB should
35 annually evaluate the need for contributions to the fund
36 based on the accumulated fund balance and the
37 requests for legal assistance. 
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