WMO Governance

How is the organization run today?

WM Owners, Inc. is now a not-for-profit corporate organization. WM Owners, Inc. is a registered legal entity that operates solely in support of its mission statement. WM Owners, Inc. is run by an all volunteer group of individuals – “By Owners, For Owners”. There is no form of pay involved for any volunteer. These volunteers work to fulfill the organization’s mission statement which is 1) Supporting Owner Advocacy 2) Providing Education 3) Encouraging Open Communication and 4) Creating Community.

The corporate structure consists of a 5 member Board of Directors who are accountable for managing the organization according to the By-Laws. The officers of the organization include a President, a Treasurer, and a Secretary. These officers are usually members of the BOD along with two other individuals.

Each Board Member is also accountable for sponsoring one of the following focus areas: Technology, Education, Owner Advocacy, Legal/Financial and Community/Communications. Each of these focus areas is broken down into Committees with Chairpersons who are accountable for leading each area. The Technology Committee manages things such as the website, forum, and organizational databases. The Education Committee manages content such as the resort pages and ownership utilization. The Owner Advocacy Committee handles such things as WorldMark, The Club Elections, Proxy drives, Developer and Manager Watchdog issues, etc. The Legal / Financial Committee manages the fundraising, the budgeting, the Gear Promotion, tax filings, etc. And finally the Community / Communications Committee is responsible for the Forum including moderation, contests, communications, etc. Each committee is made up of a Chairperson and volunteer Committee Members to help with the large number of tasks to run a site such as this.

In lieu of a membership-wide voting structure that is simply not practical in this type of situation, the organization also maintains a Register of Voting Members who may vote on behalf of the broad membership to elect Board of Directors and to change by-laws. The Voting Members also perform volunteer tasks necessary for the operation of the corporation and website and serve as the organization’s leadership body. Membership in the Voting Member Register is by nomination and election by existing Voting Members. Currently there are approximately 20 Voting Members.

The committees are the ones who drive all of the activities and improvements you see and participate in. The WM Owners, Inc. BOD is accountable to approve and manage the budget for the organization and oversee the activities of the committees. Funds that are raised are primarily used for registration and maintenance of the website, for promotional gear and marketing collateral, owner contact and communications, as well as any expenses that might be needed to support a candidate for the Worldmark, The Club Board of Director Elections including the collection and voting of proxies, etc.

We hope you will enjoy your Worldmark Ownership as much as all of the volunteers here do. We also hope you will help to contribute to this site and forum, and to help spread the word so that we can reach broadly across hundreds of thousands of our fellow WorldMark Owners.