As we were drafting the branch policies, we realized that the branch bylaws don’t cover electronic votes of the branch in all cases where they may be required. Article X covers an election process appropriate for the branch, and Article VI. Section 2. (changes to dues) and Article XX. Section 3. (changes to the bylaws) refer to that process. However, in Article XII Meetings, there is no such reference.
An initial suggestion is to take Section 4 from “Article XI. Board of Directors” and use a version of that in Article XII which could be retitled “Meetings and Branch Business”.
Such votes are rare, but do occur occasionally (as when we elected a delegate to the state convention). This will be adressed more formally after the national convention when we see what other modifications will be needed in the bylaws.
AAUW Tar Heel Branch 
From a memo to state and branch presidents and state bylaws chairs, the following required changes will need to be made for compliance with the national changes:
Wherever the words “Association” or “Foundation” appear, they should be replaced with “AAUW.”
If there is a reference to the Charter, that should be deleted. The restructured AAUW is under articles of incorporation now. For example, you may have a sentence that refers to the “Charter and Bylaws of the American Association of University Women, hereinafter called the Association.” That should be changed to “The Bylaws of the American Association of University Women, hereinafter called AAUW.”
The purpose/mission statement in your bylaws must be the same as the revised AAUW Bylaws: “The purpose of AAUW is to advance equity for women and girls through advocacy, education, philanthropy, and research.” This should replace the wording, “The purpose of AAUW is to promote equity for all women and girls, lifelong education, and positive societal change.”
Use of Name: Retain Sections 1 and 2; delete the rest. Add a new “Section 3. Violations. Violation of the Use of Name policy shall result in action taken in accordance with AAUW policy.” Details will be moved to policies and procedures and made available to members via the website.
Delete any references to regions or regional directors since these no longer exist.
Loss of recognition of a branch: delete references to loss of recognition if the branch has fewer than 15 members. Viable branches with fewer than 15 members will be allowed to continue. We would suggest that you simply state that the conditions for loss of recognition of a branch are located in Article XI, Section 3. of the AAUW Bylaws.
Remove any reference to delegates for the AAUW convention. All members now have a vote on national AAUW business (elections, adoption of the Public Policy Program and resolutions, and amendments to the AAUW Bylaws). There will no longer be a delegate system for national AAUW meetings.
In our bylaws, we follow the standard practice and say half-year dues will be charged to those joining between January 1 and March 15. However, for 2008-2009 and we expect for 2009-2010, we have actually offered an “18 month” membership as a better value for those people.
This has involved sending in dues for the new members as an MAL and then transferring them to branch member status. This extends their first year of membership to June 30 of the following year (as much as 18 months of AAUW membership for the 12-month price). Once they are on the AAUW rolls, we transfer them to branch member status, charging 1.5 times the branch/state dues. For those joining in early 2010, total dues will be $49+1.5*(11+5) = $73.
This should probably be clarified in the bylaws at some point, but since the AAUW board now has the power to set dues in special cases, it seems prudent to wait a year or two to see how those changes unfold.
The branch practice has been to waive branch dues for representatives of college/university partners of AAUW. This is not, however, documented in either the bylaws or the policies. It does mirror the AAUW NC practice (which is in the AAUW NC bylaws). This should be clarified and, if AAUW publishes policies about additional types of partner “members” be extended (or not) to those representatives.
Never mind. The college/university partners (and student affiliates) are covered in Section 7 of the Financial Administration article. We actually used newer language “institutional members” since we knew of upcoming changes to national bylaws, so I missed it when searching for “college/university” and “partners”.
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Article VII, Section 2 now says:
The president, with the approval of the board, shall appoint members to fulfill the functions of secretary, program, membership, public policy, finance, fundraising, and communications, and other functions required by AAUW.
I’d suggest rewording it to –
The president, with the approval of the board, MAY appoint members to fulfill the functions of secretary, program, membership, public policy, finance, fundraising,
andcommunications, and other functions required OR SUGGESTED by AAUW.Pingback: Proposed changes to the branch bylaws « AAUW Tar Heel Branch