EBVMA |
This is the canonical and latest version of the EBVMA Bylaws and Constitution (Summer 2014).
The name of the organization shall be the Evidence-Based Veterinary Medicine Association, herein identified as “EBVMA” or “the Association.”
Evidence-based veterinary medicine is the formal strategy to integrate the best research evidence available with clinical expertise and owner/manager values into daily veterinary practice. The EBVMA was formed to strengthen the resolve of the veterinary profession in North America to base the practice of veterinary medicine on results from research studies that have been critically-designed and statistically evaluated.
The Evidence-Based Veterinary Medicine Association shall be incorporated as a non-profit organization.
Said organization is organized exclusively for charitable, educational, and scientific purposes, including, for such purposes, the making of distributions to organizations that qualify as exempt organizations under section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code, or corresponding section of any future federal tax code [Approved December 4, 2007]. Accordingly, the nature of the activities and the objects and purposes proposed to be transacted, promoted and carried on are to do any and all things permitted to be done by an organization described in Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code, including:
To form and maintain an association to be known as Evidence-Based Veterinary Medicine Association, Inc., and to admit members on such terms and conditions as the Bylaws may provide and especially to engage in the following activities to the extent permitted and in the manner permitted a Section 501(c)(3) organization:
In furtherance and not in limitation of the powers of this corporation, it shall be lawful to purchase or acquire in any lawful manner, and to hold, own, mortgage, pledge, sell, lease, transfer or in any manner dispose of property.
In general to carry on any other activities in connection therewith not forbidden by the laws of the State of Mississippi and with all the powers conferred upon corporations by the laws of the State of Mississippi, all in accordance with the requirements imposed on organizations described in Section 501 (c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code. No part of the net earnings of the corporation shall inure, in whole or in part, to the benefit of any contributor, director, officer, member or other private individual or person. No part of the activities of the corporation shall involve attempting to influence legislation by propaganda or otherwise or directly or indirectly participating in, or intervening in (including publishing or distributing statements), any political campaign on behalf of or in opposition to any candidate for public office or activities which would cause the corporation to be an “action” organization as defined in Treasury Department regulations under Section 501 (c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code.
Upon the dissolution of the organization, assets shall be distributed for one or more exempt purposes within the meaning of section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code, or corresponding section of any future federal tax code, or shall be distributed to the federal government, or to a state or local government, for a public purpose. Any such assets not disposed of shall be disposed of by the Court of Common Pleas of the county in which the principal officer of the organization is then located, exclusively for such purposes or to such organization or organizations, as said Court shall determine, which are organized and operated exclusively for such purposes. [Approved December 4, 2007]
Standard Member
Be a veterinarian or a non-veterinarian actively engaged in some aspect of evidence-based veterinary medicine and be identified as a permanent resident of any of the six constituent regions.
Charter Member
Charter members shall have the qualifications of members and shall be those who joined together at the 2006 Second Symposium on Evidence-Based Veterinary Medicine to initiate the Association. Additional Charter Members may be elected by a two-thirds vote of the original Charter Members: These latter must also have the qualifications of members and shall be elected within the first year following adoption of these bylaws.
Organizational Member
An organizational member is any “social entity” formed as a business, society or association. It may include governmental, non-governmental, corporate, academic, not-for-profit, partnerships, cooperatives, professional societies – public or private. An organizational member is allowed, the organization may formally assign a voting member who must also be a recognized active member of that organization. The organization should also have some relevant interest consistent with the mission of the EBVMA. Because an organizational member, dependent on size and number of voting constituents may have considerable representation and influence over decisions that impact the Association, organizational membership is at the discretion of and requires review and voting and approval dependent on a simple majority of the Board of Directors.
Patron Member
Any individual or organization who provides financial support to the EBVMA in the form of a one time gift or donation or the establishment of an endowment or another type of one-time or persistent investment vehicle. If a patron is an individual, that patron may be an existing voting member, but any contributions beyond the current yearly membership fee will not be used to grant additional voting rights or privileges or any special or enhanced governance role within the organization.
For the purpose of functional collaboration between the Association and other organizations, an existing member may request or be asked to volunteer to be assigned a role of Organizational Liaison. Liaisons serve to facilitate grassroots outreach and communication or serve as mentors between the Association and other relevant organizations such as clinical specialty societies, other veterinary associations, academic institutions, regulatory agencies or commercial entities, etc.
A member may be a liaison for more than one organization and an organization may have one or more EBVMA liaisons. Any active member of the Association may request this role directly or by recommendation from another active member.
A proposal to establish a liaison position will be presented to the Executive committee by the proposed liaison and shall include a brief statement of the goals and purpose of the collaboration as well as written confirmation of approval from an authorized representative of the collaborating organization.
The Executive Committee will review the proposal, and if approved by a simple majority the proposal will be forwarded to the full Board of Directors, which will approve or reject it by simple majority vote. Once approved, any liaison position will be announced to the membership of the EBVMA and the collaborating organization by the liaison. The liaison will serve a two-year term unless the collaboration is terminated by the Board of directors or the collaborating organization before this time or if the liaison does not maintain active membership in the EBVMA. The liaison role may be renewed at the end of a term by simple majority vote of the Board of Directors, and liaisons may serve for an unlimited number of two-year terms.
For purposes of representation on the Board of Directors, members are assigned to a region, depending on the location of their primary residence. The specific regions of the Association are as follows:
Rights of membership are as follows: The rights to vote and to hold office shall be restricted to Standard Members and Charter Members in good standing. Honorary, Retired, and Student Members shall have all other rights and privileges of membership.
Member information is retained for everyone (active members, inactive members, disassociated and past members) unless a member formally requests her/his information to be removed from the canonical record(s) managed by the EBVMA. Public information about members should be removed after the 30-day grace period if membership is not renewed. Role-based access to all EBVMA resources shall be removed if membership has expired beyond 90 days.
A privacy policy must be posted for public review. Any member may request modifications or amendments. Any changes shall be reviewed and be approved by majority vote by the Board of Directors. Any updates to the privacy policy shall be assigned a revision number with a summary of changes and a notice of changes shall be made to all members. An annual request for review shall be included on the agenda during each annual business meeting, but there is no requirement to review or make changes unless requested by any member, including a member of the Board of Directors.
The Association shall be governed by an elected Board of Directors (herein noted as “the Board”) consisting of the following officers: President, President- Elect, immediate Past President, Treasurer, and six Regional Directors.
For the initial election of officers (2006), the pre-existing steering committee will serve as the nominating committee and will nominate one or more candidates for each elected position; afterwards, candidate’s names will be placed in nomination by the Nominating Committee at the Business Meeting. Other names can also be placed in nomination by the membership at that time. Following nominations, voting members will be requested to vote by means of a secret ballot. If more than two candidates run for a position and no candidate receives more than 50% of the vote, the two candidateses receiving the highest number of votes will be placed on a ballot and the candidate receiving the majority of that voting will be elected. In the event of a tie-vote, the matter will be decided by a witnessed coin flip at a meeting of the Board.
President and President-elect
In order to begin the timing of the first election (FY 2006), voting members will be permitted to vote for two candidates. The candidate receiving the highest number of votes will become the President; the member receiving the second highest number of votes will become the President-Elect. In subsequent elections, the President-Elect will be the individual receiving the highest number of votes elected to the position.
Treasurer
The individual receiving the highest number of votes for that post will occupy that position.
The President
The President-Elect
Immediate Past President
The Immediate Past President is eligible to serve in this capacity for a two-year period immediately following her/his term as President.
The Treasurer
The President
President-Elect
Immediate past President
Treasurer
Regional Directors can be removed and/or replaced following the guidelines stated for the President (ART. IV, Sect. 3B, (1b). If so, a replacement will be sought using the election procedure outlined in ART. IV, Sect. 4A (1) if there are less than seven voting members in that region or ART. IV, Sect. 4A (2) if there are seven or more voting members in that region.
The Executive Secretary is appointed by and serves at the pleasure of the Board of Directors.
The Executive Secretary serves as executive officer of the Association and is responsible for the day-to-day operations of the Association, including:
The Association will have four standing committees
The Board may create and disband additional committees/groups as needed.
Chairs of all committees serve in that capacity at the pleasure of the Board.
The Executive Committee will meet at least two times/year; the Nominating Committee will meet as the need arises; all other committees will meet at least one time/year. Meetings can be conducted in person or by teleconference or videoconference or by any other means deemed acceptable to the Board. Notes of all Executive Committee Meetings will be taken and retained by the Executive Secretary.
The Association shall maintain a strategic master plan and roadmap. The roadmap should contain specific initiatives or goals relevant to the Association’s core missions of supporting EBVM research and education as well as outreach and development activities related to the promotion of EBVM and the maintenance and growth of the Association. The document should contain summaries of specific initiatives and goals with proposed timelines. The canonical “Master Plan” document shall be produced by the Board of Directors, or specific individual members designated by the Board, and should be approved by a two-thirds majority vote of the Board of Directors. The document should be accessible to all Association members at all times, and the roadmap and master plan must be reviewed and revised at least annually.
There will be three types of official meetings of the Association, all of which are open to all members:
Unless otherwise specific by the Board, the Association shall hold its Business Meeting annually. On the discretion of the Board, the meeting may be held during or temporally adjacent to the annual Symposium or Leadership Conference.
A planning meeting composed of members of the Board of Directors and the Executive Committee will be held during the summer of the years at the discretion of the Board.
A special meeting may be called by the President upon written request of ten voting members in good standing.
To conduct official business and conduct binding votes, a minimum of the following must be present:
The amount of the annual dues will be established by the Board.
Dues shall become payable annually on the anniversary of the date of membership acceptance by the Executive Secretary and shall be remitted to the Executive Secretary. Any individual or organizational member whose dues are not paid within 30 days after that anniversary will become inactive. If membership is not renewed within 3 months, then membership shall be cancelled, including removal of access to all members-only resources (e.g. website profile, mailing lists, etc.). Persons who have lost their membership status may be reinstated after payment of dues/late fees that are in arrears as well as dues for the ensuing year(s).
This document will become official after its adoption by a two-thirds vote of the charter members in attendance at the Annual EBVMA Meeting in June 2006.
Proposed amendments to this constitution and bylaws must be approved by at least three voting members in good standing, shall first be submitted to the Board for their consideration. The proposed amendment(s) with the recommendation of the Board will be announced at least thirty (30) days in advance of any regular or special meeting, at which time the proposed amendment will be discussed. Adoption of proposed amendment(s) will require a two-thirds vote of those voting members in attendance at that meeting.
Original Constitution and Bylaws were approved without objection by those attending a meeting held at the end of the 2nd EBVM Symposium on June 15, 2006, at Mississippi State University, MS.