Does a social/outreach committee need "power to act?"

[Phil D]

'A member has reached out about establishing a "Social and Outreach Committee" for our organization. One major idea for this Committee is that members would be in charge of setting up small social events to drive meeting participation. For instance, those members would be encouraged to host a happy hour or similar gathering right before our (virtual) general membership meetings. The scope of such social events being suggested here informally would not entail any collectively obtained funds (of which there are none anyway). 

Does such activity require the Committee to have "power to act," or constitute a committee which has power to act on behalf of the assembly, or otherwise require a supermajority to create. Or is there some way the member could formulate a proposal to achieve this goal without requiring supermajority approval? 

[Atul Kapur]

On 1/13/2023 at 11:13 PM, Phil D said:

Does such activity require the Committee to have "power to act," or constitute a committee which has power to act on behalf of the assembly, or otherwise require a supermajority to create.

Giving a committee the power to act, which sounds necessary, does not require a supermajority under RONR.

[Josh Martin]

On 1/14/2023 at 3:16 AM, Atul Kapur said:

Giving a committee the power to act, which sounds necessary, does not require a supermajority under RONR.

Certainly giving the committee the power to act on a particular matter does not require a supermajority, but I think the OP is referring to this rule:

"A standing committee must be constituted by name (a) by a specific provision of the bylaws or (b) by a resolution which is in effect a special rule of order and therefore requires for its adoption either previous notice and a two-thirds vote or a vote of a majority of the entire membership, if any of the following conditions are to apply:
• if the committee is to have standing authority to act for the society on matters of a certain class without specific instructions from the assembly;
• if all business of a certain class is to be automatically referred to the committee; or
• if some other rule of parliamentary procedure is affected by the committee's assigned function." RONR (12th ed.) 50:8

With that said, I am inclined to think that hosting social events, when there is no expenditure of funds, does not constitute "standing authority to act for the society on matters of a certain class."

[Phil D]

Yes, that's the rule I am thinking about. In a sense, the proposed committee is less a committee in the usual sense and more of a roster of people who are encouraged to promote local, informal social events among members. 

[Josh Martin]

On 1/14/2023 at 9:04 PM, Phil D said:

Yes, that's the rule I am thinking about. In a sense, the proposed committee is less a committee in the usual sense and more of a roster of people who are encouraged to promote local, informal social events among members. 

Based upon these facts, I am even more persuaded that this does not constitute "standing authority to act for the society on matters of a certain class." As a result, assuming the organization's bylaws are silent on standing committees or authorize the society to create additional standing committees, the standing committee in question could be created by a standing rule.

[Gary Novosielski]

It reminds me of the process used at a Unitarian fellowship I had some occasion to frequent of a Sunday.  There was simply a list of dates posted, known as the Coffee List, where volunteers could add their names, and thereby assume the responsibility of bringing some cookies or what-not, and of arriving early enough to drag out and start up the coffee urn.  When the list became sparse, an announcement would be made of that fact, which was typically sufficient.

It was said, with tongue in cheek, that the only significant Unitarian sacrament was "the brewing and serving of caffeinated beverages."