Draft Bylaws 1.0
Bylaws of LifeRing Secular Recovery
Draft 1.0
1. Name. The name of this organization shall be Lifering ?Secular? Recovery.
2. Purpose. The purpose of this organization is to create and maintain an
abstinent, secular, self-help pathway to recovery from substance addictions.
3. Meetings. The organization serves its purpose primarily by forming and
supporting meetings.
3.1. A meeting consists of two or more persons who communicate with one
another in real time in a publicly listed and accessible location on a
posted schedule.
3.2. A meeting may occur either face-to-face or via electronic
communication.
3.3. A meeting shall be considered to hold a charter as a member group of
LifeRing Secular Recovery, whether or not a written charter document has
been completed.
3.4. Meetings are autonomous, self-supporting and independent except insofar
as their activity affects other meetings or the organization as a whole.
4. Member. A person becomes a member by participating ?on three successive
occasions? in a meeting with the intention to achieve abstinence using
secular self-help methods.
5. Convenor's Congress.
5.1. On a regular annual basis, delegates selected by each meeting shall
assemble face-to-face as the Convenor's Congress.
5.2. Procedures for electing delegates, and the proceedings of the Congress
itself, shall be consistent with generally accepted principles of democracy
and fairness, striving for simplicity and consensus.
5.3. Each delegate shall have one vote.
5.4. The number of delegates from each meeting shall be proportional to the
number of its members.
5.4.1. The Congress shall from time to time adjust the ratio of members to
delegates for the next Congress in order to accommodate changes in the size
of the organization.
5.4.2. The Congress shall decide any questions arising about the validity of
a delegate or about the existence or status of a meeting.
5.5. The Congress shall have the power to meet in open, closed or partially
open session, as it deems fit.
5.6. A Congress delegate shall represent no more than one meeting.
5.7. Members of the Board and staff members of the operational entities
shall automatically be delegates to the Congress, but their total number
shall not exceed one fourth of the votes.
5.8. The Congress shall hear and discuss reports from each meeting, from the
Board, and from the organization's operational entities.
5.9. The Congress is the supreme deliberative and legislative body of the
organization. Its consensus is binding on the Board and on the operational
entities.
5.10. The Congress shall have no power to abrogate or substantially to amend
the purpose of the organization. Such amendments can only be made by a
written ballot having the approval of at least three quarters of the
membership.
6. Operational Bodies.
6.1. The organization shall have a Service Center, a Press, and such other
operational entities as the ?Congress/Board? shall establish.
6.2. The purpose of the Service Center is to do all things necessary and
possible for the formation and support of meetings. Its core functions
shall be to:
6.2.1. Maintain and publish a national meeting list
6.2.2. Maintain a public web site for the organization
6.2.3. Maintain an internal web site for meeting convenors
6.2.4. Operate as a nationwide information and referral service via
telephone and the Internet
6.2.5. Operate a speakers' bureau
6.2.6. Develop and maintain contacts with actual and potential referral
sources
6.2.7. Conduct periodic workshops and similar educational events for
members, convenors and/or the public
6.2.8. Supply the meetings with brochures, signage, opening statements,
signup sheets, envelopes, stamps, and other supplies for starting and
maintaining meetings
6.2.9. Act as reference for meeting space providers and supply such
providers with required documentation concerning the meeting's status
6.3. The purpose of LifeRing Press is to publish and distribute pamphlets,
books and other media for the purpose of educating the members and the
general public about the purpose and methods of the organization. Toward
that end, the Press shall:
6.3.1. Maintain a web site for Press publications
6.3.2. Maintain contacts with the meetings to facilitate internal
distribution of Press publications
6.3.3. Do whatever is necessary and possible to obtain wider distribution of
Press publications
7. The Board of ?Directors/Trustees?
7.1. Legal ownership of the organization's tangible and intangible property
is vested in LifeRing, Inc., a nonprofit corporation chartered in
California.
7.2. The corporation shall have those officers required by law, namely a
Chief Executive Officer, a Chief Financial Officer or Treasurer, and a
Secretary.
7.3. The officers shall comply with duties imposed by the law applicable to
nonprofit corporations as to registration, filing of tax returns, keeping of
minutes and books, and the like. Beyond the legal requirements, the
corporate officers shall have such responsibilities as the Board may from
time to time delegate to them.
7.4. The Board of LifeRing Inc. shall consist of ?seven? members.
7.5. A member of the Board shall be a member of LifeRing Secular Recovery,
shall be a person in recovery from a substance addiction, and shall have
been continuously clean and sober for a minimum of ?two/three/five? years
prior to commencing service on the Board.
7.6. A member of the Board who relapses shall be deemed to have resigned as
of that moment.
7.7. The Board members shall serve for a term of ?2/3/4/5? years.
7.8. Members of the Board shall be elected in staggered terms. Three
members of the Board shall be elected at the founding Congress, of whom one
shall serve only a one-year term; and ?two/three? shall be elected at every
annual Congress thereafter. (?arithmetic?)
7.9. In case of a vacancy on the Board, the remaining Board members shall
elect a replacement to serve ?the departing member's unexpired term/until
the next Congress?.
7.10. The Board shall be responsible to the organization and to the public
for the good name of the organization, and toward that end the Board shall
by majority vote have the power to:
7.10.1. Appoint and remove coordinators of the operating entities and
officers of the corporation
7.10.2. Control the budgets and audit the finances of the operating entities
in such a way as to implement the consensus of the Congress
7.10.3. Revoke the charter of any meeting that persistently violates one of
the three fundamental tenets of the organization: abstinence, secularity,
self-help.
7.11. The Board shall not have the power to expel or otherwise punish any
individual, nor shall the Board become involved in trivial disputes or
personalities.
7.12. The Board shall deliver a full report of its actions to the annual
Congress.
7.13. The Board shall meet etc etc. - notice - quorum etc. (as in current
Bylaws.)
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***LifeRing Constitutional Congress set for February 16 - 18, 2001 in Tampa Florida.*****