Bylaws and Governing Documents

I read in the October issue of HMMmm an article by Robb Ruyle decrying the seemingly constant tinkering with local and national bylaws. I, too, find bylaws dull reading. But having been a part of bylaws creation and revision for three very different organizations, I understand the need and importance for periodic reassessment and amendment.

Mr. Ruyle wrote: isn’t it amazing that our Republic has endured for more than 220 years with only 37 amendments to its Constitution… That may be, but the legislative branch has been churning out and tweaking thousands of laws since day one. And the Constitution is reviewed and interpreted by the Supreme Court on a far more frequent basis than any set of Mensa bylaws.

Bylaws and other governing documents are there to tell members how things are/should/must be done. More importantly, those documents tell future members how things are/should/must be done. While we may all understand the current traditions and get along with each other just fine and dandy, who among us can know what sorts of people will take up the reins after we have retired to our easy chairs?

In Chicago Area Mensa, HalloweeM Chair Janet Century has created what we call “The Truck Document.” This is a zillion page description of every detail of running HalloweeM—best room lay out advice, contact information for vendors and rentals, several years’ worth of data about how many tubs of flavored cream cheese we use, etc. The idea is make sure that the event and the group will not suffer if the entire ‘WeeM Team gets run over by a truck (well, we expect a fair bit of emotional suffering, of course).

When I was LocSec, I started “The Long & Winding Project” which was to track down and write up for posterity all sorts of odds and ends details—how to fill out the USPS Form 3526, the code for the storage locker, the story behind our changes in banking EINs, etc. Again, the point is to ensure that whoever is running the group a dozen years from now will not have to reinvent the wheel, comb through twenty years of business minutes, or track me down in my nursing home to find an answer.

Bylaws, ASIE/Standing Orders, Truck Documents, Long & Winding Projects—they all serve the same purpose: to make it easier for current and future members to keep the organization we love running smoothly. Bylaws that were written before the Internet provide no guidance for groups wishing to hold their ExComm meetings in a chatroom. Old bylaws still prohibit groups from sharing officers—when we now want them to be able to pool their volunteer resources more easily. The IRS changes what it asks for and thus Local Groups have to change what they require from their treasurers. Times change, and so do the needs and members’ wishes about how things should be done.

On Grapevine, Beck Zoole Elkana wrote: I'd like to see everyone involved in Mensa work with the future in mind. Sure, there's a lot that can be done that *looks* good. There's a lot that can be done that might make some people feel better for a while, or that might settle old scores. Lovely. But what is the best thing to do for those who will be members 30 years from now?

Think of bylaws review and amendment the same way you would view cleaning and changing the furnace filter—not particularly interesting, but absolutely necessary lest too many years’ accumulation of gunk reduce your efficiency. Go ahead and clean it—your family will appreciate the improved warmth when the cold snap hits next year.