Our Structure

FRANCAIS

Organizational Structure:
An analogy, if you will... The Sierra Youth Coalition works much like a living cell, all parts are important to keep the organization functioning. The Executive Committee and the SYC Director are like the DNA of the cell: they hold a lot of the information to keep everything functioning. Groups and members are like the cell membrane; they hold everything together.


SYC Director:
The SYC Director is hired to carry out decisions made by the Excomm and ultimately the members. The main role of the Director is to provide strategic leadership for the organization, fundraise, coordinate national programs and campaigns, and support members, local groups, and all SYC Staff.

Meet our staff: click here


SYC Excomm:
The SYC Executive Committee (Excomm) is the official decision maker for SYC. It is the duty of the Excomm to consult members and associate members to ensure the decision-making processes remain grassroots. The Excomm consists of 10 individuals who are elected by SYC members every spring.

Meet our ExComm: click here


SYC Members:
SYC Members come in one of three forms:

1. Group Members: SYC Groups are the strength of our coalition. Youth may form an official SYC group with at least two paid SYC members. Any other youth/students in the group are considered Associate SYC members.

2. Associate Members: Associate SYC members make up the balance of the members in an SYC Group. They can be active in SYC campaigns, events, and activities under the SYC name. They can be added to the SYC e-mailing lists and submit articles for the homepage. Associate SYC members are not considered Sierra Club members and cannot vote in SYC or Sierra Club elections unless they become paid members. They will not receive regular SYC or Sierra Club mail-outs but could get the information through their group.

3. Individual members: You do not have to be a member of a group to be a member of SYC! Any interested youth between 14 and 25 are eligible for membership.

SYC and the Sierra Club of Canada:
Sierra Youth Coalition (SYC) was founded in 1996, as the youth run arm of the Sierra Club of Canada (SCC). Legally, we are under the responsibility of SCC. The SCC provides SYC with many benefits, including administrative support and amazing expertise! The SCC also provides SYC with a great deal of autonomy to allow youth to shape and direct their own initiatives and campaigns. SYC's direction is determined by our Executive Committee, SYC's ultimate decision-making body. The SCC board must approve anything that deals with legal obligations, such as our budget, our mission statement and our bylaws. Two out of twelve members on SCC's elected board of directors are guaranteed youth representatives. This means that SYC has the capacity to greatly influence the Sierra Club of Canada. We do not always get our initiatives passed but we can always be ensured that we will have a voice.

The SCC and SCUS :
The Sierra Club of Canada (SCC) is the sister organization of the Sierra Club, based in the United States (SCUS). SCC is legally incorporated in Canada and is therefore independent from the SCUS. SCC's legal obligations to SCUS are primarily relating to the use of the name and of the logo. The two organization's function with two separate boards and communicate policies, campaigns and stances through an international committee.