Approved by vote of the Samvera Partners, April 2021.
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Samvera operates as a distinct series entity hosted by the OASIS Open Development Foundation, LLC, under the Charter and Series Agreement attached as APPENDIX B.
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The Samvera Board of Directors (formerly the Samvera Steering Group) shall consist of nine (9) voting members. Board of Directors shall be individuals nominated and supported in their participation by a Samvera Partner institution. No two members of the Board of Directors shall be supported concurrently by the same Partner institution. Should a Board of Directors member move institutions, such that this bylaw causes an ambiguity, the Board will work with Partners to resolve it.
Members of the Samvera Board of Directors are elected to serve for a term of three (3) years. They may not serve more than two contiguous three-year terms, but in any case shall serve until replaced.
Board of Directors elections shall be held each Fall for three (3) of the nine seats in rotation. Each Partner institution shall exercise one vote in this process and at least two-thirds of the Partners must cast a ballot for the process to be valid. Candidates for Board of Directors elections must have the explicit support of a Samvera Partner institution.
Decisions in the Board of Directors shall be made by consensus; in the event that consensus cannot be reached, decisions shall be reached by a simple majority of those voting, at a duly called quorate meeting.
Board members can resign at any time with notification to the other members and the Partners. Board members can be removed by a recommendation adopted by the Board of Directors and then ratified by a simple majority vote of the Partners.
In the event that a seat on the Board of Directors becomes vacant part way through a three-year term, an election to fill the seat shall be held as soon as practicable. The successful candidate is elected to serve the remainder of the three year term. In the event that this period is less than twelve months their tenure extends to include the next three year period and they may, at the end of it, stand for a further contiguous three-year term.
The Board of Directors shall elect a Chair and Chair-Elect, each for a one-year term. The Chair-Elect succeeds to the position of Chair immediately following their term. The Chair, working in close collaboration with the Chair-Elect, will facilitate Board meetings and act as the conduit for communication with any hired Samvera staff. The Chair shall serve as the Executive Director of the organization until such time as the Board of Directors designates a staff person or another officer to do so; that role shall include administrative functions such as the calling of meetings and administration of ballots required by these Bylaws.
The Board of Directors may include any Samvera staff in its meetings and calls as non-voting, ex-officio contributors. It may also co-opt members of the Samvera Community as non-voting participants should this be beneficial to its work.
The Board of Directors will meet virtually each calendar month with additional calls as required. The Board of Directors will hold at least one dedicated face-to-face meeting each year when practical.
The Board of Directors provides stewardship and central administration of the Community; they are responsible for helping create the structures to see that critical tasks are addressed, and backstopping the Partners' group in the event that they do not fulfill these critical tasks.
The Board of Directors may adopt such other standing rules or practices as it may choose to approve, by publishing them to the Partners, so long as they do not contradict these Bylaws or the OASIS Open Development Foundation LLC Operating Rules.
These Bylaws should be reviewed by Board of Directors members and by the Partners each year. These bylaws may be modified at any time by an absolute 2/3 majority vote of the Samvera Partners, based on a written proposal from any Partner, but only after the proposed amendment is first circulated to the Board of Directors for comment.
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Certain provisions for management, finance and Partner eligibility are provided in the Appendices to these Bylaws.
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The Samvera Board of Directors shall maintain a permanent Finance Subcommittee to deal with routine financial matters. The Subcommittee shall comprise no fewer than four members of the Board of Directors including the Chair and Chair-Elect. In addition, the Board of Directors may co-opt as needed onto the Subcommittee any Samvera staff and up to two non-Board of Directors members with appropriate skills and expertise to further its work; such additional members shall not have voting powers.
Formal decisions of the Finance Subcommittee require a majority vote of its voting membership. If the Subcommittee is deadlocked over a particular decision or wishes to defer, the matter shall be referred to the full Board of Directors.
Samvera’s assets and finances shall be administered by the Host LLC, with supervision from the Board of Directors and Finance Subcommittee, as provided in the Samvera’s annual budget and the OASIS Open Development Foundation, LLC Operating Rules.
The Finance Committee shall propose and the Board of Directors shall approve an annual budget for each fiscal year, which then shall be submitted for consent to the Samvera Partners using the Samvera Partners' mailing list. Partners who have not expressed a view within seven days of notification shall be deemed to support the proposal. The Board of Directors is responsible to the Samvera Partners for ensuring that expenditure of Samvera’s monies is consistent with the annual budget, and any potential expenditure which falls outside the budget shall be referred back to the Partners for approval.
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The Finance Subcommittee shall have day-to-day responsibility for managing the Samvera Community's monies. The Samvera Finance Subcommittee Chair shall serve as Samvera’s Treasurer and primary point of contact for financial matters, until such time as the Board of Directors either designates a separate staff member or other officer as Treasurer.
The Treasurer and Finance Subcommittee must make periodic reports, and upon request, to the full Board of Directors. In particular, the Subcommittee must approve and report on each set of periodic financial reports from the Host LLC.
The Subcommittee must make an annual report to the full Board of Directors and to the Samvera Partners.
The Treasurer (and any assistant Treasurer appointed by the Board of Directors) shall be empowered to authorize routine transactions (e.g. payments to vendors) up to the value of $1000 without prior permission from the Board of Directors provided only that the authorizing email be copied to all members of the Board of Directors; and
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and shall be empowered to authorize transactions exceeding $1000 [that are not already approved in the annual budget] only with the prior, majority agreement of the Board of Directors.
This financial governance document shall be reviewed by the Board of Directors annually. Any resulting minor changes should be notified to the Partner list. Any major changes should be voted on by the Partners. Partners who have not expressed a view within seven days of notification shall be deemed to support the proposal.
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Bylaws APPENDIX B: LLC Series Agreement
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