Quorum requirement

[Guest Nan]

We are a small local club, with abt 30 members.  In our Bylaws, the quorum for general meeting is 7.

 

As chair, I was recently told that with 30 members, the quorum should be 2/3 of our total members. 

 

Does the RONR say what the quorum should be?

[Edgar Guest]

The default quorum (if your bylaws are silent) is a majority (more than half) of the membership. But many organizations (such as yours) establish a different requirement. You need to follow your bylaws.
 

Does the RONR say what the quorum should be?

Yes, it does. And someone with access to the CD-ROM version may stop by and paste the relevant text. But it's not a specific number (or percentage). It's just the greatest number of members who are likely to show up when the weather's good. Or words to that effect.

 

It's a "Goldilocks" situation. You don't want a quorum requirement that's too small (or else a few members can control the organization) and you don't want a quorum requirement that's too large (since you might not get anything done).

 

A quorum requirement of two-thirds might be appropriate for a board meeting but it's probably too high for a meeting of the general membership. Unless that's what your association wants.

 

In any event, there's nothing in RONR that says that the quorum requirement should be two-thirds for an association with about thirty members. Ask the person who recently told you that to show you where it comes from.

[Richard Brown]

Does the RONR say what the quorum should be?

As Mr. Guest said in the first part of his post, the default quorum specified in RONR if your bylaws are silent is a majority of the members.  However, RONR is quite clear that if your bylaws specify the quorum, your bylaws control.

 

Here are the key provisions regarding setting a quorum from page 21 of RONR.  It's a long paragraph.  The bottom line is that your organization (and every organization) should set its own quorum based on its unique circumstances.  A quorum of two-thirds of the members seems  awfully high for most ordinary organizations... unless almost all of the members routinely show up for meetings and you don't expect to be gaining out of town members in the future who are less likely to show up.  A quorum requirement set too high can get you in real trouble and make it almost impossible to conduct business.

 

"QUORUM OF MEMBERS. The minimum number of members who must be present at the meetings of a deliberative assembly for business to be validly transacted is the quorum of the assembly. The requirement of a quorum is a protection against totally unrepresentative action in the name of the body by an unduly small number of persons. In both houses of Congress, the quorum is a majority of the members, by the United States Constitution. Such a quorum is appropriate in legislative bodies but too large in most voluntary societies. In an ordinary society, therefore, a provision of the bylaws should specify the number of members that shall constitute a quorum, which should approximate the largest number that can be depended on to attend any meeting except in very bad weather or other extremely unfavorable conditions. In the absence of such a provision in a society or assembly whose real membership can be accurately determined at any time—that is, in a body having an enrolled membership composed only of persons who maintain their status as members in a prescribed manner—the quorum is a majority of the entire membership, by the common parliamentary law. In the meetings of a convention, unless the bylaws of the organization provide otherwise, the quorum is a majority of the delegates who have been registered at the convention as in attendance, irrespective of whether some may have departed. In a mass meeting, or in a regular or properly called meeting of an organization whose bylaws do not prescribe a quorum and whose membership is loosely determined (as, for example, in many church congregations or alumni associations), there is no minimum number of members who must be present for the valid transaction of business, or—as it is usually expressed—the quorum consists of those who attend the meeting. (The rules relating to the quorum are more fully stated in 40.)"

[Guest Nan]

As Mr. Guest said in the first part of his post, the default quorum specified in RONR if your bylaws are silent is a majority of the members.  However, RONR is quite clear that if your bylaws specify the quorum, your bylaws control.

 

Here are the key provisions regarding setting a quorum from page 21 of RONR.  It's a long paragraph.  The bottom line is that your organization (and every organization) should set its own quorum based on its unique circumstances.  A quorum of two-thirds of the members seems  awfully high for most ordinary organizations... unless almost all of the members routinely show up for meetings and you don't expect to be gaining out of town members in the future who are less likely to show up.  A quorum requirement set too high can get you in real trouble and make it almost impossible to conduct business.

 

"QUORUM OF MEMBERS. The minimum number of members who must be present at the meetings of a deliberative assembly for business to be validly transacted is the quorum of the assembly. The requirement of a quorum is a protection against totally unrepresentative action in the name of the body by an unduly small number of persons. In both houses of Congress, the quorum is a majority of the members, by the United States Constitution. Such a quorum is appropriate in legislative bodies but too large in most voluntary societies. In an ordinary society, therefore, a provision of the bylaws should specify the number of members that shall constitute a quorum, which should approximate the largest number that can be depended on to attend any meeting except in very bad weather or other extremely unfavorable conditions. In the absence of such a provision in a society or assembly whose real membership can be accurately determined at any time—that is, in a body having an enrolled membership composed only of persons who maintain their status as members in a prescribed manner—the quorum is a majority of the entire membership, by the common parliamentary law. In the meetings of a convention, unless the bylaws of the organization provide otherwise, the quorum is a majority of the delegates who have been registered at the convention as in attendance, irrespective of whether some may have departed. In a mass meeting, or in a regular or properly called meeting of an organization whose bylaws do not prescribe a quorum and whose membership is loosely determined (as, for example, in many church congregations or alumni associations), there is no minimum number of members who must be present for the valid transaction of business, or—as it is usually expressed—the quorum consists of those who attend the meeting. (The rules relating to the quorum are more fully stated in 40.)"

 

Thank you both for your replies.  I read this in the RONR book.  I wanted to make sure I understood that correctly....  And wanted to make sure that this "2/3 rule" isn't in the book.  I'm glad that it isn't.  Otherwise, the quorum would change year to year....  and we would never conduct a meeting.  The words that I have in bold, we had the quorum at 10.  We had difficulty getting 10 people to come to the meetings so we reduced it to 7.

[Hieu H. Huynh]

... we had the quorum at 10.  We had difficulty getting 10 people to come to the meetings so we reduced it to 7.

 

Was there a quorum of 10 members at the meeting that reduced the quorum requirement to 7 members?

[Guest Nan]

Was there a quorum of 10 members at the meeting that reduced the quorum requirement to 7 members?

 

Yes, we were lucky.  Now we don't have to worry if enough people will show up for this meeting at our bi-monthyly meetings.