American Theological Library

“There are six membership categories: 1) institutional members - libraries at higher education institutions that support programs in theology or religious studies and that are accredited by an authority recognized by the u.s. Department of education, council of higher education accreditation, or the equivalent thereof in other jurisdictions; or a non-degree granting organization that maintains a significant collection primarily of theological, religious, or ecclesiastical research material. 2) individual members - any person who is engaged in professional library or scholarly communications work in theological or religious fields or who has a bona fide interest in this area or the work of the association. 3) affiliate members - organizations that do not qualify for institutional membership, but have a demonstrated record of support for theological librarianship and the work of the association. 4) student members - students enrolled in a degree program who are carrying a half-time course load or greater. 5) retired members - persons who have fully retired from gainful employment and who have also been an individual member continuously for the immediately preceding ten-year period. 6) emeritus members - persons who have been an individual or retired member continuously for the immediately preceding ten-year period.”

“The membership annually elects the board of directors”

“Any changes to bylaws must be voted upon by the entire membership either via electronic ballot or by those present at the annual meeting.”

“Form 990 is first reviewed by the executive director and director of financial services. Then the board of directors reviews and approves the form prior to filing.”

“Annually, each board member completes a conflict of interest statement of disclosure. The president, vice-president, chair of the governance committee, and the executive director review the forms. If there are any actual, potential or perceived conflicts of interest, these issues are brought to the next board meeting for discussion and resolution. Specific procedures for resolution, outlined in the board policy manual, include the option to ask board members to recuse themselves from relevant votes and/or leave the room during relevant discussions and votes. When the conflict of interest is real, the board member may be asked to remedy or withdraw from the situation or to resign from the board. Each staff member completes a conflict of interest statement of disclosure annually, which is reviewed by the executive director and the director of financial services. Any actual, potential or perceived conflicts of interest are discussed with the staff member. If the conflict of interest is real, the staff member is asked to remedy or withdraw from the situation or resign.”

“Each year, data is compiled and reviewed by the board. For the organization's executive director, one of the primary data sets was entitled, "association forum compensation and benefits for executive director, was produced by association forum. The other data was comparability, and was custom created and gathered from the form 990s of peer organizations.”

“For other director level positions, one of the primary data sets was entitled, "association forum compensation and benefits report", which provides data for membership associations operating in the greater chicago area. The data was used as benchmark for setting appropriate salaries for director level positions, using years of experience and education level into account. The data is reviewed and approved by the executive director and the deliberation and decision is documented by the organization's hr department.”

“The governing documents, conflict of interest policy and financial statements are available upon request for the same period of disclosure as set forth in irc section 6104(d).”