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Understand the purpose of bylaws. Designate members to write the bylaws. Gather information. Get sample bylaws. Meet with an attorney. Structure your bylaws in an outline format. Begin each article with a heading titled ARTICLE. Number every subheading section within each article. Use simple yet clear language for your bylaws. Tailor the bylaws to your specific organization.
Bylaws are an organization's written rules. Bylaws are important because they can help resolve problems or conflicts that arise. For example, if you have difficulty with an officer of the organization, then you can read the bylaws to see what steps you are authorized to take. Bylaws can also cover the following: the organization's name the organization's purpose membership requirements the titles and responsibilities of officers how officers are assigned how meetings will be conducted and when they will be held To start, it is necessary to consult with most or all members who helped to start an organization. Pull in at least two or three other people to give input and help write the bylaws. If you are starting a non-profit organization, for example, you will need a board of directors who will then give input and help write the bylaws. Working as a team ensures that all perspectives will be represented and accounted for in the bylaws. Try to make sure that the bylaw committee reflects an accurate cross-section of your organization. Do not tilt it too heavily with people from one section of the organization or one level of the organization's hierarchy. To properly draft bylaws, you need to understand the organization: its purpose, how officers will advance that purpose, and the future of the organization. To gather this information, meet with all members of the organization and talk about how they envision the organizations' purpose and what jobs will be necessary to make that purpose a reality. You also want your bylaws to be consistent with other core documents, such as your articles of incorporation, governance policies, and any other documents that reflect how the organization is operated. Gather those documents as you prepare to draft the bylaws. In particular, make sure the number of board positions and position descriptions are the same on all documents. Make sure too that the meeting days are the same, along with other minor details. If you are affiliated with another entity, such as a state department of education or similar, you should confirm that your bylaws are consistent with that entity's expectations and requirements. Try to find bylaws for organization similar to yours. You should never simply copy them, but they can serve as a useful guide when drafting your own. Call organizations like yours and ask if you can see a copy of their bylaws. Consulting with a lawyer who specializes in non-profits can be useful in making sure that your bylaws cover the necessary ground. An attorney can also make sure your bylaws harmonize with your state's non-profit law. Non-profit laws may contain prohibitions, such as limitations on proxy voting, and you should be aware of these before drafting your bylaws. Any bylaw article that violates your state's non-profit law will be void. You can find an experienced attorney who specializes in non-profits by visiting your state's bar association, which should run a referral service. If costs are a concern, you may be able to get help from a pro bono organization in your area. Legal aid organizations typically help indigent individuals, but many also help non-profit organizations. You can search for legal aid organizations by visiting this website. Bylaws are typically written with section headings called "articles" and paragraphs called "sections." This structure will make your bylaws more readable and standardized with other bylaws. This format also facilitates finding information on voting rules, committees, and other elements you may have questions about as the organization gets going. These headings will be in all capital bold letters and numbered with Roman numerals. Center this heading on the page. For example, the first article would be titled: ARTICLE I: ORGANIZATION. The second article would be titled: ARTICLE II: PURPOSE. For each section in every article, number them clearly and give a one- to two-word descriptor of the section. For example, you might write: Section 1. Regular Meetings. This would be followed by a brief description of the protocol for regular meetings. Then you'd write: Section 2: Special Meetings. This would be followed by a brief description of protocol for special meetings. Bylaws are legal documents, so you want to sound professional. When looking at a bylaws template or sample, study the language they use. Keep an appropriate tone and use understandable vocabulary. Although bylaws are legal documents, you do not need to use obscure "legalese." Instead, you should use simple language that is easy to understand. Keep details for policies, not the bylaws. The bylaws are the guidelines with which to implement specific policies. Therefore, the bylaws should be flexible and able to be interpreted in conjunction with more detailed policies. Keep the bylaws fairly general. Many templates and other instructions regarding writing bylaws are intentionally general so that they can be tailored to your organization. Your organization might have specific needs that require certain elements that other organizations do not. Writing church bylaws: A church's bylaws will include a section about the congregation's minister. This section would address the minister's relationship to the congregation, the qualifications the minister should have, and the process for bringing on a new minister or dismissing the current one. Sample language might start out with: "The Minister is the religious and spiritual leader of the church. He or she shall have freedom of the pulpit and of speech. The Minister is an ex official member of the Board and of all committees, except the Nominating Committee." Writing corporate bylaws: For corporate bylaws, you might also include sections that address frequency of shareholder meetings, issues pertaining to company stock, and so on.