Constitution and Bylaws

The Constitution and Bylaws of the Society are reproduced below.  They are also available in two convenient formats for saving to disk and/or printing:

CONSTITUTION 

Article 1 – NAME

Section 1 – The name of the organization shall be the Vatican Philatelic Society.

Article 2 - OBJECT

Section 1 – The object of the Society shall be to promote the collecting of stamps of the Pontifical State and Vatican City State, and to provide the opportunity for the exchange of knowledge concerning them.

Article 3 – MEMBERSHIP

Section 1 – Any person interested in the stamps of the Pontifical State and the Vatican City State may become a member.

Section 2 – All members shall pay dues as hereinafter provided and shall be entitled to all privileges of the Society and shall receive the official organ of the Society, Vatican Notes, and other publications which are distributed free of charge.

Article 4 – OFFICERS

Section 1 – The officers of the Society shall be a President, a Vice-President, a Secretary, and a Treasurer.

Section 2 – The President shall appoint committees and the consultative position(s) of Governor- At- Large, as required; shall have general direction of the affairs of the Society; and shall perform such other duties as are generally associated with this office.

Section 3 – The Vice-President shall perform the duties of the President when the President is unable to do them himself.

Section 4 – The Secretary shall keep a record of all the decisions of the Board of Governors; handle all correspondence of the Society; and perform any other duties as are generally associated with this office. The Secretary shall render an annual report for publication in the official organ.

Section 5 – The Treasurer shall have custody of the funds of the Society; shall receive membership dues and all monies of the Society for deposit into the accounts of the Society; shall pay all of the bills of the Society on approval as provided in the bylaws; and shall perform other such duties as are generally associated with this office. The Treasurer shall render an annual report for publication in the official organ.

Article 5 - BOARD OF GOVERNORS

Section 1 – The Board of Governors shall consist of the President, Vice-President, Secretary, and Treasurer.

Section 2 – The business affairs of the Society shall be managed and controlled by the Board of Governors, acting through the President.

Section 3 – The Board of Governors shall have the power to fill vacancies that may occur among the elected officers until the following election.

Section 4 – The Board of Governors shall have the power to expel any member for cause.

Article 6 - AMENDMENTS

Section 1 – The Constitution may be amended any time by a two-thirds vote of those members who vote on the amendment, provided that such amendment shall have been presented in writing to the Secretary and have been published in an issue of the official organ at least thirty [30] days prior to the day on which the votes are counted.

BYLAWS

Article 1 – DUES

Section 1 – All members who reside in the United States and Canada shall pay annual dues as noted in a current Membership Application. Members in all other countries shall pay dues as noted in a current Membership Application. Membership dues may be reviewed by the Board of Governors and adjusted accordingly as deemed necessary and appropriate. Any changes shall be published in the official organ of the Society 90 days before the effective date.

Section 2 – To encourage members to pay dues in a timely manner, members who remit dues prior to the due date of July 1st are entitled to a discount as noted in a current Membership Application.

Section 3 – Family membership is open to all members of one family residing at the same address. Family membership shall consist of the member, spouse and all children of the member and spouse up to age 21. Family membership dues shall be as noted in a current Membership Application.

Section 4 – There shall be no Lifetime Membership, but anyone who is currently a Life Member shall retain that status. 

Article 2 – ADMISSION

Section 1 – Any person desiring to become a member shall make an application on an approved form, answering such questions as may properly be asked, and being recommended by a member. This application, when completed, shall be delivered to the Membership Chairman accompanied by the current dues. The Membership Chairman shall process all applications as hereinafter described and accept as members all applicants who meet the stated requirements.

Section 2 – Any person who has been dropped from membership in the Society because of non-payment of dues may be reinstated upon application and payment of dues.

Article 3 - FISCAL YEAR

Section 1 – The fiscal year shall extend from July 1 of each year to June 30th of the following year.

Article 4 – VOTING

Section 1 – All voting shall be done by mail.

Section 2 – All voting shall be done by majority vote of the members voting except as provided elsewhere.

Article 5 - TERM OF OFFICE  

Section 1 – All elected officers shall serve for a period of two years ending on August 1st in each even-numbered year, or until their successors have been elected. If appointed to fill a vacancy, their term of office shall be until the next biennial election, at which time the duly elected officers shall take office.

Article 6 - OFFICIAL ORGAN

Section 1 – The official organ of the Society shall be Vatican Notes.

Section 2 – The official organ shall be published on a bimonthly basis and distributed free to all Society members.

Article 7 - MEMBERSHIP CHAIRMAN 

Section 1 – The President shall appoint a Membership Chairman at the beginning of each fiscal year, said chairman not being an elected officer.

Section 2 – It shall be the duty of the Membership Chairman to handle all applications and correspondence relating thereto. He shall review all applications, make such investigations as may be deemed necessary, invite comments from members concerning applicants, and report monthly to the Board of Governors listing all new applicants. If no objections are received from the Board of Governors or members during the monthly period between reports to the Board of Governors, the applicants shall be declared members and the Secretary shall be so notified.

Article 8 - NOMINATIONS AND BALLOTING

Section 1 – Nominations for all new candidates to any of the elected offices (President, Vice-President, Secretary and Treasurer) shall be prepared in duplicate on a Nomination Petition (copy may be obtained from the Secretary) and must be signed. The nominee must be endorsed by a minimum of four [4] members in good standing who are not nominees. One copy of this Nomination Petition shall be submitted to the Secretary and the second to the editor of the official organ (Vatican Notes). In addition, this nomination must be accompanied by a letter, signed by the nominee, stating that if elected they will accept the office.

Section 1a – Current officers willing to accept re-election to their current position shall also submit a letter to the Secretary and Editor so stating.

Section 2 – All nominations must be submitted by April 1st of each even-numbered year.

Section 3 – A ballot shall be prepared by the editor of the official organ listing the names of the nominees which were received in the prescribed manner, without provision for write-in votes. Said ballot shall be mailed with the May issue of the official organ in each even-numbered year and shall be returnable to the Secretary.

Section 4 – All ballots must be in the hands of the Secretary by July 1st of each even-numbered year to be valid.

Article 9 - OTHER COMMITTEES

Section 1 – The President shall appoint other committees as shall be required at any time. He shall designate their duties and terms of office.

Article 10 – AMENDMENTS

Section 1 – These bylaws may be amended at any time by a two-thirds vote of those members who vote on the amendment, provided that such proposed amendment shall have been presented in writing to the Secretary and have been published in an issue of the official organ which was mailed at least thirty days prior to the day on which the votes were counted.