Input please
This was written based on the formula for organizations and borrowed from some of the most successful clubs from around the country. It is the basic operational layout and code of conduct/guide for how we'd operate.
Please feel free to contribute proposals for deletions, additions, and changes to anything. This can be however we want it to be. Anything and everything is up for change on here - if you don't like something, please make it known.
We can start with this template and vote on changes later. This is just basically a template for how the club operates and will be viewable on the new website. I have taken this from several dozens of pages I printed from club sites and conversations with state clubs. This is the best of what I found.
By-laws
Article I
Board of Directors
These are people that want a little bit of extra involvement to help make the club function. The work will be split pretty evenly between officers, and besides some meetings to conduct necessary club business, shouldn't be too much for anyone to handle. If you're not familiar, once the club is ready to go, we would nominate people we'd like to see for the positions, they will accept or decline said nominations, and we'll post an election poll for members to select the first board. Term to be decided...
Section 1 The Board of Directors shall consist of all elected Officers.
Five positions - normally one or two year term, depending on what we want. President, VP, Secretary/treasurer, Sponsorship chairperson, and Membership chairperson.
Section 2 A quorum of at least one half (1/2) of the Board of Directors must be in attendance in order to conduct business. The majority vote of those those present shall be required in order for the Board to vote on any business. In the event of a tie, the President's vote counts as 1.5 as a tiebreaker.
Any ideas can be submitted to the board. Once ideas are approved by the board money spent and event ideas we can decide to implement or not by paying current members through forum polls. The board, in my opinion should conduct business according to the will of the membership and not have the power to make things happen the masses do not want.
Section 3 The Board of Directors shall have the power to fill all vacancies occurring within its ranks during the Fiscal Year, in accordance with Article VII, Section 3, of the Constitution.
Section 4 No member of the club may act as agent for the club, or the Board of Directors without the written consent of the Board of Directors for a specific purpose.
Article II
Duties of Officers
Section 1 The President shall preside at all meetings, sign documents, co-sign checks, and be a member of all Committees.
Section 2 The Vice President shall, in the absence of the President, act as presiding officer. The Vice President shall be a member of all Committees and shall be informed of any business of said Committee so the he/she may present it to the board in the absence of said Committee Chairman.
Section 3 It shall be the responsibility of the Secretary to inscribe the proceedings of all meetings and to be prepared to read the specified records when requested. This office requires the maintenance of Club records, except those designated to other officers. When the President and Vice President are absent in any meeting, the Secretary shall preside. The Secretary shall also be responsible for maintaining copies of all correspondence as directed by the board.
In the spirit of transparency, all meeting info available to paying members via club website.
Section 4 The Treasurer shall keep in order financial records and/or books, tender by check recognized expenses incurred by the Club, and co-sign checks with the President, or the one other Board member designated by the Board. The Treasurer is required to present immediately prior to the end of the fiscal year, all financial records to the person specified by the Board of Directors for audit and shall include a written statement of the financial condition of the Club. The Treasurer shall also present a monthly financial report to the Board of Directors at anytime at the request of the President. The offices of Secretary and Treasurer may be combined.
Section 5 The Sponsorship Chairperson shall be responsible for securing paid sponsors for the club's website, as well as securing donations for club events, raffles, etc...
Section 6 The Membership Chairperson shall answer questions for inquiries on joining the club, receive membership forms, make sure LFS are stocked with club informational brochures, and keep the member roll current.
All dues to be received to club's paypal account. Dues that have to be paid by check to be deposited in same account.
Section 7 All Officers at the expiration of their term of office/appointment, or whether office/appointment is declared vacant, shall deliver to their successor all books, papers, monies, and other property in their possession belonging to the FVRC.
Going to need a webmaster too, I'm guessing? Any input would be appreciated since this is not an area I'm too familiar with...
Article III
Membership
Section 1 Application for membership in this organization shall be in writing on an official membership form, accompanied by dues, presented to the Treasurer via Paypal account.
Form on website as a PDF that can be filled out and emailed or printed and mailed to Mebership Chairperson. Maybe have Paypal account viewable to this position as well to finalize new members? Combine Membership and Treasurer?
Section 2 Regular members shall consist of those members over eighteen (18) years of age that are in good standing. Regular members are eligible to hold office and vote.
Section 3 Charter members shall consist of those members who joined the Club during its first year of existence. Charter members may hold office and vote.
Section 4 Family members shall consist of family members living in the same household. Members may include children (under the age of 18 only). Any child over 18 is required to have his/her own membership. Family members may hold office and vote. This will be restricted to one office and one vote per family.
Section 5 Student members shall consist of those members who are under eighteen (18) years of age. Applicants under fourteen (14) years of age cannot apply for membership unless a parent of guardian joins. Student members, regardless of charter membership affiliations, may not hold office or vote.
Section 6 Annual membership dues shall be set by the Board of Directors. This must be an adequate sum, enabling the Club to operate in an efficient, proper, and solvent manner in the service and best interest of its membership. Membership starts the first of the next month following receipt of dues.
Dues range from $15 to $35 a year for the majority of clubs, with couple/family memberships being about 1.5 times the cost of a single adult membership. Keep in mind that while it has to be reasonable, we can do more with more money. A $30 annual dues is only $2.50 per month. Considering what we spend in this hobby, this is a drop in the bucket. In my mind, we can easily get back dues through arranged discounts with stores/vendors and equip for use. Can easily do a poll thread and get opinions and votes for this.
Section 8 Members whose dues are not paid by their anniversary date, are to be considered delinquent and will be removed from the club roster with loss of rights and privileges of membership in the society.
Article IV
Committees
Section 1 The Board of Directors shall establish (upon the approval of the President) all Committees required to conduct the business of the Club.
Includes frag swaps, potential holiday party, trips, etc...
Section 2 All Committees shall perform the duties assigned to them. No member shall be compelled to serve upon more than one Committee at the same time. Any member of the Committee failing to perform his/her duties may be removed from such Committee by the Board.
Section 3 Remuneration, if any, shall be decided by the Board of Directors at the time the members of the Committee are selected. All Committees shall be paid upon receipt of bills.
Article V
Amendments to the By-laws
Section 1 All proposed amendments to the By-laws must be in writing and must list the Article and Section that is to be amended. All proposed amendments must be signed by three (3) active members and presented to the Board of Directors for consideration. If approved by the Board of Directors, the proposed amendment shall be submitted for a general vote.
Section 2 A two-thirds (2/3) majority of voting members shall be required to pass these changes on a poll vote to be available no less than two weeks on the club forum.
Article VI
Parliamentary Authority
Section 1 All matters not herein expressly covered by the Constitution and/or By-laws are hereby delegated to the Board of Directors.
This was written based on the formula for organizations and borrowed from some of the most successful clubs from around the country. It is the basic operational layout and code of conduct/guide for how we'd operate.
Please feel free to contribute proposals for deletions, additions, and changes to anything. This can be however we want it to be. Anything and everything is up for change on here - if you don't like something, please make it known.
We can start with this template and vote on changes later. This is just basically a template for how the club operates and will be viewable on the new website. I have taken this from several dozens of pages I printed from club sites and conversations with state clubs. This is the best of what I found.
By-laws
Article I
Board of Directors
These are people that want a little bit of extra involvement to help make the club function. The work will be split pretty evenly between officers, and besides some meetings to conduct necessary club business, shouldn't be too much for anyone to handle. If you're not familiar, once the club is ready to go, we would nominate people we'd like to see for the positions, they will accept or decline said nominations, and we'll post an election poll for members to select the first board. Term to be decided...
Section 1 The Board of Directors shall consist of all elected Officers.
Five positions - normally one or two year term, depending on what we want. President, VP, Secretary/treasurer, Sponsorship chairperson, and Membership chairperson.
Section 2 A quorum of at least one half (1/2) of the Board of Directors must be in attendance in order to conduct business. The majority vote of those those present shall be required in order for the Board to vote on any business. In the event of a tie, the President's vote counts as 1.5 as a tiebreaker.
Any ideas can be submitted to the board. Once ideas are approved by the board money spent and event ideas we can decide to implement or not by paying current members through forum polls. The board, in my opinion should conduct business according to the will of the membership and not have the power to make things happen the masses do not want.
Section 3 The Board of Directors shall have the power to fill all vacancies occurring within its ranks during the Fiscal Year, in accordance with Article VII, Section 3, of the Constitution.
Section 4 No member of the club may act as agent for the club, or the Board of Directors without the written consent of the Board of Directors for a specific purpose.
Article II
Duties of Officers
Section 1 The President shall preside at all meetings, sign documents, co-sign checks, and be a member of all Committees.
Section 2 The Vice President shall, in the absence of the President, act as presiding officer. The Vice President shall be a member of all Committees and shall be informed of any business of said Committee so the he/she may present it to the board in the absence of said Committee Chairman.
Section 3 It shall be the responsibility of the Secretary to inscribe the proceedings of all meetings and to be prepared to read the specified records when requested. This office requires the maintenance of Club records, except those designated to other officers. When the President and Vice President are absent in any meeting, the Secretary shall preside. The Secretary shall also be responsible for maintaining copies of all correspondence as directed by the board.
In the spirit of transparency, all meeting info available to paying members via club website.
Section 4 The Treasurer shall keep in order financial records and/or books, tender by check recognized expenses incurred by the Club, and co-sign checks with the President, or the one other Board member designated by the Board. The Treasurer is required to present immediately prior to the end of the fiscal year, all financial records to the person specified by the Board of Directors for audit and shall include a written statement of the financial condition of the Club. The Treasurer shall also present a monthly financial report to the Board of Directors at anytime at the request of the President. The offices of Secretary and Treasurer may be combined.
Section 5 The Sponsorship Chairperson shall be responsible for securing paid sponsors for the club's website, as well as securing donations for club events, raffles, etc...
Section 6 The Membership Chairperson shall answer questions for inquiries on joining the club, receive membership forms, make sure LFS are stocked with club informational brochures, and keep the member roll current.
All dues to be received to club's paypal account. Dues that have to be paid by check to be deposited in same account.
Section 7 All Officers at the expiration of their term of office/appointment, or whether office/appointment is declared vacant, shall deliver to their successor all books, papers, monies, and other property in their possession belonging to the FVRC.
Going to need a webmaster too, I'm guessing? Any input would be appreciated since this is not an area I'm too familiar with...
Article III
Membership
Section 1 Application for membership in this organization shall be in writing on an official membership form, accompanied by dues, presented to the Treasurer via Paypal account.
Form on website as a PDF that can be filled out and emailed or printed and mailed to Mebership Chairperson. Maybe have Paypal account viewable to this position as well to finalize new members? Combine Membership and Treasurer?
Section 2 Regular members shall consist of those members over eighteen (18) years of age that are in good standing. Regular members are eligible to hold office and vote.
Section 3 Charter members shall consist of those members who joined the Club during its first year of existence. Charter members may hold office and vote.
Section 4 Family members shall consist of family members living in the same household. Members may include children (under the age of 18 only). Any child over 18 is required to have his/her own membership. Family members may hold office and vote. This will be restricted to one office and one vote per family.
Section 5 Student members shall consist of those members who are under eighteen (18) years of age. Applicants under fourteen (14) years of age cannot apply for membership unless a parent of guardian joins. Student members, regardless of charter membership affiliations, may not hold office or vote.
Section 6 Annual membership dues shall be set by the Board of Directors. This must be an adequate sum, enabling the Club to operate in an efficient, proper, and solvent manner in the service and best interest of its membership. Membership starts the first of the next month following receipt of dues.
Dues range from $15 to $35 a year for the majority of clubs, with couple/family memberships being about 1.5 times the cost of a single adult membership. Keep in mind that while it has to be reasonable, we can do more with more money. A $30 annual dues is only $2.50 per month. Considering what we spend in this hobby, this is a drop in the bucket. In my mind, we can easily get back dues through arranged discounts with stores/vendors and equip for use. Can easily do a poll thread and get opinions and votes for this.
Section 8 Members whose dues are not paid by their anniversary date, are to be considered delinquent and will be removed from the club roster with loss of rights and privileges of membership in the society.
Article IV
Committees
Section 1 The Board of Directors shall establish (upon the approval of the President) all Committees required to conduct the business of the Club.
Includes frag swaps, potential holiday party, trips, etc...
Section 2 All Committees shall perform the duties assigned to them. No member shall be compelled to serve upon more than one Committee at the same time. Any member of the Committee failing to perform his/her duties may be removed from such Committee by the Board.
Section 3 Remuneration, if any, shall be decided by the Board of Directors at the time the members of the Committee are selected. All Committees shall be paid upon receipt of bills.
Article V
Amendments to the By-laws
Section 1 All proposed amendments to the By-laws must be in writing and must list the Article and Section that is to be amended. All proposed amendments must be signed by three (3) active members and presented to the Board of Directors for consideration. If approved by the Board of Directors, the proposed amendment shall be submitted for a general vote.
Section 2 A two-thirds (2/3) majority of voting members shall be required to pass these changes on a poll vote to be available no less than two weeks on the club forum.
Article VI
Parliamentary Authority
Section 1 All matters not herein expressly covered by the Constitution and/or By-laws are hereby delegated to the Board of Directors.