BYLAWS (Adopted April 14, 2011)
OF THE
CLAYTON STATE WOMEN’S FORUM
ARTICLE I – NAME
The name of this organization shall be the Clayton State Women’s Forum.
ARTICLE II – PURPOSE
The purpose of the Clayton State Women’s Forum shall be to award an annual scholarship(s) for women attending or planning to attend Clayton State University (CSU) and for women staff employees.
ARTICLE III – MEMBERSHIP
Section 1 – QUALIFICATIONS: Membership in the Clayton State Women’s Forum shall be open to individuals who support its purpose and are current or previous employees of the University or are members of the University community.
Section 2 – DUES: Annual membership dues cover the fiscal year from July 1 to June 30 of the following year. An increase in dues of more than 30% shall be approved by a quorum of the members at a general meeting of the general membership or by electronic vote. Advance notice of such a meeting and of the proposed dues increase shall be given in accordance with Article V of these Bylaws. Dues may be paid in accordance with the CSU Foundation’s method of processing monies.
Section 3 – MEMBERSHIP CATEGORIES: Annual membership dues shall be set to include a fixed amount which shall be the same for all membership categories, except Honorary, and which shall be applied to the operating budget. Individuals in all membership categories, except Honorary, pay dues. Members who have paid their dues for the current fiscal year will be in considered in good standing.
a) Basic Membership: Dues shall consist only of the fixed amount applied to the operating budget.
b) Contributing Membership: Dues shall consist of the fixed amount applied to the operating budget plus an amount to be applied to scholarships, as established and announced by the officers in accordance with Article III, Section 2.
c) Sustaining Membership: Dues shall consist of the fixed amount applied to the operating budget plus an amount to be applied to scholarships, as established and announced by the officers in accordance with Article III, Section 2. The amount for scholarships included in dues for Sustaining Members shall be at least twice the amount for scholarships included in the dues for Contributing Members.
d) Honorary Membership: Any member may nominate a candidate for Honorary membership by completing a nominating form and submitting it to the Membership Chair, who shall be responsible for transmitting nominations to the Officers. Any contributions to Women’s Forum by an Honorary Member shall be applied to scholarships, unless specifically otherwise designated by the Honorary Member.
ARTICLE IV – STRUCTURE
The Clayton State Women’s Forum shall be a non-union, non-partisan, non-sectarian, and not-for-profit organization whose members have the responsibility to govern its activities through its elected Officers and by vote of the membership as specified in these Bylaws.
ARTICLE V – MEETINGS
Section 1 – NUMBER OF MEETINGS: General membership meetings shall be scheduled and announced at the discretion of the Officers.
Section 2 – A GENERAL MEMBERSHIP MEETING: A general membership meeting shall be defined as a meeting in which a quorum of the members is present and one that has been announced seven (7) business days in advance. Meetings may be called by the Forum President, or in her absence, by the Vice President. The notice shall state the purpose(s) of the meeting and only the stated topic(s) of business may be covered at the meeting.
Section 3 – QUORUM: A quorum shall be defined as a majority of the members in good standing. The Vice President (or her designee) shall be responsible for determining if a quorum is present and thus if business can be conducted.
Section 4 – OPEN MEETINGS: All meetings of the Women’s Forum or Committees in which a quorum is present and matters relating to the Forum are to be discussed, or action recommended, are subject to the Georgia Open Meetings Law. Appropriate notice shall be posted and, if needed, notice given to the media as required by law.
ARTICLE VI – USE OF NAME
No member shall use the name of the Clayton State Women’s Forum to express a view on any policy or issue or to obligate the organization for participation in any activity without a vote of approval by the Officers.
ARTICLE VII – OFFICERS
Section 1 – OFFICER STRUCTURE: The Officers shall consist, in rank order, of a Forum President, Vice President, Secretary, and Treasurer. The Officers shall be elected by the membership according to established procedures. An individual must be a current member of the Forum at the time of election in order to be eligible for election as an officer. The Forum Past-President shall serve as an ex-officio officer. Officers must be members in good standing and remain so.
Section 2 – DUTIES:
a) The Forum President shall preside at all meetings of the Forum and all meetings of the Officers. In conjunction with the Executive Board (see Article VIII, Section 1), she is responsible for scheduling and announcing general membership meetings. The Forum President shall appoint the chairs of all committees, except those provided for by election, and may fill any vacancy in the list of officers by appointment, subject to the approval of the remaining Officers. She shall serve as ex-officio member of all committees.
b) The Vice President shall perform the duties of the Forum President in her absence or inability to serve and shall assist the Forum President as needed. In the event the office of Forum President becomes vacant, the Vice President shall succeed to that office for the remainder of the term as Forum President. She shall be responsible for coordinating the physical arrangements for all general membership meetings. This responsibility includes making arrangements with campus food service for any meetings that include a meal, taking reservations and payments for meals, providing the collected funds and accurate records of attendees to the Treasurer, and obtaining a speaker if it is so desired. She shall verify any invoices for meeting activities and forward them to the Treasurer. She shall also work closely with the Fundraising Committee. The Vice President shall appoint a committee as needed to accomplish these duties.
c) The Secretary shall keep a record of all general membership meetings and minutes of all meetings of the Officers. She shall be responsible for such correspondence as delegated to her by the Officers, shall keep a file copy and provide a copy to the Forum President of all such correspondence, and shall keep on file all correspondence sent to the Women’s Forum. She shall have custody of minutes of the Forum including all reports; shall at reasonable times have the same open for examination by the members and Officers; and shall present records to the incoming Secretary at the end of her term of office. The incoming Secretary shall review the records of the previous year and then submit them to the Chair of the History/Publicity Committee.
d) The Treasurer shall act as the fund manager for all Women’s Forum monies in the CSU Foundation. She shall receive all proceeds of fundraising activities from the Fundraising Chair and collect all payments made to the Women’s Forum, including all dues from the Membership Chair. She shall keep records of all receipts and deposits in the Women’s Forum account of the CSU Foundation all funds received. She shall make arrangements for all necessary payments by submitting appropriate forms to the CSU Foundation. She shall keep records of all account transactions and balance these with reports from the CSU Foundation. She shall present written financial reports to the Officers in a timely manner upon written request of the President and prepare a year-end written financial statement for the incoming officers. She shall present records of the previous year to the incoming Treasurer, who shall review them and then submit them to the Chair of the History/Publicity Committee. Audit and review procedures will be conducted by the CSU Foundation.
e) The Forum Past President shall consult with the Officers and attend their meetings as requested by the President of the Forum.
Section 3 – VACANCIES: A vacancy in the office of Forum President shall be filled by the Vice President, who shall become Forum President for the unexpired term. In the event that the Vice President is unable to fill a vacancy in the office of Forum President, the highest ranking remaining officer shall become Forum President. A vacancy in any other office shall be filled for the unexpired term by appointment of the Forum President with approval of the remaining Officers.
Section 4 – TENURE: Elected Officers shall serve for a term of one year from July 1 to June 30 of the succeeding year or until their successors are elected and assume office. Officers appointed to fill vacancies shall serve the remainder of the term. An officer may serve a maximum of three consecutive elected terms in the same office.
Section 5 – ELECTIONS: The Officers shall be elected by a majority of the members. The election date will be determined by the election committee. A proposed slate of Officers shall be presented by email one week before the election date and additional nominations will be accepted by email from members in good standing up until three (3) days before the election date. The ballot will be posted in the morning of electionday as determined by the nominating committee and shall be available for seven (7) working days.
ARTICLE VIII – COMMITTEES
Section 1 – STANDING COMMITTEES: The Standing Committees shall include Fundraising, History/Publicity, and Scholarship. The Chair of each committee must be a member in good standing and remain so.
a) The Executive Board shall consist of the Forum President, Vice President, Secretary, Treasurer, and Forum Past President.
b) The Fundraising Committee shall be responsible for coordinating activities to raise funds for annual scholarships and for special projects as determined by the Officers. The Fundraising Chair shall appoint a committee as needed to accomplish the duties of the committee. The Committee shall operate under the general direction of the Vice President and shall present an annual written report at the end of the year to the Officers.
c) The History/Publicity Committee shall be responsible for documenting the history of the Forum in an electronic format to include representative articles, photographs, and records depicting the chronological history of the Forum. The History/Publicity Chair shall be responsible for providing access to the year’s history to the general membership (exact format to be determined in consultation with the Forum President). The Committee shall also be responsible for disseminating program information for campus-wide publicity via fliers, posters, electronic mail, and other campus publications. The History/Publicity Chair or her appointee shall maintain the Women’s Forum Web site. The Historian/Publicity Chair shall appoint a committee as needed to accomplish the duties of the committee.
d) The Scholarship Committee shall be responsible for coordinating all activities related to the collection, judging, and selection of scholarship recipients. The Committee is responsible for releasing information on recipients to the History/Publicity Chair, for recommending scholarship guideline changes to the Officers, for recommending the number of scholarships to be awarded based on funds available, and for publicizing the scholarships. The Scholarship Chair shall appoint a committee as needed to accomplish the duties of the committee.
Section 2– AD HOC COMMITTEES: The Forum President may appoint ad hoc committees as needed to include, for example, governance and nominating.
a)NOMINATING COMMITTEE: The Nominating Committee shall consist of three (3) members. The Forum President shall appoint the Chair of the Nominating Committee. The Chair of the Nominating Committee shall then appoint two (2) volunteer members from the general membership to serve on the committee, shall meet with the Committee to nominate at least one candidate for each position to fill a slate of Officers as specified by these by-laws, shall receive nominations by email, shall obtain written consent from each candidate, shall present the final slate of Officers (including additional nominations) in accordance with Article VII, Section 5, and shall prepare and distribute the ballots. The Nominating Committee shall be responsible for the balloting procedures as directed by the policy and procedures manual.
Section 3 – COMMITTEE COMPOSITION
a) Each standing committee shall have a chair who is appointed no later than June 30 by the President-Elect of Women’s Forum from the current membership of Women’s Forum.
b) The chair of each committee shall select committee members as appropriate from the current membership of Women’s Forum.
ARTICLE IX – AMENDMENTS AND PARLIAMENTARY PROCEDURE
Section 1 – PARLIAMENTARY PROCEDURE: Robert’s Rules of Order Newly Revised shall be the parliamentary authority for all matters of procedure not specifically covered by these by-laws.
Section 2 – AMENDMENTS: The Officers may recommend amendments to the bylaws. Any amendment to these by-laws shall be approved by majority vote at a general membership meeting or by electronic balloting, provided that such amendment is presented in writing or by email at least seven (7) business days prior to voting.
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ARTICLE X – OPERATING PROCEDURES
Section 1- ESTABLISHMENT: Operating procedures and policies will be established to handle the day-to-day operations of the Women’s Forum. Establishment shall be the responsibility of the Executive Board or an ad hoc committee appointed by the president.
Section 2 - PROCESS FOR ADDITIONS AND CHANGES: Either the Executive Board or the ad hoc committee can accept suggestions from chairs or from members at large. Final approval for changes is contingent upon majority approval by the Executive Board.
Section 3 - PROCEDURES: Procedures may include but should not be limited to nominating, balloting, managing funds, scholarship, logistics.
ARTICLE XI – DISSOLUTION
Section 1 – IN THE EVENT OF DISSOLUTION OF THE CLAYTON STATE WOMEN’S FORUM:
a) The Executive Board shall make the decision to dissolve.
b) Notice must be given to the membership via normal communication methods within seven (7) business days.
c) All outstanding debts must be satisfied within 60 days.
d) Any and all remaining general funds shall be distributed in the form of scholarships as established in the scholarship procedures or contributed to the corpus of the scholarship endowment. If the Scholarship Committee is not able to function, the Executive Board shall make the determination.
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