Sample Constitution

[Alice]

Constitution of the (CLUBNAME)

Article I

Name
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Section 1 The name of the Club shall be the (CLUB NAME).

Section 2 The name of this Club shall not be used by any individual, or group for self representation, or self gain.

Article II

Purpose
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Section 1 (CLUB NAME) is a non-profit organization of marine hobbyists brought together by the desire to promote a better understanding of the life we keep in our home aquariums. Our focus is increasing the longevity of marine life in a controlled environment and to encourage that life to propagate freely. Only through education and the sharing of ideas can we expect a future for our hobby.

Section 2 Under no circumstances may any part of the income of this Club be used to the benefit of any Officer, Trustee or Member.

Section 3 Under dissolution of this Club, the Board of Directors shall, after paying or making provision for the payment of all of the liabilities of the Club, equally distribute the assets of the Club to the members in good standing.

Article III

Term
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Section 1 The term of this Club is to be perpetual.

Section 2 The physical year of the (CLUB NAME) shall be January 1st, through December 31st. The Trustees shall audit all accounts and a complete financial report must be presented to the Board of Directors no later than 90 days following the close of the fiscal year.

Article IV

Membership
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Section 1 Membership in this organization shall be open to anyone who, by proper application, meets with the approval of the Board of Directors.

Section 2 Proper application for membership and amount of these shall be established by the Board of Directors of this Club and shall be set forth in the By-laws of this organization.

Section 3 The (CLUB NAME) shall consist of five (5) classifications of membership.

Charter Regular Student Commercial Honorary

Section 4 The (CLUB NAME) reserves the right to revoke the membership of any member due to conduct considered detrimental to this Club. This action shall be carried out by the Board of Directors.

Article V

Meetings
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Section 1 General membership and Board of Directors meetings shall be held as determined by the Board of Directors.

Article VI

Officers and elections
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Section 1 Elected Officers of the (CLUB NAME) shall consist of the following and shall be elected every one (1) year: President, Vice President, Secretary, and Treasurer. The offices of Secretary and Treasurer may be combined at the discretion of the Board of Directors.

Section 2 The President shall be empowered to appoint three (3) Trustees, subject to the approval of the elected officers.

Section 3 Elections shall take place in the month of November of the election year. The newly elected officers shall assume office on January 1st of the next year. Nominations for officers shall take place in the month of October of the election year. At this meeting the President or Chairperson will ascertain from the Secretary and Treasurer that all those nominated are qualified to run for office in accordance with the bylaws of this organization.

Section 4 Only members in good standing who have attended at least 4 (four) meetings in the current calendar year are legible for office.

Section 5 Only members in good standing are entitled to vote at the annual elections as stated under the bylaws of this organization.

Article VII

Board of Directors
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Section 1 The duly elected Officers and three (3) Trustees as set forth in article VI, Sections one (1) and two (2) shall comprise the (CLUB NAME) Board of Directors. Each member of the Board of Directors shall have equal vote in the business of the society. However, in the case of a tie, the President shall have the power of one and one-half (1 ½) votes.

Section 2 It shall be the function of the Board of Directors to transact all business of the Club and make reports to the General Membership.

Section 3 Any Board Member who misses three (3) consecutive Board Meetings may be replaced by a majority vote of the Board of Directors. If it is an elected office, the President shall appoint an interim replacement until the next scheduled elections.

 

[Alice]

We'll need to make whatever changes we feel are necessary in this document as well, and then put it up to be ratified by club vote. Instead of taking up time at a regular meeting for all of this, we could call a special board meeting, open to all members of course, where we could discuss and vote on this. We could use the back room at a pizza parlor or something. My feeling is, if we hold this separately from a regular club meeting, attendance will be lower, therefor lowering the argument potential. Not that we're trying to pull anything over on anyone, just that some people can always find something to argue about!

Let's keep the discussions about each document separate to the document in each thread.

 

[Alice]

My first suggestion is to change Article 2, Section 3 that reads:

"Under dissolution of this Club, the Board of Directors shall, after paying or making provision for the payment of all of the liabilities of the Club, equally distribute the assets of the Club to the members in good standing."

Now that's a can of worms for sure. We'd have to define "in good standing" and then double check all the records, blah, blah. My suggestion would be to donate any remaining assets to the Seattle Aquarium.

Alice

 

[jesshimom]

Here's some more.

 

[Skimmy]

alice,that sounds like a great thing to change, we dont want people getting greedy if we decide to end this thing for some reason.

there wasnt anything else that really stands out to me as needing change,
i like how they adjust there year to coincide with everything else.