Quorum guidelines

[Jay M]

Instead of setting up certain  percentage of total membership to constitute quorum is it a good idea to setup a fixed number like 50, 100 people shall constitute quorum for a body which got 1400 members? What are the basic guide lines in setting up a quorum ? What do you recommend for a organization with 1500 members? Thanks in advance

 

[Rob Elsman]

The ideal quorum for your organization should be the product of a thorough investigation by a committee; a comprehensive deliberation and recommendation by the committee; and the deliberative process in the assembly that has the authority to amend the bylaws.  The quorum should not be set so high that it materially interferes with the holding of meetings; nevertheless, it should not be set so low that it allows the assembly to take action on the basis of an unrepresentative minority capable of doing the organization harm.

[Dan Honemann]

"To accomplish their work, voluntary societies that have an enrolled membership generally need a provision in their bylaws establishing a relatively small quorum—considerably less than a majority of all the members. In most such organizations, it is rarely possible to obtain the attendance of a majority of the membership at a meeting. Sometimes the specification of a quorum is based on a percentage of the membership; but such a method has the disadvantage of requiring recomputation and may lead to confusion—for example, when the secretary, or other officer who is in a position to certify as to the current number of members for purposes of the percentage calculation, is absent. There is no single number or percentage of members that will be equally suitable as a quorum in all societies. The quorum should be as large a number of members as can reasonably be depended on to be present at any meeting, except in very bad weather or other exceptionally unfavorable conditions."

RONR (12th ed.) 40:3

[Josh Martin]

On 3/15/2024 at 12:35 PM, Jay M said:

Instead of setting up certain  percentage of total membership to constitute quorum is it a good idea to setup a fixed number like 50, 100 people shall constitute quorum for a body which got 1400 members?

Some organizations choose to go with a fixed number instead of a percentage. There are advantages and disadvantages to each strategy.

On 3/15/2024 at 12:35 PM, Jay M said:

What are the basic guide lines in setting up a quorum?

The basic guidelines in setting up a quorum are outlined in RONR (12th ed.) 40:3, as Mr. Honemann has quoted.

The key sentence, I think, is that "The quorum should be as large a number of members as can reasonably be depended on to be present at any meeting, except in very bad weather or other exceptionally unfavorable conditions."

So I'd probably look at past attendance patterns, exclude any outliers (such as very bad weather), and set the quorum at the lower end of that range.

Another way to look at it is to imagine what number would be so small that you'd be uncomfortable with that number of members having total control over the affairs of the society. You want the quorum to be higher than that.

On 3/15/2024 at 12:35 PM, Jay M said:

What do you recommend for a organization with 1500 members?

The fact that an organization has 1,500 members, in and of itself, is not sufficient information to make an informed opinion about an appropriate level for quorum.

Edited March 15, 2024 at 07:16 PM by Josh Martin