What if no one wants an office?

[Guest Casper Marley]

An organization I belong to has nominations coming up in March.  Both the President & Treasurer are stepping down, and at this juncture, no one has mentioned having any interest in replacing them.  If anything, people are shying away from the offices.  I need to have some idea of what to do if no one wants a particular office.  has anyone faced this situation before? 

[jstackpo]

Many groups have the same or similar situation, so much so that I have saved this canned answer to avoid a lot of repeat typing...

 

First check the bylaws.  Officers (current ones) may be in office "until the election of their successors" - if no election, they STAY in (at least until they quit or you finally do complete the election).

Or....

Announce that because of a lack of leadership interest, the organization will dissolve itself and go out of business.  Really.  Organizations don't last forever, and it is much better to close up shop formally than just drift along, and then wonder what happened to the bank account, far too long after the fact to do anything about it.

Often enough a threat like this one will shake some people out of the woodwork who will be willing to serve after all.  But if it doesn't, there is a message there...


You might also consider WHY no one wants to be president or treasurer. Perhaps you're asking too much of that position. Perhaps the past presidents have made the job appear more difficult than it has to be. Perhaps the members are making it harder on the president than they should.

Perhaps the board should be doing more. After all, the only essential role of the president is to preside at meetings. Some or all administrative responsibilities could be delegated to, or distributed among, the board members.
 

[Guest Casper Marley]

Thanks - you've given me a lot to work with.