SOROPTIMIST INTERNATIONAL OF RIVER VALLEY
CLUB BY-LAWS
Club # 111247
Adopted November 14, 2007
Amended June 18, 2008; Oct. 15, 2008
Amended June 9, 2010
A. GENERAL
1. The name of this club shall be Soroptimist International of River Valley.
2. The territorial limits of this club shall be those of the territorial limits of the Northwestern Region, with all territory to be shared.
B. OFFICERS, DIRECTORS, ELIGIBILITY, TERMS OF OFFICE, VACANCIES AND DUTIES
1. The officers of this Club shall be President, Vice President, Committee Vice President, Recording Secretary, Corresponding Secretary, Treasurer and two (2) Directors and shall make up the Board of Directors.
The Treasurer shall not be bonded.
Only a regular or life member in good standing may be elected to and retain any club office.
2. All officers of this club shall hold office for one year but for no more than two (2) consecutive years in the same office. Directors shall hold office for two (2) years and shall not be eligible to succeed themselves as Director. One (1) Director shall be elected each year.
3. In the event of a vacancy in the office of the President, the Vice-President shall become President. Other vacancies shall be filled in the following manner: The Board of Directors shall act as the Nominating Committee and shall submit a nominee at the next business meeting or any special meeting called for that purpose. Nominations may then be made from the floor and the Club shall elect the candidate who would serve out the remainder of the term.
4. Duties of Officers:
(a) The President, as chief officer shall:
1. direct the conduct of the business of the Club;
2. preside at meeting of the Club and the Board;
3. appoint all committees unless otherwise provided in these by-laws or in a motion authorizing the Committee;
4. be an ex-officio member of all but the Nominating Committee.
(b) The Vice President shall:
1. have such duties and powers as arise from membership on the Board of Directors or as assigned by the President;
2. be responsible for programs for the Program meetings.
(c) The Committee Vice-President shall:
1. Oversee Committees
2. Perform other duties as assigned by the President or the Board
(d) The Recording Secretary shall:
1. keep the minutes of the business meetings of the Club and the Board of Directors, as well as record any business conducted during other meetings;
2. be custodian of the permanent records of the Club;
3. submit to the Club the minutes of the Club business meetings and the recommendations of the Board;
4. Maintain a roster of the membership.
(e) The Corresponding Secretary shall:
1. send out notices and carry on such correspondence, including thank-you notes, not the responsibility of another;
2. be responsible for picking up all mail at the Post Office regularly and distributing it appropriately.
(f) The Treasurer shall:
1. receive all funds of the Club and deposit them in the financial institution as authorized by the Board;
2. be one of three (3) signers allowed to sign checks. Two (2) signatures shall be required on all checks, and the signers shall be the President, Vice President and Treasurer;
3. make remittances as required by Federation By-Laws and Procedures
4. pay all authorized bills;
5. serve as ex-officio member of the Finance Committee;
6. submit a form 5008 and dues to the Federation and Region;
7. submit a monthly Cash Report to the members at each monthly business meeting;
8. shall send, in May, a statement to each member as to Annual Dues, Founder’s Day Pennies, and any other fund the membership shall vote upon in the future.
C. BOARD OF DIRECTORS AND BOARD MEETINGS
1. The Board of Directors shall meet prior to the monthly business meeting, the time and place to be determined by the Board members.
2. Any special meetings of either the Board or the membership may be held only after a twenty-four (24) hour notice, personal, written or telephone, is given to each member.
3. The Board of Directors shall have administrative control over the affairs, funds and property of the Club. It shall authorize payments from Club funds within the budget, act upon resignations and terminations, receive reports from committees as necessary between business meetings of the Club, submit Policy recommendations to the Club, and perform any other duties as required by the Club.
4. The most recent Past President remaining a member of this club shall be a voting member of the Board.
D. REGULAR AND SPECIAL CLUB MEETINGS
The regular meetings of this Club shall be held on the 1st, 2nd and 3rd Wednesdays of each month, with one meeting per month to be designated as a business meeting. (Oct. 15, 2008)
The frequency of meetings during July and August shall be determined each year by the June business meeting.
The business meeting in May shall be known as the Annual Meeting.
The place of regular meetings of this club shall be determined by the club members.
E. QUORUM
For club meetings, members in attendance shall constitute a quorum.
For Board meetings, a majority of Board members must be in attendance to constitute a quorum. In the absence of a quorum, discussions may ensue but no voting may take place. Contents and results of these discussions may be presented to the membership, with the understanding that a quorum was not present
F. TERMINATION OF MEMBERSHIP
1. The following shall be reason for termination of membership:
(a) resignation;
(b) failure to pay annual dues in a reasonable period of time;
(c) commission of illegal or immoral acts by member.
2. No membership may be terminated for reasons other than resignation without an opportunity for a hearing before the Board of Directors. After a 30-day written notice has been sent to the member, a 2/3 vote of the full Board is required for termination of such membership when grounds for termination have been determined to exist. The decision of the Board shall be final.
3. The Board of Directors shall have the authority to remove from office any elected Officer, Board Member, or Committee Chairman for failure to perform the duties required. Before action is taken by the Board, notice shall be given to the member, stating the specific nature of the failure. Provision shall be made for such person to appear and respond. A 2/3 vote of the full Board shall be required for removal.
G. NOMINATIONS AND ELECTIONS
1. The three (3) member nominating committee shall be formed in March. The President shall appoint one member, the Board shall elect a second member, and the membership shall elect the third member. The President shall choose the chairman from these three members.
2. The committee shall invite each member to suggest names for consideration.
3. The committee shall nominate one or more candidates for each office.
4. The consent of a nominee must be obtained before the name is placed into nomination.
5. The report of the Nominating Committee shall be read to the club at the April business meeting. Additional nominations may be made from the floor at that time. Nominations will then be closed and voting will take palace for the election. (June 18, 2008)
6. The election shall be held at the May business meeting. The report of the Nominating Committee shall be read again at this meeting and additional nominations may again be made from the floor. (June 18, 2008)
7. Election shall be by ballot for any office for which there is more than one nominee.
H. COMMITTEES AND THEIR RESPONSIBILITIES
1. AWARDS AND SCHOLARSHIPS
Committee will select honorees and make recommendations to the Board/Club in a timely manner, for Club approval, for the following awards:
Mel Quimby Scholarship
Moving On Scholarship
Pro-Tech Award
Violet Richardson Award
Women’s Opportunity Award
Other awards and scholarships may be added at the discretion of the committee with the approval of the Board and the membership.
The Committee Chair will forward the applications of those selected to the Regional Committee by the due date as set by the Region.
2. MEMBERSHIP
· ROAR (Recruitment, Orientation, Retention)
Recruitment: Responsible for planning recruitment events. Plan and conduct orientation and training meetings for members. The MAIN recruitment will be in the Spring, but it is an on-going project.
Orientation: Have general charge of educating all Soroptimist members as to the heritage, purpose, objects, policies and programs of the organization.
Retention: Prepare Soroptimists for leadership within the organization and in their own communities.
See to it that each new member be assigned to an existing member who will serve as a mentor to provide information to the new member.
Promote growth and development within the Club.
· GREETERS / ATTENDANCE
Shall be responsible to set up meetings, keep track of attendance at meetings, track and assign volunteers to bring raffle items, collect riffle and snag money and raffle money and turn it into the Treasurer at the end of each meeting.
Shall be responsible for greeting all guests at the meetings, giving out appropriate literature, and generally making them feel welcome.
· FUN AND FELLOWSHIP
Planning fun, social activities throughout year. Planning and organizing annual installation banquet and annual Christmas Party. (June 9, 2010)
· SCRAPBOOK AND PHOTO
Responsible for taking and developing pictures of Club functions. They will also maintain and store the scrapbook and bring it to Club functions when appropriate. (Oct. 15, 2008) June 9, 2010
3. SERVICE COMMITTEE
The Service Committee shall have overall responsibility for coordinating projects for SIRV participation including volunteering time and distributing service funds.
The committee shall solicit community agencies for projects that further the Soroptimist mission.
A discretionary fund of $250 shall be earmarked in the budget for emergency and other unspecified uses. Emergency requests may be approved by the committee alone for amounts not to exceed $100 for any one request and shall be taken from this discretionary fund. The committee shall forward all other recommendations for distribution of service funds to the Board for approval.
The committee shall recommend and organize at least three hands-on service projects for member participation during the year (e.g., painting a Habitat for Humanity house, Relay for Life, etc.). The committee shall submit a budget to the Board for any funds required for service projects.
4. FINANCE COMMITTEE
The Finance Committee, with the Treasurer serving as ex-officio, shall:
Periodically examine the financial affairs of the Club.
Make recommendations to the Club relative to financial planning and policies.
Prepare the proposed budget for the next year.
Perform such other duties as may be required by procedures adopted by the
Federation, Region, or Club Boards.
The treasurer’s books shall be examined within forty-five (45) days of the close of the fiscal year by a committee of the incoming President, the incoming
Treasurer, and one other member to be appointed by the incoming President.
5. WAYS AND MEANS COMMITTEE
The Ways and Means Committee shall suggest methods of raising money and shall direct fund-raising projects approved by the Club. A project manager shall be appointed for each fund-raising event, such as Concerts in the Park, the Umpqua Ice Cream Booth at the Fair, Boatnik and Valentine Bouquets.
6. PUBLIC RELATIONS / COMMUNICATIONS COMMITTEE
· NEWSLETTER
The Club’s monthly newsletter, Soroptimist News in Print (SNIP), shall be composed and edited by this committee. The President shall provide a monthly article, and all members are encouraged to contribute to the newsletter.
· SCRAPBOOK AND PHOTO
Responsible for taking and developing pictures of Club functions. They will also maintain and store the scrapbook and bring it to Club functions when appropriate. (Oct. 15, 2008)
· PUBLICITY
Responsible for developing ideas, methods of developing the Soroptimist image and how to get that message out to the community. Also responsible for publicity of any public fund-raising event.
· CALLING
Responsible for calling the general membership only when something special arises which does not fall under the category of any other committee. There may be 3 or 4 calls needed during the year.
7. FUN & FELLOWSHIP COMMITTEE
· SOCIAL ACTIVITIES
Responsible for planning fun, social activities throughout the year. These activities include the annual installation banquet and annual Christmas Party.
· SCRAPBOOK AND PHOTO
Responsible for taking and developing pictures of Club functions. They will also maintain and store the scrapbook and bring it to Club functions when appropriate. (June 9, 2010)
ALL COMMITTEE CHAIRS
Each committee chairman shall maintain a file of all reports, records, pertinent correspondence, minutes pertinent to committee, to be passed on to her successor. They shall furnish an Annual Report and file to the President.
I. ANNUAL DUES
1. Annual dues become due on June 15 of each year as follows for continuing members:
Regular $90.00
Retired/unemployed 90.00
Embarking 90.00
Life 70.00 (includes magazine)
Associate Special Fee
2. New members shall pay a one-time fee of $20.00 upon induction.
3. New members’ dues shall be determined according to the date of membership.
J. AMENDMENT OF CLUB BY-LAWS
These Club By-Laws may be amended at any regular business meeting of the club by a two-thirds vote of the members present and voting, provided notice of the amendment has been given at the preceding business meeting.
SIRV MISSION STATEMENT
SIRV HELPS AND EMPOWERS WOMEN AND GIRLS LOCALLY AND GLOBALLY THROUGH PROJECT SPONSORSHIP, ADVOCACY AND EDUCATION
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