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Writing non-profit bylaws can be one of the more  confusing parts about starting a non-profit,   but it doesn't have to be! In this video,  let's demystify bylaws and talk through   the steps that you need to take in order  to get them drafted and approved. [Music]   Welcome or welcome back to my channel! My name is  Amber Melanie Smith and I'm a non-profit founder   and executive director who also makes videos on  YouTube helping people who want to get started   on their social impact Journey whether that's  starting a non-profit or a socially conscious   business or some other way of doing good in the  community. As always I hope that you find this   video is useful and helpful don't forget to give  it a like and a thumbs up to let YouTube know that   you want to see more videos like this also if  you're in the process of starting a non-profit   or developing a sustainable fundraising plan be  sure to check out my website FounderToFullTime.com   where I have a couple of online courses that walk  you through those two topics so when you're first   starting a non-profit bylaws are one of those  things that you've just gotta do to get things   up and running and get your official non-profit  status approved by your government but if you're   not familiar bylaws are officially defined as the  in internal rules and regulations that guide how   a non-profit operates including its structure  decision-making processes and procedures so   basically it's a document that outlines how your  board is going to vote and when they're going to   vote on major decisions for the organization among  other things so if you're starting a non-profit   and you're at this very beginning stage of forming  the organization the bylaws are typically written   by the organization's founder or founders with  the help of their board of directors so it's the   board's job to ultimately review and approve and  vote on adopting those bylaws and shaping what   goes into those bylaws a lot of times I'll get  questions from people from some of you in fact   asking things like what a non-profit's leadership  is allowed to do so things like can aboard fire a   Founder can you pay someone to do something for  the organization so well there's certainly rules   and laws around some of these things ultimately  what a non-profit does is up to its own bylaws so   you can write them to govern yourself and your  organization as you need to within of course   legal parameters so the fact of the matter is  not all nonprofits have the same bylaws they're   not all operating by this same governing rules  because they're each customizing their bylaws   for themselves when they get started now the thing  is though once you write the bylaws and your board   votes and the bylaws are adopted you do need to  follow them pretty strictly because deviation   or not following your own bylaws is something that  the IRS at least in the United States can penalize   you for so make sure that you're only including in  your bylaws stuff that you know you can reasonably   follow like don't say you're going to have a board  meeting every single week if you think that the   availability of your board might only be once a  month just put like the minimum that you can that   you know for sure you can follow in there so let's  talk through some of the steps that you need to   take in order to write your bylaws I do recommend  finding one of the numerous free non-profit bylaw   templates online as a foundation just to kind  of get you started with structure so so that   you don't have to start from scratch alright so  step number one is that you need to make sure your   bylaws comply with legal requirements I mentioned  before that your bylaws are your own governing   document that you customize but that you do have  to follow your Regional and federal government's   laws so every region every country is going to  have different rules on what needs to possibly   be included in a non-profits bylaws or what  nonprofits are allowed to do so just make sure   you're taking some time to familiarize yourself  with those so that what you put in your bylaws   matches the legal requirements as well and for  those of you in the United States a great place to   start is the IRS webpage I'll leave a helpful link  below in the description of this video that kind   of outlines some things that you're going to need  to include in your bylaws okay the second thing   that you include in your bylaws is a definition  of your organization's purpose and Mission this   should be your mission statement and also just a  really high level overview of your basic goals as   an organization this will set the foundation for  the work that you're organization is going to do   now if you were to ever change or expand your  mission you would probably need to update that   mission statement in your bylaws and re-vote  to re-adopt your bylaws and then resubmit your   bylaws to your governing bodies number three  is establishing the organization structure   so this is where you outline the basic roles  and responsibilities of your board your board   officers any committees that you want to have you  don't have to get into an extreme level of detail   here but just enough so that they know how to  govern themselves this will also include a clearly   outlined process for electing new board members  or removing board members and the terms of office   so how many years would a board member serve and  can they be re-elected after that and then how   frequently are your board meetings going to be are  they going to be at least quarterly are they going   to be once a month once again keeping in mind  that you can always choose to meet more often   than that but what you put in your bylaws is the  bare minimum number of times that you will meet as   a board and if you don't you will be in violation  of your bylaws so you don't want to do that number   four is you want to outline some basic decision  making processes so what is the process by which   a new policy will be approved by the board  how are decisions going to be made for example   um you know what constitutes a quorum um a quorum  is the minimum number of people that you need to   have in order to even launch a vote at all let  alone how many people need to vote for it says   how many people have to be there in order for  you to reasonably call for a vote on something   so for example um how many people on the board  have to vote in order to pass a new policy or   changing the bylaws is it a majority of just  51 is it two-thirds is it three-quarters of the   vote so just be thinking about the logistics  of how um your board should vote in in a way   that's both reasonable and meets the needs of  your organization number five is in your bylaws   you want to include some information about  addressing Financial or operational matters   so for example what is the process for your board  to vote on and approve your annual budget what is   your fiscal year going to be as an organization um  and that is the same year that you uh flesh out in   your budget so a fiscal year is a period of time  um that you're tracking your expenses and and your   um your income so it's a year so your fiscal year  could be just like January 1st through December   31st it could follow the annual calendar it could  also if you wanted it to be be July through June   it can be any 12-month period that you want it  to be and it's totally up to you A lot of times   an organization will choose what their fiscal  year is going to be based on major influxes of   Revenue or expenses so let's say you know you have  a major fundraiser in May maybe you want to make   your fiscal year start in June or July that way  you'll have all the money in to start fresh with   the new year and um you will be reporting your  taxes on the fiscal year prior to that and then   another part of this is what is your process going  to be for any Financial audits that you would   um launch internally to assess your financial  situation or if the IRS calls you and says   we're going to audit you what is your process  for dealing with that number six is you want   to include some conflict resolution mechanisms  so what is your process for resolving a dispute   between board members or board and your staff or  you know handling a conflict of interest so one   thing you might consider including including here  what are the steps your board would take to assess   and handle a potential conflict of interest part  seven is you want to put in rules about how do   you update and amend the bylaws themselves does  it take three quarters of your board voting yes   to make a change to your bylaws is it two-thirds  so what does that look like how is that handled   um also what happens if your organization needs  to dissolve what happens to all of its assets as   a non-profit in the United States at least you do  have to give all of your assets to another 501c3   organization they cannot just be distributed to  people or businesses so those are all the steps   to draft your bylaws but what do you do after  that well step number eight would be if you   can if you have the capacity to do so review your  bylaws with a legal counsel just to make sure you   haven't missed anything that everything that  you have in your bylaws is like I said before   compliant with your Regional and federal laws  step number nine is the big board vote so your   board needs to thoroughly review the bylaws just  do a double check that nothing is in violation of   Mission Vision Values or the law as we've talked  about and then your board should vote to approve   the bylaws and adopt the bylaws as the official  governing document for the organization step 10   is filing your bylaws so obviously you want to  keep an official copy for your organization to   refer back to at any time but most jurisdictions  also require you to file them with your state or   federal government because they want to hold  you accountable as a non-profit for how you   plan to govern yourself so this could be your  secretary of state or the IRS final thing step   number 11 is every once in a while your board  really should be looking at your bylaws and   just asking themselves are these bylaws still  meeting our needs are they up with the times and   matching our modern operations and if not what  tweaks should we make in order to better match   what our our current operations and Mission and  structure looks like so at that point you would   look at whatever amendments you all need to take  and the board would vote to make changes to your   bylaws in ance with how you have written  in your bylaws the board is allowed to do that   okay so while perhaps the bylaws situation  is not the most interesting or exciting step   of starting a non-profit as you can see they're  really important in creating the structure that   your board needs to operate effectively and of  course they are required by law so it's really   important to do them and to do them well I'd  love to hear from you what is your journey in   the bylaws process have you already written some  for your organization uh is there a particular   thing that you're struggling with leave that  in the comments below as I mentioned before if   you're in the process of starting a non-profit  or developing a sustainable fundraising plan   check out my website foundertofulltime.com  for some educational online resources about   those topics I also have a newsletter for change  makers and non-profit leaders where I share tips   and strategies and sometimes funding opportunities  that I come across and you can subscribe to that   at the link below this video as well finally I  have a Facebook group called Change the World   or Bust! We've got 4,000 people in there from  around the world all sharing how they're making   an impact and I hope you can come over and  join us there too I hope that you found this   video helpful and useful once again I'm Amber  Melanie Smith and I'll see you next time, bye!