Bylaws of the Fellowship of Rotarians on the Internet (ROTI)
1. Purpose of this Fellowship
1.1 The purpose of the Fellowship of Rotarians on the Internet is to apply modern information technology; to explore the avenues of service and fellowship with Rotarians all over the world, to provide more Rotary information on the Internet and to assist all Rotary entities in getting their information on the internet.
2. Qualifications for Membership
2.1 Any Rotarian in good standing, spouse of such Rotarian, or any Rotaractor in good standing who has registered on the main ROTI Communication list register, and who is willing and able to receive periodic official announcements and ROTI publications, will be considered a "ROTI" member in good standing.
2.2 A Rotarian OR ROTARACTOR in good standing must be registered with RI as a current member of a Rotary Club or Rotaract club, with all associated rights and responsibilities including commitment to the Ideals of Rotary.
3. Officers
3.1 The Officers of the Fellowship will be:
3.1.1 Chairman
3.1.2 Vice Chairman
3.1.3 Secretary
3.1.4 Treasurer
3.1.5 Sgt. at Arms
3.2 There will be a Board of Directors of the fellowship consisting of the Officers, plus 12 other directors.
4. Nominations and Elections
4.1 Qualifications for Nominees
4.1.1 Chairman
To be eligible to be nominated for the office of chairman of the RI Rotarians on the Internet Fellowship a person must have previously served on the fellowship board of directors or on a committee serving the fellowship. The Chairman must be a Rotarian in good standing.
4.2 Other Officers
4.2.1 The offices of Vice Chairman, Secretary, Treasurer and Sgt. at Arms will be restricted to Rotarians in good standing.
4.2.2 Board of Directors other than officers
The requirements for these offices is that they be current members of ROTI and agree to donate the time required to perform the jobs they undertake.
5. Nomination and Election of the Chairman
5.1 The current Chairman shall appoint a 4 member nominating committee by October 1 of the Election year. The committee shall consist of at least 2 members that are not current board members and who shall not themselves stand for election. The nominating Committee will be responsible for gathering nominations from the ROTI membership and contacting the nominees for their willingness to run for office. All nominees must signify acceptance of the nomination. All nominations shall be submitted to the chairman no later than October 15. No chairman may serve two consecutive terms.
5.2 Ballots will be e-mailed to all current members by October 22, and a simple majority vote of the votes received is necessary to be elected. Ballots will be mailed by and results counted by the current Secretary or his/her designee. Two weeks will be allowed to receive completed ballots. All ballots must come from the members registered e-mail address, one ballot from each address. The two-week period will start and end at midnight Evanston, Illinois time (US CST) which will be referred to as Paul Harris Time.
5.3 The Chairman will be elected on November 1, for a two year term to take office from the following July 1.
5.4 Ballots will be e-mailed by and results counted by the current Secretary or his/her designee.
6. Assignment of Board of Directors
6.1 Board members including officers shall be nominated by a committee consisting of the incoming and outgoing Chairmen and at least one other ROTIan designated by the incoming Chairman. They will present a slate of Board members anytime between the election and July 1. The list of Board members shall be presented to the membership by the incoming Chairman for approval. Response from the membership will be taken into account for final assignment by the Chairman.
7. Resignation of Officers or Board Members
7.1 In the event of any Officer or member of the Board of Directors or of any ROTI committee tendering his/her resignation, such resignation shall be automatically deemed accepted if there is no formal rejection of such resignation by the Board of Directors nor formal withdrawal of the resignation notice within thirty days from such resignation notice posted either to the General List, the Board List or in any manner communicated in writing to a member of the Board. After such "cooling-off" period, the Board of Directors is authorised to make such appointments as necessary arising from the said resignation to ensure the smooth operations of the fellowship.
8. Dues
8.1 ROTI (Rotarians on the Internet) will continue to be a free fellowship (no membership fee), open to all Rotarians around the world.
9. Weekly Report
9.1 In order to foster good communications between the board of directors and the ROTI membership, a designated NON-BOARD member will observe board discussions and prepare a weekly report to be sent to the registered members. This report will include a calendar of events or activities, an overview of board DISCUSSIONS AND ACTIVITIES, and any other pertinent information.
10. Amendments
10.1 Any member may propose a change to these bylaws.
10.2 The Board of Directors will review the proposed change and submit a recommendation to the membership.
10.3 A majority vote of 2/3 of the votes received is necessary to change these bylaws.
11. Normal Operating Decisions
11.1 The ROTI Board as the elected governing body of the ROTI RI Fellowship will have the responsibility to make any operating decisions for the benefit of the fellowship, that not explicitly require a majority membership vote according to the by-laws.
12. Use of ROTI Name and or Logo on Web Sites
12.1 It is encouraged that the ROTI name and logo be displayed on all web sites done for or as a result of ROTI. All of these web sites must be within RI policy guidelines and placement of the ROTI logo is subject to approval by the ROTI Board of Directors.
12.2 Any concerns regarding sites not in accordance with RI or ROTI guidelines should be directed to the ROTI board for review.
12.3 In a case where a site is deemed not to conform to acceptable guidelines, ROTI as an RI Fellowship reserves the right to request removal of its name, logo, etc. from the site, based on a vote of the majority of the ROTI Board.
13. ROTI.ORG Domain
The "roti.org" domain is owned by ROTI. The site has been developed by member volunteers as a hub for Rotary information and website links around the world. It is expected that the webmasters of this site will organize and maintain links to worthy pages that conform to the guidelines below, or others developed from time to time.
13.1 Linking from ROTI.ORG pages
To be linked from the roti.org page, a web site must:
- conform to all R.I. and ROTI guidelines
- promote ROTI or one of the Four Avenues of Service
- be of general interest to all Rotarians globally
- be presented in good taste with no cultural offensiveness
- be subject to review and approval by the ROTI Board or a committee delegated for such purpose
- be hosted (or sponsored) by a Rotarian in good standing and maintained with accurate, up-to-date information
Requests for links on the ROTI.org pages must be made to the board of Directors and they will decide if the site should be linked and which page the link will be placed on. The current ROTI webmaster will take part in this process as well, but will not be able to handle requests such as this alone.
Generally, sites are hosted by Rotarians, sponsors or friends who donate the space and computer requirements. Because of ROTI's limited resources it is anticipated that ROTI itself will not host web sites or provide webmaster services. However ROTI volunteers are often available (see WIZ program) to provide technical assistance to webmasters when needed.
13.2 Policy on ROTI Services
Since ROTI is a fellowship of Rotarians who volunteer their talents, the development and status of ROTI related web sites will be dependant on the volunteer offers from the membership to host and maintain them.
One of ROTI's services is to provide links to as many regional and district sites as possible. These sites in turn are the focal point for services within those areas including links to clubs and specific local projects and fundraisers.
ROTI links to a site do not imply ROTI's support or endorsement of the site. ROTI may or may not link to any site at the preference of the board of directors.
Explanation to the Bylaws
Members
Any Rotarian, Rotarian's spouse or Rotaractor can apply for membership. Entries are made by e-mail, and must state full name, e-mail address, Rotary (or Rotaract) Club, Country, birth day, district number, and classification. Failure to provide this information may result in not being approved for membership.
The Committees
The Committees consist of volunteers appointed by the committee chairmen. The Committee chairmen are appointed by the ROTI Chairman. The committees can be enlarged by the Chairman to obtain representation from a broad range of countries or expertise in any certain area.
There will be committees for:
- Membership
- ROTI.ORG web site management
- The BreadBasket newsletter
- The ROTI listserve
- The ROTI WIZ group
- Any other temporary or permanent committees deemed necessary by the chairman
Duties of the committees are to:
- Observe and keep the membership file up to date.
- Cause the fellowship to be in accordance with current Rotary International guidelines concerning fellowships.
- Make sure that avenues of communication for members of the fellowship are available on the Internet.
- Will maintain a listserve and main "hub" web site that are registered to ROTI and shall be passed on to each group of officers when they take office. These will not be under the total control of any one person and will belong to the Rotary fellowship of Rotarians on the Internet.
- Work with RI and other Rotary fellowships to provide Rotary information on the internet and promote RI approved projects.
Finances
The Treasurer is in charge of the finances. The committee has the right at all times to peruse the books of the Treasurer. Every year, the Treasurer is to draw up the balance sheet for the entire year. The Treasurer gives a financial report at every committee meeting of receipts and expenditures. Treasurer's reports will be posted on the ROTI.ORG web site at least once every quarter.
Membership File
The ROTI membership list is available online. A separate ROTI database of the membership list will contain e-mail addresses of all members and mailings from it will be used for official communications, elections, and identify closed e-mail accounts or people who no longer wish to remain members of ROTI. The list of members will not be made available to anyone in any other form except for Rotary International and only if they feel it is necessary to have a list of the membership. In the case of RI, only the details they request will be transfered.
Internal Regulations
Expenses for the operation of the Fellowship are to be covered by income, with no fees or dues imposed on the membership except as voluntary donations or fees agreed upon by a majority vote of the membership.
- The chairman maintains order during the meetings.
- Decisions reached by the committee are made by a simple majority.
- Decisions at general meetings are made by majority vote 'received via email'.
- Committee meetings are valid when no less than three committee members are in attendance (the chairman included).
- Committee meetings can and will usually be held in an electronic environment: e-mail, ICQ, Pow Wow or similar fashion. When e-mail is used, a time period of at least 24 hours must be allowed for voting to compensate for time differences.
