Financial Stand Club constitution
1.1 The organization being constituted will be known as the financial stand.
1.2 Body corporate shall:
a) exist as a separate legal entity regardless of the membership, capable to sue or be sued.
b) continue to operate despite any changes in membership that may occur during the duration of the financial stand.
(a) The financial stand’s main purpose shall be to save money from member contributions for personal upgrading and new projects.
(b) The financial stand’s secondary goals shall be subject to approval in the AGM and or extraordinary meeting.
(c) Membership of the stand shall not exceed 70 (seventy) members for the current calendar year.
(d) Investing and being involved in new projects that are vital to members’ upgrade.
(1) The organization shall keep detailed ledgers of the money collected from the members as well as any other money gained from additional revenue streams. This process will be handled by the treasurer and will be more clearly outlined in 5.11.
(2) The members who are elected to hold office, office bearing or otherwise will be rewarded and or given gratuity equitably taking into account the success of the year for the efforts put towards the success of the organization.
(3) A member may only receive money from the financial stand if said member has spent some of their own money on items necessary to the group. In order for a member’s purchase to qualify for reimbursement from the group, the member will need to present a receipt to the group at the monthly group meeting. If there is not a group meeting within a week of the purchase, it will be up to the management committee to determine if the member is qualified for reimbursement.
4.1 (i) In order to become a member of the financial stand, an amount of 30,000/= Thirty thousand shillings for new entrants non-refundable must be paid into the savings group bank account and or to the treasury. This fee must be paid in full before membership is awarded and this fee is not up to negotiation unless circumstances provided to the entire group suffices for additional discussion.
(ii) Members shall be required to pay an amount of 3000/= (three thousand shillings) monthly as a welfare fund to run the daily business of the association which if not all used at the end of the calendar year MAY be shared by the group members.
(iii) Every member who subscribes to the group must provide his/her details such as the National Identity Card photocopy and their original residential address on the start of the saving year. This can be submitted to one of the committee members followed by a notification to the chairperson who shall then tender it into the responsible person for safety and custody.
4.2 This membership fee will go to the savings group bank account directly meaning that no individual member will benefit from this fee.
4.3 A member cannot withdraw the money before the end of the year. In instances where one fails to continue saving, he/she shall notify the committee members in a month and a 90% refund will be made at the end of the year and he/she shall not be granted profits thereto.
4.4 In the case of absence from the financial stand meeting, no matter the reason, that member is required to notify one of the committee members at their monthly meeting date before 9.00am or before either in person or in writing of why they will not be attending the meeting and the reason will be weighed to see if it really deserves.
4.5 There shall be a fine for missing saving which shall be 20% of a person’s saving. And in instances of missing general meetings there will be a fine of 2500 for general members and a fine of 5000 for the committee members and in instances of missing three (3) consecutive meetings there will be a charge of 10000(ten thousand shillings) in addition to the already existing fines.
4.6 The financial stand also holds the right, by majority vote, to terminate any member they view as detrimental or unfit for membership. In such instances a person whose membership is terminated shall be refunded his monies with charges of service fee.
5.1 The financial stand management structure will be made up of 5(five) office bearing positions including Chairperson, vice chairperson, Secretary, Treasurer, and the Loan recovery officer.
5.2 For each position, nominations will be held. It is possible for a member to either be nominated by another member or themselves if they so choose.
5.3 In order for a member to be elected, they must receive the majority vote from the rest of the savings group. If there are more than two candidates and none receive the majority of votes, the 2 top vote receivers will run in an immediate second ballot while those who received less votes will be eliminated. In this second election, the members may only choose between the two running against each other and will not be permitted any right in votes.
5.4 These positions will serve a term of one (1) year. There is no limit on the terms a member can run for any given position.
5.5 A member may not hold more than one position in this group at a time.
5.6 Elections will occur at the first meeting of each calendar year in January on a bi-annual basis.
5.7 In the event of a leave of absence by any of the elected positions, an election will be held in order to fill the position until that member returns.
5.8 In the event of a membership resignation and or termination of one of the office bearers, a letter of resignation in the event of resignation must be written by the former member and in such situations an immediate election would take place in order to fill the office. This election would be for a member to fill in for the remaining duration of the former member’s office. (Ex. If a member is terminated in the January the year after being elected, the newly elected member would only serve until the next January as to not confuse the timing cycles of positions and grant continuity to the group.)
5.9 The Chairperson’s responsibilities shall include leading discussions in the meetings, opening and closing the meetings, being a signatory on the bank account and keeping the monthly meetings to an orderly fashion, scheduling meetings, being responsible for good general body attendance, and overseeing the other elected positions as well as facilitating the communication between office bearers. In the event that the chairperson is not present or unable to run the business, the Vice chairperson will take over all the responsibilities of the chairperson.
5.10 The Secretary’s responsibilities shall include taking attendance at the monthly meeting of members, making an agenda for each monthly meetings covering topics important to the group, being a signatory to the bank account and taking minutes for the monthly meetings and sharing them to the general members before the next meeting is hold. The secretary shall also work hand in hand with the treasurer in producing of the monthly reports on how the treasury handling business and updating savings books weekly.
5.11 The Treasurer’s responsibilities shall include keeping a detailed record of all contributions made by the members or otherwise, to be responsible for the bank account, having the financial records in their possession, being a signatory on the bank account. This position will control the day-to-day finances of the group as well as deposit all contributions from members into the financial stand’s bank account, collecting the monthly contributions from each member and reporting what was collected together with the secretary.
5.11 A. The role of the Loan Recovery Officer will be to coordinate with people with loans, reminding them when they are due and when to clear. This will be done in coordination with the secretary and the treasurer. He/she will follow up to take all the securities that have been staked by members as security And as well communicate with the guarantors.
5.12 In order to have quorum to make decisions or vote on matters pertaining to the group, there must be 75% of members in attendance. If this number is a fraction, this number will be rounded up to the nearest whole number.
5.13 The minutes taken by the Secretary at every meeting will document and business conducted within the group such as voting and project proposals. These minutes will be available to every member upon request in writing with reason(s).
6.1 The management committee has the right to represent the group’s best interest and appear before governing bodies in order to generate further funds for the group.
6.2 The Chairperson, the Treasurer, and the Secretary will be the signatories on the bank account. When the term of each of these positions change, so will the signatory title that is associated with them.
7.1 The financial stand will convene on a monthly basis.
7.2 The Chairperson will be responsible for opening and closing these meetings. In the absence of the Chairperson, the Vice Chairperson will take on the responsibilities and duties of the Chairperson in accordance to 5.9
7.3 These meetings are mandatory and every member is expected to attend barring extenuating circumstances.
7.4 If a member must miss a meeting, they must give advanced notice to the Secretary including a reason why. Once arriving at the meeting, the Secretary will present the reason to the group in order for the group to determine the validity as a consensus.
7.5 If that member’s reason/s are deemed unjustified or there is no prior warning given, that member is subject to a fine subject to article 4.5 that will be directly contributed to the financial stand bank account or treasury. This payment will be in addition to the member’s monthly contribution but, must be paid by the end of the month barring extraneous circumstances.
7.6 If the member has some extenuating circumstances barring them from notifying the group or secretary, they are able to bring up the reasons at the next meeting to be judged and determined if they are justified. The group will decide if the member’s reason is deserving of this special treatment.
7.7 If a member is thirty minutes or later to the monthly meeting, they will be subject to a one thousand shillings 1000/= fine for general members and two thousand shillings 2000/= for the committee.
7.8 During these meetings, the members will be able to present new project and upgrading ideas. In doing this, members will come with a detailed report being able to accurately describe what actions will be required of the group in order to take part in these projects. Once these projects have been presented, the group will vote on which project/s they would like to go forward with. In order to fully proceed with a project, a majority vote of all members must be obtained for said project.
7.9 Members will be able to get loans from the organization and if one does not take a loan up to the last month of the saving period, he/she shall not get any profits. For this purpose, the interest rates shall be; 10% for any amount below 100,000/= and 5% for any amount above 100,000/=.
7.10 In instances where one wants a loan, he/she shall request a loan form from the secretary at a fee of 1000/= (paid to the treasury) and if he/she is out of reach the chairperson shall issue the form. This form will be filled with loan one wants (this should be in the limit of 80% of his/her savings and or guarantors combined) then send it back to the committee for approval (treasurer’s and secretary’s approval is a MUST) once approved, the monies shall be sent.
8.1 In order to make changes or amendments to the constitution, it must be proposed to all members at a monthly meeting. This idea will go to a general discussion which will lead to a vote. If the vote comes back unanimous, the amendment may be implemented and the constitution may be changed permanently.
8.2 Any member has the ability to propose changes to the Constitution.
9.1 If a meeting is called for the sole purpose of dissolving the group based on the accomplished objectives of the group, there may be a general discussion to dissolve the group.
9.2 This vote would need to include all active members including those on leaves of absences.
9.3 If this vote comes back unanimous to dissolve the group, the group will be dissolved.
9.4 If the group is dissolved, the remaining balance in the bank, after settling debts and any other outstanding balances, will be returned to the members based on what they have already contributed.