The Constitution/By-Laws of an organization should outline the duties that the association assigns to each of its officers. Some organizations may have as many as six or seven officers; some may have as few as three. All organizations should have at least a President (or Chairman, or Chief Elected Officer – CEO ), a Treasurer and a Secretary. Most organizations would add a President-Elect and two or three Vice-Presidents.
The Constitution should also outline the method of election of these officers and their term of office. Some organizations may have the entire slate of officers elected at the same time. Some may have rotating elections. Some may have one year terms, some two. I would strongly recommend that no term of office should exceed two years, with the possibility of re-election for one additional term. Having the same person serving in the same office for more than four years creates a “fiefdom” that is hard to overcome.
Some organizations have the entire membership elect their officers. Others provide for the membership to elect the Board of Directors and then the Board elects their officers. Either way is perfectly acceptable as long as the membership has approved of the method (usually done by adopting the Constitution/By Laws.)
All of the above applies to membership organizations. What happens when there is a Foundation or other non-profit organization that has no members, just members of a Board of Directors or Board of Trustees? In those cases, the Board has the responsibility of electing its leaders, the number and titles of whom would be prescribed in the Constitution of the organ- ization.
In future blogs, I will outline the duties of the elected officers.
