The Elderflower Womenspirit Festival Bylaws are finished! 

It’s been a long road, and we are glad to present the final document. 

History

The Bylaws were first conceived as Elderflower Traditions in 2004 by the Elderflower Core Committee at the time: Francesca T., Naomi (CopperJet), and Stacey M. Thanks especially to Francesca for getting the project going initially and providing the first draft.

At the time we wanted to call them something that would reflect a less “rule” driven process and provide for guidelines and clarify our festival’s “traditions”. That Core Committee remained active together for several years, and completed work on the draft Traditions in 2006. The three-page Traditions document was shared at the Festival that year. A great start was made to the Traditions, however the document made several references to a required Policies and Procedures document, and there was no energy or will to move forward with that.  And as it goes for many volunteer organizations, other priorities put the Traditions on the back burner. 

Present Day

The Traditions document came off the back burner in late 2023. As Elderflower worked to reinstate and maintain our federal tax-exempt 501 (c) 3 status, it became clear that we needed to transition the Traditions into formal Bylaws for our organization. This also became necessary as we moved to file formal incorporation papers with the State of California, and to register with the State Attorney General’s Office.

We also needed to answer questions from many  Elderflower members who asked us to better describe the extent and bounds of the Core Council as regards decision-making for the Elderflower Community. 

The Bylaws committee came together in early 2025 and held regular Zoom meetings to create the updated Bylaws. Stacey and Naomi served as Core representatives, yet were not “in charge”. It was important to the community to have community representation. The group turned to outside sources for inspiration. We consulted Bylaw templates for non-profits that were found on line, and also referred to Bylaws from several similar pagan organizations. It was a long, and at times, difficult task. Our group worked hard together, and came up with what we all feel is a set of Bylaws that reflect Elderflower Womenspirit Festival’s purpose and core values as an organization.

Purpose

Completion

A nearly “final draft” was presented at the 2025 Festival. Community feedback was positive. It took a few more months of fine tuning, and the Bylaws were formally adopted on December 16, 2026.

Great gratitude goes out to Francesca, Artemis, Jean B, Deborah Bender, and Dee S. It was truly a collaborative process.

After you’ve read over the Bylaws, we would like to see an up or down vote on whether you think this is a document you can agree with. We will be posting the document on the website with an accompanying Form that will ask for a Yes or No and Comments. 

Submitted by

Stacey M and Naomi (CopperJet)