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| Re: Bylaw Question
Posted by Tony Poderis   on 3/5/2009, 10:51 am, in reply to "Bylaw Question"
VIP Poster | Message modified by user Tony Poderis 3/5/2009, 11:01 am
Greetings: I have been checking your February 26 post from time to time, hoping a non-profit bylaw authority would be available to offer guidance. Wanting to help, but not being such an authority by any means, puts me in the “Hamlet” position of daring to contemplate traveling into an “undiscover’d country.” (When all else fails, it helps to quote Shakespeare.)
What I am getting at is the idea of anyone or any organization traveling to a place from which one does not return. It’s not so much as my possible errant advice working in that way, but what my instinct tells me about your interim board and its apparent rush to change your organization’s bylaws, perhaps based solely on a timing deadline, ignoring the consensus you must have---not to mention that your state’s office of the Attorney General would have a strong interest.
Bylaws are legal documents, and requirements for them vary from state to state. You should have an attorney working on this with you.
Many board members resigned just a few months ago. The reasons no doubt are related to operations and policy, stemming from the bylaws which, while brief, tell the board how to conduct the business of the organization. With such disagreement then, and continuing on currently with the interim board, great care must be taken that the original mission is not going to be compromised---unless the mission should change with the times. Any process to revisit, adjust, and change the mission, will naturally greatly impact the bylaws. A rush to make changes based on an annual meeting date, is not acceptable.
Bylaws are the documents which govern an organization, which means they are the “rules of the road” for the organization’s board of directors.
Since your organization can thrive or fail through your bylaws, you must be certain that they mirror the organization’s reason for being, and ensure that there are no possible legal issues down the road.
We note that many of the interim board members are not in agreement with the proposed changes. Do they understand It is critically important that your organization’s bylaws be responsive to the organization's constituents and its needs? Take care that the changes are being made in a vacuum.
Whether allowed or not, I propose that interim board members are not in the best stewardship and long-term investment position to alter the bylaws in the first place. Interim means for the time being, the short term. Bylaws are for the longer term. Indeed for far into the future. I would not want temporary caretakers driving the future.
Best wishes,
Tony
Tony Poderis
http://www.raise-funds.com
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