Grandfathering someone who does not meet membership requirements in to membership

[Guest Bothered Brian]

I sit on a non profit corp board in California. There are written requirements for membership in the organization. The Board has "grandfathered" three members in who do not meet the current membership qualifications. The By Laws make no mention of giving the board the power to bypass membership requirements by "grandfathering" people in. Is there something perhaps in Roberts Rules of Order that allows a board to essentially bypass written membership requirements by "grandfathering" people in?

[Tim Wynn]

I sit on a non profit corp board in California. There are written requirements for membership in the organization. The Board has "grandfathered" three members in who do not meet the current membership qualifications. The By Laws make no mention of giving the board the power to bypass membership requirements by "grandfathering" people in. Is there something perhaps in Roberts Rules of Order that allows a board to essentially bypass written membership requirements by "grandfathering" people in?

There is no such thing in RONR. Your bylaws must be followed. According to Robert's Rules of Order, unless your bylaws specifically give the board this authority, it does not have it.

Ask the board to show you the rule that gives them such authority. Perhaps, it's somewhere in the corporate laws of California or in your corporation's own governing documents, but it certainly isn't in RONR.

[Gary Novosielski]

I sit on a non profit corp board in California. There are written requirements for membership in the organization. The Board has "grandfathered" three members in who do not meet the current membership qualifications. The By Laws make no mention of giving the board the power to bypass membership requirements by "grandfathering" people in. Is there something perhaps in Roberts Rules of Order that allows a board to essentially bypass written membership requirements by "grandfathering" people in?

Are these "written requirements" in the bylaws, I hope? That's where they belong. However, it would not be possible to answer without seeing the specific language, and then the problem arises that we don't interpret bylaws here. That's the purview of the society itself.

But as an example: are these continuing requirements for holding membership, or are they initial requirements for being admitted to membership? The answer would be quite different in either case.

It would certainly be possible to write a bylaws provision that does grandfather existing members, but if that's not what was done, the board does not have the power to do it. Only a bylaws amendment could accomplish that.

[Tim Wynn]

However, it would not be possible to answer without seeing the specific language...

I think the last sentence of Bothered Brian's original post is pretty straight forward and quite answerable. I think RONR(10th ed.), p. 465, l. 26-30, would cover it.