Member Meeting without Quorum

[Guest Tara]

We have a charitable organization recently started.  Unfortunately, we have only 8 members so far as we try to build the organization.  We have another 7 new women interested in attending a member meeting, however, 6 of the actual members cant seem to agree on a date to hold the member meeting because they all want meeting dates to suit their personal calendars so the meeting dates have been changed a number of times.  It's ridiculous. This is now causing a huge problem because our By Laws state that Member Meetings must be held once a month and we have women who want to attend and join. 

 

I am afraid we will lose these new interested women if we keep putting off the Member meetings due to not having a quorum.  Can the 3 of us simply hold the Member Meeting even if we don't have a quorum which is defined as majority of members?  I know that if we hold the meeting, most likely these 7 women will join.  Im not sure how to get around this dilemma with the clock ticking.

 

Right now, Im inclined to hold that meeting quorum or not.  Please tell me if I can do that this one time or what other options do I have?

 

Thank you in advance for your kind assistance.

 

 

 

[Chris Harrison]

How do these women become members?  Do they just need to fill out an application and they are members?  Or do the members need to vote to make them members?

[Edgar Guest]

Can the 3 of us simply hold the Member Meeting even if we don't have a quorum which is defined as majority of members?

 

Yes, you can hold a meeting but, without a quorum, there's not much you can do at the meeting. If, for example, you'll need to vote to accept new members, you won't be able to do that without a quorum 

 

Edited to add: Which I think is what Mr. Harrison was getting at.

[Guest Guest]

OK .. I understand.  The new interested women would fill out an application and submit the membership fee.  The Board then approves the applications at the next Board meeting.

 

So, ok ... this would work .. at least we can hold a meeting even though it would only be an informative meeting on what the organization does, etc .. and collect the applications and fees.  Then at the next Board meeting - quorum of course, we would approve those applications for membership.  And hopefully with the addl new members, the next member meeting will have the needed quorum to be able to conduct business as usual.

 

Thank you very much!

 

 

[Edgar Guest]

So, ok ... this would work .. at least we can hold a meeting even though it would only be an informative meeting on what the organization does, etc .. and collect the applications and fees. 

 

You can hold the meeting but it's best if you don't try to do anything else.

 

In fact, it's best not to even think of it as a meeting. Just think of it as a few current members getting together with a few future members.

 

The m-word has a very special meaning in RONR-Land.

 

You might want to do this: hold the meeting, adjourn due to the absence of a quorum, and then spend the next few hours talking, informally, with the prospective members.

[Edgar Guest]

6 of the actual members cant seem to agree on a date to hold the member meeting because they all want meeting dates to suit their personal calendars so the meeting dates have been changed a number of times.

 

It's also worth noting that, unless your bylaws provide for special (i.e. non-regular) meetings, you can't have them. And you certainly can't call a special meeting (assuming you can) and then change the date.