Proposed constitution for society (needed for bank account)

[Rob Bradford <rob robster org uk>]

This is derived from the Debian UK one which was happily accepted by the
bank. In terms of banking, Debian UK opted for the Co-Op since they have
quite a good deal for societies. There was a lot of hassle because not
all the signatories could get to the same branch to open the account at
the same time. Once this obstacle is overcome it should be plain
sailing.

The formation of the society itself is a relatively straightforward
matter, involving drinking beer, electing the initial committee and
accepting the proposed constitution.

Begin flame war now...

1. This document details the constitution of the society hereinafter
referred to as 'GNOME-UK' or 'the society'.
2. Membership of the society is open to all members of the GNOME
Foundation who are resident in the UK.
3. Membership is free; no subscription payments will be due.
4. Membership applications, and notices of resignation from the society,
should be made to the Secretary, who will    accept at least suitably
signed emails and applications in person.
5. The purpose of the society is to promote the GNOME project and Free
software in general. 
6. The GNOME-UK Committee will consist of three roles.
7. The three committee roles are: Chair, Secretary and Treasurer
8. Anyone in the committee or any three other GNOME-UK members may call
an extraordinary general meeting at two weeks notice.
9. Meetings may occur physically or on the #gnome-uk IRC channel.
10. A meeting is defined as quorate if six members of GNOME-UK (or the
entire membership should it be below six) are present.
11. The committee will be nominated and voted upon at the AGM.
12. Should society membership drop below six members or should it not
prove possible to elect a committee then an EGM will be called to
attempt to elect a committee. If this second meeting fails to result in
enough members or a society committee as required, funds will be
defaulted to Software in the Public Interest earmarked for Debian.
13. Motions are carried by simple majority.
14. Should an EGM be called to dissolve the society a two-thirds
majority is required containing at least one committee member.
15. Signatories on the GNOME-UK bank account(s) are defined to be the
members of the committee and any delegates thereof.
16. Delegates of the committee must be nominated and seconded by members
of the committee. 
17. Nominations for positions and motions should be sent to the
Secretary two weeks in advance and to the general membership one week in
advance of any given meeting.
18. Ballots are non secret and all vote results will be published.

The way I imagine this tying in with hosting GUADEC is that two members
of the GUADEC organising committee (e.g the chair and the treasurer) are
both nominated as delegates by the committee and can then have access to
the bank account. Once the main account has been opened i'm sure it will
be easy enough to persuade the same bank to open an associated account
for GUADEC.

HTH,

Rob
-- 
Rob Bradford <rob robster org uk>