AID - Bylaws

Officers serving on the executive committee of an AID-Chapter shall be elected by its active-volunteers (see Section 4.5) . Each officer of the executive committee shall serve for a two year term and shall not receive any emoluments from AID.

The executive committee shall consist of at least five officers including the president, vice-president, secretary, and two treasurers. Additional officers like a Projects Coordinator and Newsletter Editor can also be elected to the executive committee if the chapter's voting volunteers decided at the AID-Chapter's Community Service Hour (see Section 4.1) to create additional posts. The elections will take place at the respective AID-Chapter's General Body Meeting (see Section 4.1).

Executive Committee members should realize that they have the important responsibility of working hard, with conviction, cooperation and a will to meet deadlines and improve the quality of their own working. A good working Executive Committee can energize each of its members as well as other volunteers by providing a sound working base of at least 5-6 people doing the following very important tasks regularly:

President of AID-Chapter : The president should have a keen interest and commitment to the objectives of AID. His/Her main task would be to ensure that the AID-Chapter meets all its objectives and functions efficiently. He/She should strive to expand the scope and reach of AID in terms of awareness of AID activities, especially in minds of people in the city and state where the AID-Chapter is located, and in terms of the breadth and depth of various developmental projects in India. He/She should have a vision for the future and should come up with interesting ideas so that people can get motivated to contribute time, money and effort to the cause of AID. He/She should delegate responsibilities to other volunteers and should coordinate the various tasks of the AID-Chapter. He/She should also be active in collecting information about prospective developmental projects for AID. He/She should take an active part in increasing the awareness in the general public of the various activities of AID. He/She should interact with the executive committee of the other AID-Chapters, the Executive Board and the Board of Directors constantly for acheiving the overall objectives and functions of AID. He/She should also interact closely with the Head Quarters or Regional Head Quarters, recognize its various innovative and effective strategies and implement them in his/her own AID-Chapter. He/She should preside the GBMs of his/her chapter in the normal course of events.
Vice-President of AID-Chapter: The Vice-President should actively help and support the President in organising various activities of the AID-Chapter. She/he should coordinate publicity of AID at social and cultural events and should strive to expand its membership, especially in the city and state where the AID-Chapter is located. In the absence of the President, or when the President is indisposed, the Vice-President should assume the powers and execute the tasks of the President. She/he should strive to expand the public relations of AID with other organizations of similar interest and seek their support and participation in AID efforts. She/he will coordinate the CSH of the AID-Chapter regularly and also set up its agenda. She/he along with the Secretary of the AID-Chapter should maintain the minutes of all CSH organized by the AID-Chapter.
Secretary of AID-Chapter: The Secretary should be responsible for the following tasks:
- holding a GBM of the AID-Chapter at least once in six months, including setting the agenda, informing members in advance and keeping minutes of the GBM,
- maintaining and updating the list of members with the Head Quarters,
- internal publicity within the AID-Chapter and
- maintaining correspondence with on-going projects in India. He/She along with the help of the Vice president will maintain the minutes of all the CSHs of the AID-Chapter. He/She should convey the decision of the Executive Board to its volunteers and the decisions of the AID-Chapter to the Executive Board.
Treasurer of AID-Chapter: The treasurer shall be responsible for the following tasks:
- collecting contributions from members and other sources,
- maintaining the accounts of the AID-Chapter in conformity with the requirements of the Executive Board,
- presenting the financial status of the AID-Chapter at each GBM and annual report at the first GBM of every new calendar year before the general elections (see section 4.6), and (iv) sending financial contributions to the on-going projects at regular time intervals. The Treasurer should be in constant touch with the Executive Board and update them periodically with the financial accounts of the AID-Chapter.

People who have made significant contributions to building or expanding the organization, have the commitment to spend significant amount of volunteer time to maintain the organization as a cohesive unit, and who have served in the executive board of AID can be elected to the Board of Directors in a board meeting. The Board of Directors shall consist of at least three and at most seven people. The term for each director shall be determined at the time of his/her elections by the electing directors. Directors elected for an unspecified term, or for a term greater than four years, shall seek a vote of continued confidence from the remaining directors every four years. In the event of less than 50% confidence their term will expire on the date set by the remaining directors.

The main purpose of the Board of Directors is to ensure that AID meets its main objective of being able to do the best it can for the betterment of the poor in India. The tasks of the Board of Directors include:

In addition, two of the Directors will function as the president and the chief treasurer of AID, and will be responsible for filing the annual reports, annual state registrations and tax returns. The Board of Directors shall meet regularly to assess and make decisions about the overall functioning of AID, as described in Section 4.2.

Experienced volunteers with motivation, interest and abilities to handle the various over-all tasks of AID, shall be nominated for specified terms to the Executive Board and empowered by the Board of Directors (with inputs and recommendations from Headquarters and chapters) to execute the various tasks of AID. AID-volunteers can also be elected to the Executive Board for two year terms at AID Special Meetings. The elected members shall form about 25% of the Executive Board. Duties of the members elected to the Executive Board will be determined by the Board of Directors and the other Executive Board Members. The Executive Board will consist of a Secretary and teams dealing with treasury, projects, newsletters and publications, fundraising, publicity and chapters coordination. These will be considered officers of AID, as opposed to officers of a chapter of AID, and will have the responsibilities such as auditing of AID accounts, publications for AID, assisting the Board of Directors in filing annual reports, state registrations and federal returns, etc. Other posts and committees can be created by the Board of Directors within the Executive Board.