CONSTITUTION

ARTICLE I - Name

1. The Association shall be known as Bengali Cultural Association of Arizona.

ARTICLE II - Address

1. The address of the association will be the address of the current president of the association, unless otherwise notified.

ARTICLE III - Mission and Objectives of the association

1. To organize and celebrate Bengali social, cultural and spiritual events.
2. To promote appreciation and understanding of Bengali culture, language and traditions.
3. To teach the children of the Bengali and international community, the Bengali language, culture and traditions.
4. To co-operate with other diverse, cultural groups and regional organizations in promoting and sharing Indian culture and traditions.
5. To start a newsletter which will act as a vehicle of sharing information and ideas amongst the members of the association.
6. The association does not discriminate based on race, religion, caste, creed, nationality or sex.

ARTICLE IV - Membership and payment of dues

1. Anyone desiring to further the objectives of the association, can become a member of the Association. Membership must be renewed annually through the payment of annual dues. Annual membership will start on the 1^st of January of each calendar year and end on the 31^st of December of that year. Membership can be obtained at any time of the year upon payment of the annual dues for the calendar year. The amount of annual dues will be decided by the committee at it’s annual meeting.
2. Membership shall remain in effect unless disapproved by the general membership, as long as the member remains in good standing, having paid all current dues, and abides by the constitution. In order to vote, one must be a fully paid member. Each member of the Association shall be entitled to one vote.

ARTICLE V - Executive committee    

1.  An executive committee, hereinafter called the committee, shall conduct the affairs of the association. The committee shall consist of three executive directors and six members elected by the General membership. Nominations will be solicited for the six sub-committee secretaries. Elections will be conducted only if the number of nominations for the posts of sub-committee secretaries exceeds six. There will be a total of nine members in BCAA executive committee. In case the General Body is unable to elect all sub-committee members, Executive Directors (President, General Secretary and Treasurer) will attempt to recruit and nominate any remaining sub-committee secretaries within 30 days of election. The committee members will be elected for a two-year term. In case a committee member is not able to serve out the full two years, the committee as a whole can nominate interim members to serve out the term until the next election. If there are more than two vacancies anticipated at the end of a first year of a two year term – a mid-term election will be held at the end of the first year to fill all vacant positions. A student liaison shall be appointed by the Executive Directors to facilitate communication with the current student membership. Only members of the association are eligible to be on the committee. The term of each committee shall start on 1^st of January. The committee shall serve in a voluntary capacity. The committee shall be responsible to the membership.
2. No member of the committee may serve more than two consecutive terms (four years) in any capacity. However, they may serve again after taking a break of two years. 
3. The committee shall consist of the following executive directors and sub committee secretaries –

o       President – The president shall be the chief executive office of the organization and shall have the general powers and duties of supervision and management. He or she shall preside over all general and executive body meetings, and shall have general supervision, direction and control of business of association. The president has no special powers. The committee must confirm all executive decisions.

o       General Secretary – The general secretary shall give, or cause to be given, notice of all meetings of the Association, social and cultural events, and all other notices required by the constitution. In case of his or her absence, any person hereunto directed by the president may give any such notice. He or she shall record all proceedings of meetings of the committee. The general secretary shall assume all responsibilities of the president in his or her absence. 

o       Treasurer – The treasurer shall have custody of all funds and securities of the Association, and shall keep full and accurate accounts of receipts and disbursements. He or she shall deposit all monies or other valuables in the credit account of the Association, on a regular basis. He or she will be responsible for IRS tax returns and audited tax reports.

o       Sub Committee secretaries – There will be a total of six Sub Committee secretaries who will head various sub-committees. The President and General Secretary may be part of a maximum of two Sub Committees each (in any capacity). The Treasurer must lead the Finance and Audit sub-committee.

Sub-committees members – Sub-committee member have no voting  power on legal, compliance or financial matters. The purpose of sub-committees is to help executive committee to perform various BCAA functions. There is no term limit for sub-committee members; each new committee is strongly encouraged to use a combination of experienced and new BCAA members (including youth members) during formation of the sub-committees. Each sub-committee secretary will nominate two other members who will server as part of the corresponding sub-committee. All nominated sub-committee member musts be approved by BCAA executive committee. The Executive Directors will also have the authority to appoint task-specific sub-committees (in addition to the ones mention below) until the task is completed. 

o  Puja co-ordination – This sub-committee will co-ordinate all Puja-related activities.

o       Food and Drinks – This sub-committee will be responsible for all food and drinks related activities for all BCAA events as well as selling food items during food festivals.

o       Finance and Audit – The committee consists of the Treasurer and two other members to perform all finance-related matters of the organization. This committee will be responsible for BCAA revenue generation such annual subscription, advertisements, etc.

o       Logistics, WEB site support and Decoration – This sub-committee will be responsible for transportation support, WEB site support and Protima/Pandal decoration.  

o       Cultural program and magazine – This sub-committee will be responsible for all cultural program related activities. This committee will also publish BCAA magazines.

o       Youth and Sports sub-committee – This committee will organize youth-related activities such as youth camps, cricket matches, etc.   

o       Membership and Planning – The goal of this committee will to increase the ‘paid-up’ membership of BCAA, and work with the community to come up with accurate estimates of attendance at future events.  

ARTICLE VI - Banking and Accounts

 ARTICLE VII - Rules of Order

1. All meetings shall generally be conducted in accordance with Robert’s rules of order. Membership meetings may adopt other rules of procedure as required for the conduct of their business.

ARTICLE VIII - General Meeting Membership

1. Unless otherwise specified in the by-laws, there shall be at least one annual general meeting. Other general membership meetings may be called when necessary by the committee. A general membership. Meeting can also be called when at least twenty-five percent of the membership requests it by a petition to the Committee. 
2. The following items shall be included in the agenda of the annual membership meeting:

o       President’s report

o       Discussion and approval of the Treasurer’s report 

o    Election of the new Committee

ARTICLE IX - Quorum

1.      For Committee meetings, at least sixty percent of the elected members must be present to constitute a quorum. For general membership meetings, at least forty percent of the members must be present to form a quorum. 2.      The following motions in order to be carried shall require a quorum of fifty one percent of the general membership and two-thirds majority of those present:

§         Removal of a committee member

§         Expulsion of a member from the Association

ARTICLE X - By-laws

1. By-laws can be proposed by either the committee or the general membership. They are adopted only if approved by a majority vote at a general meeting or when approved by an order voting procedure specified by the general membership.
2. The by-laws shall complement the Constitution of the Association. In cases of conflict between the by-laws and the constitution, the Constitution shall prevail.

ARTICLE XI - Executive committee election

1. Executive committee election shall be by secret ballot at the annual general meeting to be held at the biggest social event e.g. Durga Puja festival. In this ballot, the members present at the annual general meeting shall vote by writing in their choice for President, and the four committee members. Each member, above the age of eighteen, is entitled to one vote.
2. A general member shall be entitled to vote by proxy for another general member, provided prior written authorization is obtained from such an absentee general member. Such written authorization shall be on formal proxy forms to be provided by the Association for future examination/verification by the members.
3. The President and executive committee members shall be elected based on majority vote. In case of tie votes, another secret vote shall be conducted for the tied position(s) only.
4. The election shall be conducted by the Executive Committee in power.
5. Any member of the community can nominate another for a Committee position. For each position there shall be one or more nominees proposed by the members. If the member is a write in nominee, he/she must garner more than fifty percent of the total votes cast.
6. A nomination is valid if all the following conditions are met:
   1. At least two members support the nominee
   2. The nominee is present, except for instances of illness and/or emergencies
   3. The member accepts the nomination
7. After the completion of the nomination process, the general membership will be asked to vote. A member can be elected to only one position. Therefore, once elected to a position, he/she shall no longer be eligible for any other position, even if he/she receives the maximum votes for another position.
8. In counting the votes, an order shall be maintained with the votes for the President counted first, followed by that of the General Secretary, Treasurer, Cultural Secretary and the Executive member. The member who receives the maximum votes for a position is elected to that position, except in the event that he/she has already been elected to another position. Then the person with the next highest vote count will be elected to the position.
9. A vacancy arising due to a committee member ceasing to hold office shall be filled through a special election.
10. The outgoing committee shall hand over all documents, funds and inventories to the newly elected committee at a joint meeting of the two committees.

ARTICLE XII - Voting on other issues

1. Voting on other issues can be at an either general membership meeting or, if the committee or the general membership decides, by mail balloting. A majority vote will decide all issues, irrespective of the voting procedure. Voting can be either by a show of hands or by secret ballot at a general meeting as desired by the general membership.
2. A majority vill decide all issues in the committee, provided a quorum is available. The Committee can use mail or phone balloting among it’s members if necessary.

ARTICLE XIII - Amendments

ARTICLE XIV - Dissolution