It's perhaps not the same thing, but the trend in my part of the non-profit world has been to move away from non-profit organizations being 'voting membership' organizations. In Oregon back in the 70s (when I was a youngster in the profession), non-profits were most often chartered as membership organizations. The challenges of defining who was actually qualified to vote, getting a quorum at the important decision-making meetings, and the investment of resources on issues of proper notice, tallying and keeping records, and issues such as organizations grinding to a halt because of splits in membership opinions led to a move away from that model.
I think the issues of compensation and equity and more are important. I would just urge care in advocating for a membership model based on experiences from the past. There is probably a modified version of 'voting rights' that would be of value.
respectfully
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David Porter
Executive Director
Leach Botanical Garden
Portland OR
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Original Message:
Sent: 04-21-2018 04:07 PM
From: Paul Thistle
Subject: AAM Members Disenfranchised by AMM Constitution
Dear AAM members:
dis·en·fran·chise ˌdisənˈfran(t)SHīz/ verb
deprive (someone) of the right to vote.
"the law disenfranchised some 3,000 voters on the basis of a residence qualification"
- deprived of power; marginalized.
"a hard core of kids who are disenfranchised and don't feel connected to the school"
- deprive (someone) of a right or privilege.
"a measure that would disenfranchise people from access to legal advice"
At the outset of this tale, I had assumed it would be relatively easy to propose & vote on a resolution at the American Alliance of Museums annual general meeting in Phoenix.
I was thinking about the need to propose resolutions to urge the AAM to begin addressing issues such as gender pay equity in the museum field & the anecdotal trending issues such as emerging professionals leaving the field because of poor pay & expectations to overwork experienced by many museum workers.
I searched the AAM web site for information on the proper procedures for proposing resolutions at the AGM, but was unsuccessful. I e-mailed the conference organising team from the Phoenix registration page, but I didn't hear back. So I e-mailed the AAM membership department.
Eventually, I got a reply from Brooke Leonard, AAM Chief of Staff, with extremely surprising information that the AAM Constitution does not permit AAM members to propose resolutions like those mentioned above.
AAM members interested in learning about the constitutional limitations on AAM member rights can find my analysis of this matter in the 20 April Solving Task Saturation for Museum Workers blog post at https://solvetasksaturation.wordpress.com/ . Previous blog posts outline the need for AGM resolutions to be proposed & passed by the members.
In the above blog post, I conclude by recommening that AAM members consider the need to amend the AAM Constitution [a right that we do have] to expand the democratic governance rights of AAM members--who are, after all paid up members/shareholders of the AAM nonprofit corpration.
Thanks for thinking about this.
Respectfully yours