The Boston Vegetarian Society (BVS) "seeks to make a better world for people, animals, and the earth through advancing a healthful vegetarian diet and a compassionate ethic." BVS provides education, encouragement, and community support for vegetarians and for anyone wishing to learn more about a healthy, environmentally friendly, and humane way of life. According to a member' reports and earlier versions of the BVS website:
- BVS is an all-volunteer organization with membership open to anyone who supports its purposes.
- BVS events are open to members and non-members.
- BVS began in 1986, is incorporated in Massachusetts as an educational non-profit, and has 501(c)3 tax-exempt status under the IRS. When it was first incorporated, its voting membership was open to vegetarians and non-voting membership was open to non-vegetarians. However, around 2009, the BVS Board voted to confine voting membership to Board members so that it could maintain its IVU membership without presenting a two-tiered membership to supporters. IVU member societies are required to vest all executive (decision making) authority exclusively in vegetarians, defined as lacto-ovo (or stricter) vegetarians. Verification is difficult in organizations with two-tiered membership based upon self-reported behavior.
- All Food at BVS is vegan and alcohol-free, according to the earliest documents (bylaws and articles of incorporation) of the Boston Vegetarian Society.
Boston Vegetarian Society and its programs are run by an all-volunteer Board. Members do not have voting rights.
Annually, the Boston Vegetarian Society hosts the Boston Vegetarian Food Festival (BVFF), which is held annually at the Reggie Lewis Track and Athletic Center in the Roxbury Crossing section of Boston. It was first held on May 5, 1996 at the Howard W. Johnson Athletics Center at MIT because MIT graduate students affiliated with the MIT Vegetarian Support Group VSG, now MIT Vegetarian Group) provided a substantial proportion of the initial organizing effort.. The second BVFF was held at Bunker Hill Community College.
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