Policy on Fiscally Sponsored Leadership Committee Structures

[Jay Blas Jacob Cabrera]

Hey Everyone,

It has become necessary to clarify the roles and structures of our fiscally sponsored projects within the Network in their relationship to the Councils. 

As noted bellow this policy has already existed, but we are clarifying it and expanding it.

Although the policy exists, all policies within the Network are Always open to be changed and evolved, and therefore it is being presented to you as a Proposal.

Please Vote on this proposal by replying either Yes, Abstain, No, or a number between 0-9. 1-3=No, 4-6 = Abstain, 7-9 = Yes

Remember to Reply All.

Note that this policy applies to all organizations within our internal Unity Network, and of course does NOT apply to external components of our Network.

No one is required to vote, but we certainly appreciate the formal effort.

Thanks,

Jay

Jay Blas Jacob Cabrera

831-332-2486

http://UnityNet.info 

Unity Policy on Bottom Up Sponsorship Leadership Committee Structures

This policy does already exist, we are simply clarifying it and making sure it is applied. Note: We define the legal internal entity of each sponsored project as the "Leadership Committee", but externally you can call it whatever you want.

Sponsored projects are fully empowered to make their own decisions with oversight and accountability, and at anytime the Leadership Committee can legally "spin off" into their own independent organization. Therefore Every Sponsored Project needs to clearly lay out their process of how their Leadership Committee is Selected, which in turn is the procedure of public acountabiity for decisions being made.

In Summary if you do not set up a Bottom Up structure of Membership accountability that appoints the Leadership Committee, then you have to be dependent on the Network's Council structure. If you choose to have your Leadership Committee self selected with no membership, then your direct representative Council will function as your membership and appoint your Leadership Committee Top Down utilizing a transparent process beneficial to the sponsored project.

There are 4 components to the Structural Application of Running your own non-Profit Independent Organization. This is only legally necessary for a fully spun off non-profit, but we still insist that all of these functions are covered for each Sponsored project, and some if not all of these functions can be carried out by the Leadership council, instead of the internal projects Leadership Committee itself. It is important to understand all 4 components.

1) Leadership Committee that makes the initial decisions on behalf of the organization, and is the only internal legal entity that can make the decision to "spin off". This group can be self chosen or is appointed by a Membership Bottom Up.

2) For Leadership Committee to pay themselves and function properly under non-profit Law, there must be a majority 50%+1 of the leadership members who are unpaid. That would be 2 unpaid and 1 paid, or 3 unpaid and 2 paid, etc...

3) Non-Profit Leadership Committees that want to meet non-profit law need to appoint at least 2 officer positions.  A Secretary Treasure and Executive Director, or a Treasure and Secretary Director. If you have three people, the three positions would be a Secretary, a Treasure, and an Executive Director. You can also have a Chair or Co-chairs instead of an Executive Director.

4) If you do choose to create a Bottom Up Membership that appoints the Leadership Committee, then you will need to create a process for how someone gains membership status. Some groups create an application that has to be approved, others simply say you have to attend two consecutive Membership Meetings. There are infinite ways to create a Membership status.

For Non-Profits within the Community LIFE Network, there are three options to choose from in terms of how you implement these 4 components, most groups currently function within the first option, and we will be increasing the role of the Leadership Council in the functioning of our Sponsored Projects, especially those that pay themselves. For organizations that choose to build up their organizational structure, they will have the opportunity to function more independently and become fully self-functioning within the umbrella non-profit. Here are the 3 options for each sponsored project.

Option 1)  Self Chosen Leadership Committee that Pays themselves with no established officers. Leadership Council functions as the membership, the minimal executive officers, and the unpaid members, and ratifies the appoint of the Leadership Committee.

Option 2) Self Chosen Leadership Committee, but at least 2 unpaid members for every 1 paid member, as well as two executive officers. Leadership Council still functions as the membership and ratifies the appoint of the Leadership Committee.

Option 3) Bottom Up Membership is established which appoints the Leadership Committee. Need a clear written process for how someone becomes a member, and how the membership appoints the Leadership Committee. The Leadership committee has at least 50%+1 unpaid members, and has the minimum two executive officers. This give the Sponsored project the most independent control and also has it fully ready to spin-off if needed.

To be fully transparent and functional, all of these details of the current status of the Sponsored project's Leadership Committee would be included in the Annual and or Quarterly Reporting, and following ALL the other Protocols and Policies of the Network. This includes documenting decisions and having all documents and activities available in a transparent and efficient way within the systems of the Network. Typically this is done by recording all meetings/conference calls where decisions are made, having an internal email list for internet decision documentation, as well as a Main Doc/Pad that documents all the links needed.

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