Bylaw Amendment Proposal: Corporate Memberships

Jun 2 15:48 UTC 1997

I'd like to propose that Grex's bylaws be altered to make provision for
"corporate members".  A corporate membership would be a vehicle by which
corporations could be recognized for supporting Grex.  The rate would be
the same as regular members, and corporate members could have an account
with Internet privileges, but they would not be eligible to vote in Grex
elections.

The amendment would also clarify that regular, voting members must be
individuals.

I'm not sure how we "validate" corporate accounts.  Probably the best
solutions would be to validate some person who will be responsible if there
are problems with the corporate account.  It'd be nice to be confident that
that person has some connection to the corporation though.

I'm not suggesting specific wording at this point.  Doing a bit of
brainstorming first seems like a good idea.

response 2 of 135:

Jun 2 18:54 UTC 1997

It's welcome. I've been "working" toward this for some time now, though
thinking just in terms of non-profit corporations (our natural allies)
rather than also for-profit corporations (though these have all the money
:)).  The survey I have been conducting of non-profits has been directed
toward just such a bylaw change as you are suggesting. 

You "validate" the account with the corporation's resident agent - this is
a matter of public record, and the person every corporation must name for
the purpose of contacting the corporation with legal notices, etc. 
Require that the name and address of the corporate resident agent be
provided to the treasurer (even better, on record in a public file). 

response 4 of 135:

Jun 2 20:58 UTC 1997

I agree that any corporation could join.  I don't see any reason to limit it
to non-profits, and I certainly wouldn't want to filter out "politically
incorrect" ones.

I think we would handle excess bandwidth use the same way that we do for
individual users.  There probably ought to be some statement about that where
ever we advertize this.

response 6 of 135:

Jun 3 06:33 UTC 1997

re #3
I'm working on fixing the grex bandwidth problem, by next BoD meeting I
should have something for everyone.

re all
I'm (am I voting capable.. i dunno ;) in support of this and if my vote
counts, I would vote for corporate memberships without a vote.  You don't
want someone to be able to get a few corporate memberships and be able
to sway a vote.. not like they probally couldn't buy them from folks
anyways if they had the money to blow to fix an election that way..

Irregardless, we should probally look at the m-net policy on this and base
the wording off of that somewhat, I remember this being an issue when i was
on their BoD.

response 8 of 135:

Jun 3 12:58 UTC 1997

Today morning I tried to log it showed counter 42. it took five minutes for

me to log. Eeven the hotmail.com is pissed becaues of indians. :)

response 10 of 135:

Jun 3 16:59 UTC 1997

I recommend that it be called an "institutional" or "organizational"
membership. Schools, for example, while corporations, are seldom
referred to as part of the "corporate world", which usually denotes for-profit
corporations. 

response 12 of 135:

Jun 3 18:45 UTC 1997

   I think this is a fine idea.

response 14 of 135:

Jun 4 00:35 UTC 1997

Re #10:  Good idea, Rane.

response 16 of 135:

Jun 4 07:07 UTC 1997

It would certainly be interesting to see the m-net wording.  I would
hesitate to borrow *any* m-net wording though without first looking
carefully at it.  There are some *very* strange bylaw provisions on
m-net.

response 18 of 135:

Jun 4 16:15 UTC 1997

M-Net allows corporations to be members, but not to vote.  The wording
is as follows:
        Bylaw Section 3.01(a) says: "Membership in Arbornet includes
any person who either: (1) has paid yearly dues to the corporation,
the rate of which is set by the Board of Directors, such membership
starting on the day of the year on which duesare received by the
treasurer, and continuing unil that date of the following year;
(2) is an M-Net member; or (3) is an M-Net patron."
        Being an Arbornet member isn't enough to give you the vote,
however. That right is reserved for Arbornet members in good standing
(MIGS).  Bylaw 3.01(b)(4) says that a requirement for being a
MIGS is that "the person is not a corporation."
        I don't know if that helps or not.   8-)        

response 20 of 135:

Jun 5 02:14 UTC 1997

Ouch. Bylaws should simply define each 'class' of membership and its
privileges and responsibilities (if they are not generic). 3.01 is
a poorly written bylaw. 

Re #17: I had suggested earlier that the corporations *resident agent* be
carried on the Grex books. Or corporations have one, and that person is
the legal contact between the state and the corporation. It might be OK to
also record whatever name the corporation offers - an officer, or 'liaison'
-, as such a person might be the practical contact for any everyday matter.
But the resident agent is the legal contact.

response 24 of 135:

Jun 6 20:55 UTC 1997

Did I mention that I wrote the present language of 3.01(a)?
It's *beautifully* written, considering that the Arbornet memberships
of various kinds carry a lot of baggage.   8-)