Northwest Association of Domestic Violence Treatment Professionals
Articles of Incorporation / By-Laws
Article I - Name of Organization
The name of this Association shall be the Northwest Association
of Domestic Violence Treatment Professionals (NWADVTP) hereinafter
called the Association.
Article II - Purpose
The purpose of this Association is to provide resources for education,
research, training and certification of perpetrator treatment providers
to promote greater victim safety and quality treatment.
Article III - Membership
Section 1. Application - Voting membership applications
shall be accepted from certified individuals and program providers
involved in the treatment of domestic violence perpetrators.
Section 2. Acceptance and General Qualifications
- Applications shall be approved when the Membership Committee has
determined the following:
1.) The applicant has paid the appropriate
membership fee
2.) The applicant agrees to adhere to the
general purpose and mission of the Association, and;
3.) The applicant agrees to adhere to the
general purpose and mission of the Association, and;
4.) applicant will benefit the Association
and further the cause of victim safety through effective perpetrator
treatment.
Section 3. Professional Membership (Voting and Office Holding)
Professional Membership consists of professionals
from certified DV perpetrator treatment programs. All members have
equal voting rights and ability to hold office in the Association.
Section 4. Associate Membership (Non-Voting or Office Holding)
- Associate Membership consists of all other affiliated disciplines
connected to domestic violence treatment.
Section 5. Membership Cycle and Dues Rates - The
membership cycle is from July 1 through June 30. Dues rates shall
be fixed yearly by the Association Board of Directors.
Article IV - Board of Directors
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Section 1. General Powers - All Association powers
shall be exercised by or under the authority of the Board of Directors
except as otherwise provided by these By-Laws or Articles of Incorporation.
The elected President of the Association shall serve as the chair
of the Board of Directors. All actions of the Board of Directors
shall be reported to the membership at the next regularly scheduled
meeting of the Association.
Section 2. Number and Designated Officials - the
Board of directors shall be comprised of the elected offices of
President, President-Elect, Secretary, Treasurer, and Immediate
Past President, as well as the elected chairs of all Standing Committees
as specified in Article VII.
Section 3. Tenure and Selection - Directors shall
two-year terms and may serve successive terms if so elected. The
Board of Directors shall be elected at the Association's first general
meeting. The Nominating Committee shall propose candidates for office
and Board positions who are professional members in good standing
and shall ensure fair representation exists from all disciplines
comprising the Association, genders, ethnicities, and geographic
regions of the State.
Section 4. Quorum and Voting - A majority of the
Board of Directors shall constitute a quorum. Each Board member
shall have one vote and the President of the Association shall only
vote in case of a tie. Any corporate action required or permitted
under law to be voted upon or approved at a duly called meeting
of the Board may be accomplished without a meeting if unanimous
consent of the Board setting forth the actions so taken is signed
by all Board members.
Section 5. Vacancies, Resignation and Removal -
In the case of any vacancy on the Board, the remaining Board members,
whether constituting a quorum or not, may appoint a successor to
hold office for the un-expired portion of the term of the Board
member whose place shall be vacant, and until his or her successor
shall have been duly qualified and elected.
Any board member may resign at any time by delivering written notice
to the Secretary of the Association. Such resignation shall be effective
upon acceptance by the Board of Directors. Any Board member may
be removed for cause by a majority vote of the Association membership.
Article V-Elected Officers
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Section 1. Officers Designated - The officers of
the Association shall be President, President-elect, Secretary and
Treasurer.
Section 2. President, Duties Defined - The President
shall preside at all meetings of members and of the Board of Directors.
He or she shall have and exercise general duties and supervision
of the affairs of the Corporation / Association and shall do and
perform such other duties as maybe assigned to him or her by the
Board of Directors. The President shall appoint the chairperson
of all ad hoc or special committees and shall also serve as voting
member of all standing, ad hoc and special committees. The President
shall serve as the official spokesperson for the Association.
Section 3. President-elect, Duties Defined - In
the absence of the President, or in the event of inability or refusal
of the President to act the President-elect shall perform the duties
of the President. When so acting, he/she shall have all the powers
of and be subject to all the restrictions upon the President. The
President-elect shall perform such other duties as from time to
time may be assigned to him or her by the President or the Board
of Directors.
Section 4. Secretary, Duties Defined - The Secretary
shall keep the minutes of the Board and Association meetings, as
well as a record of all correspondence sent or received by or on
behalf of the Association. The Secretary will ensure the mailing
of meeting notices, agendas, and previous meeting minutes to all
Association and/or Board members. The Secretary will also perform
such other duties as from time to time may be assigned to him or
her by the President of the Board of Directors.
Section 5.Treasurer, Duties Defined - The Treasurer
shall have the custody of all funds, property and securities of
the Association, subject to such regulations as maybe imposed on
the Board of Directors. The Treasurer shall endorse, on behalf of
the Association for collection, checks, notes and other financial
obligations, and shall deposit the same to the credit of the Corporation
at such bank or banks as the Board of Directors may designate. He
or she shall sign all receipts and vouchers, and shall make such
payments as may be necessary or proper to be made on behalf of the
Association. The Treasurer shall enter regularly on the books of
the Association, to be kept by him or her, for the purpose of full
and accurate account of all monies and obligations received and
paid for or on account of the Corporation. The Treasurer shall,
in general, perform all the duties incident to the office of Treasurer,
and perform such other duties as from time to time may be assigned
to him or her by the Board of Directors.
Article VI - Meetings
Section 1. Regular Meetings - Regular meetings
of the Association shall be held at least four times per year at
a time a place to be determined by the Board of Directors. Notice
of regular meetings shall be deemed adequate if given at least fourteen
days prior to the meeting date.
Section 2. Annual Meeting - The Annual Meeting
of the Association shall be held in conjunction with The Annual
Conference. Notice of the Annual Meeting shall be deemed adequate
if given at least thirty days prior to the meeting.
Section 3. Special Meetings - special Meetings
may be called at any time by the Board of Directors or when requested
by a majority of the membership present. Notice of such meetings
shall be deemed adequate if given at least fourteen days prior to
the meeting date. A report of business conducted shall be provided
at the next general meeting.
Section 4. Quorum - A quorum shall be a majority
of the professional membership of the Association who are present.
A quorum shall be required in order to conduct business at any and
all meetings of the Association.
Article VII - Committees
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Section 1. Committees, General - The Association
shall have the following standing committees: Certification, Membership,
Legislative, Education and Training, Nominations, and Ethics and
Standards. Each standing committee shall be directed by a chairperson
who shall be elected by the professional members for a two-year
term, and shall be a member of the Board of directors. The President,
through the Board of Directors shall have the authority to create
a standing committee with approval of the general membership. The
members (other than the elected chairperson) of each standing committee
shall be appointed by the chairperson with the advice and consent
of the Board of Directors.
2. Membership Committee, Duties Defined - The Membership Committee
shall be directly accountable to the Board of Directors. The Committee
shall:
a.) Solicit professional and associate membership
statewide for members meeting membership qualifications.
b.) Maintain a database of active membership,
denoting professional an associate membership status and provide
recruitment.
c.) Act upon all membership applications
and questions of eligibility.
d.) Publish, as requested, a listing of
members and member agencies including addresses and phone numbers
e.) Will coordinate or provide hospitality
services to Association meetings.
Section 2.Legislative Committee, Duties Defined:
The function of the Legislative Committee shall be to review all
relevant legislation regarding domestic violence, certification,
racism, sexism and homophobia and submit a brief summary of such
legislation to the Board of Directors suggesting possible response
by the Association as to impact or implementation of said legislation.
Section 3. Nominations Committee, Duties Defined:
The Nominating committee shall submit a proposed slate of officers
at the last general meeting of the year, at which time additional
nominations from the floor shall be accepted. Voting will be by
mail written ballot from the currently active professional membership
of the Association with the results announced at the first general
membership meeting of the following year.
Section 4. Education and Training Committee, Duties Defined
- This committee shall:
a.) Collect, maintain and disseminate educational,
training, and research information of interest to Association members
b.) Develop training programs for general
and special meetings
c.) Plan and organize an annual training
conference, as directed and budgeted by the Board of Directors
Section 5. Ethics and Standards Committee, Duties Defined:
The Ethics and Standards Committee will be charged with proposing
a set of ethical standards acceptable to the membership and create
a complaint procedure available to serve those members who feel
harmed by the conduct of an Association member. The Ethics and Standards
Committee will create a system to monitor these complaints and will
report the status of these complaints to the Board of Directors.
The Ethics and Standards Committee will make recommendations to
the Board of Directors in those cases where members have demonstrated
an inability or unwillingness to support those standards adopted
by the Association. The Ethics and Standards Committee will create
a manual for Domestic Violence Counselor Supervision Standards that
will be made available to all members. The Ethics and Standards
Committee will establish a system of peer review and consultation
so that a high level of professional competence can be developed
and maintained with services offered by the members of the Association.
Section 6. Certification Committee, Duties Defined:
The Certification committee is responsible for developing and maintaining
a Certification Board and all review courses and testing for individual
domestic violence perpetrator treatment provider certification.
The board will be made up of a minimum of four members who are supervisory
level providers. This board shall have input from an advisory committee
made up of individuals from perpetrator treatment, victim services,
criminal justice and department of corrections. Through various
finding sources, a person will be hired to maintain the certification
records, process applications and provide administrative services
to the association. This person may be the secretary of the association
board.
Section 7. Ad Hoc Committees - The President, through
the Board of Directors, shall have the authority to appoint ad hoc
committees to perform a specific task or tasks within a specific
time period. Unlike the chairpersons of standing committees, the
chair of ad hoc committees shall not serve as a member of the Board
of Directors.
Article VIII - Elections
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Section 1. Term of Office, Qualifications - The
term of office for all elected officials shall be two-years. Any
professional member in good standing at the time of elections is
eligible to be nominated for office.
Section 2. Voting - A simple majority vote of the
currently active professional membership is necessary to validate
any election. The Nominations committee shall confer with the Membership
committee chairperson to verify voters' professional membership
status before validating the election results.
Article IX - Fiscal Year
The fiscal year of the Association shall commence January 1 of each
year and end December 31.
Article X - Order of Business
At all meetings of members, the Board of directors, or committees
established pursuant to these By-Laws, Roberts Rules of Order Revised
shall control and govern the order of business.
Article XI - Amendments
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The By-Laws may be altered, amended, or repealed at any meeting
of members of the Association by a majority vote of all the currently
active professional members present and voting either in person
or by proxy, provided that the proposed action, in specific language,
is inserted in the notice of such a meeting. The President may instead
direct that the proposed by-laws amendment(s) be brought to a vote
by written mail-ballot of the full professional membership.
Article XII - Indemnification
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To the full extent permitted by the Washington Non-Profit Corporation
Act, the Association may indemnify any person who was or is a party
or is threatened to be made a party to any civil, criminal, administrative
or investigative action, suit or proceeding by reason of the fact
that he or she was a Director of the corporation, again expenses,
including attorney's fees, judgments, fines and amounts paid in
settlement actually and reasonably incurred by him or her in connection
with such action, suit or proceeding; and the Board of Directors
may, at any time, approve indemnification of any other person which
the corporation has power to indemnify under the Washington Non-Profit
Corporation Act. The indemnification provided by this section shall
not be deemed exclusive of any other rights to which a person may
be entitled as a matter of law or contract.
Article XIII - Prohibition Against Sharing in Corporate Earnings
No member, director, officer, member of a committee, or any other
person connected with the Association, or any other private individual
shall receive, at any time, any of the net earnings or pecuniary
profit from the operations of the Corporation; provided that this
shall not prevent the payment to any such person such reasonable
compensation for services rendered to or for the Association in
effecting any of its purposes as shall be fixed by the Board of
Directors; and no such person or persons shall be entitled to share
in the distribution of any of the corporate assets upon the dissolution
of the Corporation. All members of the Corporation shall be deemed
to have expressly consented and agreed that, upon such dissolution
of the Corporation, whether voluntary or involuntary, the assets
of the Corporation, after al debts have been satisfied, then remaining
in the hands of the Board of Directors, shall be distributed, transferred,
conveyed, delivered and paid over in such amounts as the Board of
Directors determine or as may be determined by a court of competent
jurisdiction upon application of the Board of Directors exclusively
to organizations which would then qualify under provisions of Section
501 C (3) of the Internal Revenue code and its regulations as they
now exist or as they may hereafter be amended.
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