Membership discussion #2: Removing members who fail to vote
Hi Board Members,
This is a discussion thread before a vote thread. It involves two key documents and involves off-boarding members if they have not voted in two consecutive elections.
The precis is a bit lengthy with apologies however it is important. I would like to hear from the board, how to approach this so that we can refine our processes and key documents.
The policy states on page two...
Rights and responsibilities
Members have the right and responsibility to vote in annual board elections (which can be done electronically). Members not meeting this responsibility in two consecutive annual elections will be assumed to be inactive, and removed from the membership register, with thanks for their prior service.
The Constitution's take on membership starts on page eight and should be read in full however this section 32/33 discusses expulsion...
Expelling and disciplining a Member
32 The Board may — in the way described in clause 33 — expel a Member or implement appropriate disciplinary action if the Member:
32.1 has committed a breach of any obligation or duty under this Constitution; or
32.2 has engaged in conduct detrimental to the interests of the Company.
33 For any expulsion or discipline to be valid:
33.1 at least 21 days before the Board meeting at which the resolution is considered, the Member must be given written notice of:
● the meeting;
● the intended resolution; and
● the particulars of the alleged act, omission or conduct complained of;
33.2 at the meeting (and before the resolution is passed), the Member must be given the opportunity to explain themselves in writing or orally (or both if they request it);,
33.3 if the Member does give an explanation, then the Board must take it into account;
33.4 the relevant resolution must be passed by 75% of the Directors present and voting;
33.5 the Board must arrange for the Member to be given written notice of any Board resolution on the matter; and
33.6 if the Board resolves to expel the Member, then the Member ceases to be a Member when the Board serves them with the notice. Also the Member’s name will be removed from the Register as set out in clause 34
Section 34 - 36 of https://www.legislation.tas.gov.au/view/pdf/asmade/sr-2017-072 should also be reviewed for noting.
Statistics:
Currently we have 253 members and we have previously removed 20 members in 2022 (one of the 20 renewed) and was the only time we have executed this however elections have not always been required. Members who are removed can apply for membership straight away.
Last years Election buddy results summary showed a poor turnout with 35% of members voting.
2022 Election Buddy summary |
Count |
Not Voted |
128 |
Opened Not Voted |
5 |
Undelivered - Email Bounced |
8 |
Unsubscribed |
4 |
Voted |
79 |
Total |
224 |
If we enacted this again as per the policy, 41 members would be removed from the register this year and a further 104 would need to vote this year to be retained. For noting, last year we wrote to all members who failed to lodge a vote to alert them to the two year policy. As discussed previously, our membership database is now aged and includes data pre the pandemic.
Are you, as a board member, comfortable with the two election voting policy? Does the policy conflict with the constitution? Do we we need to adhere to any other membership requirements that are mandated by law?
It would be good to have a robust discussion prior to the board meeting. Over to you and thank you for getting to the end.
Jonah Sullivan Mon 29 Jul 2024 1:44AM
I think it will be good to have a membership register that contains active members (active enough to reply to an email).
It's a bit of an administrative burden to try to contact all of the lapsed members to notify them of their membership ceasing, but I don't think it requires any changes to the constitution or membership policy - all we have to do is send out an email to the lapsing members informing them the upcoming resolution to remove inactive members and then give them an opportunity to do something about it.
Our current membership register doesn't really handle membership renewal - its a google spreadsheet that was designed for data ingress, not query or deletion. Membership renewal will have to be a manual data matching process for now. A future system could automate the task (for a fee I'm sure).
Ewen Hill Wed 7 Aug 2024 11:13PM
Hi @Jonah Sullivan, We can use mailchimp to send a bulk email out to those however a bit of linkedin and other online systems could get them back online perhaps.
John Bryant Mon 29 Jul 2024 6:32PM
I don't see any problems with the "must vote in an election" rule. Pruning inactive members isn't equivalent to expelling them; nobody is being removed against their will.
If someone doesn't vote for 2 years, and doesn't reply to an email asking if they want to remain (the current practice), I think it's safe to assume they have moved on and we should remove them.
Regarding whether this is in conflict with the constitution, I don't believe so, as long as we're not "expelling" members. If the Membership Policy needs to be updated to reflect this, I think we should talk to our community before we ratify any changes.
Renee M Thu 1 Aug 2024 4:56AM
Alternative option: What if we mark each email/account as active or inactive? That way, we could track members who have stepped out of the community and their potential re-engagement. It appeals to me to maintain a historical data record of the membership base. It adds to the OO story.
I agree that constitutionally, we could remove people from the membership list based on their voting response (well, lack thereof), however, I think there's a better way to manage it.
John Bryant Thu 1 Aug 2024 9:34PM
Hmm interesting idea Renee. I guess it potentially addresses the desire to have an accurate tally of active members.
I suppose inactive members are still members though, which means we'd still have them on our membership register and we'd still have obligations to communicate notice of AGM, etc.
I think we could remove them from the register and still keep them on a separate list for historical records.
By the way - I could be wrong, but I don't think the Tas legislation applies to us, we're a Company Limited by Guarantee under the Corporations Act (Aus national legislation).
Ewen Hill Tue 6 Aug 2024 1:24PM
Hi Renee and John,
Great minds - This two-tier system is already in place with the members status as either "Active" or "Removed" (col AR) and all subsequent processes based on Active members only.
The Cth Data protection act (2018) does talk about holding personal data if it is no longer required and perhaps after five years of inactivity, we de-identify past members, keeping date of registration, country,state and a few other details. This would work if someone also requested complete removal of their details.
The key issue is that we only use the email address they provided and if they altered their email or changed jobs then they may be keen but don't hear from us.
Elisa Puccioni · Sun 28 Jul 2024 11:06PM
I still don't have a definite opinion on this. Clearly the constitution doesn't say to remove members if they don't vote, but I think it's sensible to try and understand our member activity (or lack of it) as I think it would be preferred to have less but active members than many members. My favorite option at the moment would be directly contacting the 41 members that haven't voted for two times and ask if they want to still be members or not. If they say no or not respond at all, I would feel confident to remove them, or flag as inactive and remove from newsletters etc.