Article I – Name and Description
Article II – Purpose
The purpose
of the
1. Promote
the breed by exhibiting the highest standards of conduct when showing,
educating, or engaging in sales or other transactions regarding the
2. Promote awareness and education about the Norwegian Forest Cat by mentoring and exchanging breed information within the Norwegian Forest Cat Fanciers’ Association and with other Norwegian Forest Cat organizations and by sharing information with the public and prospective Norwegian Forest Cat owners.
A. Membership shall include the following categories: Cattery Owner, Provisional Cattery, Fancier, International Cattery and Honorary.
B. Membership rights shall include access to the Skogkatt publication, participation in non-private membership communications, voting on association activities as permitted by Bylaws.
C. Membership rights shall be limited or suspended at recommendation of Ethics Committee.
D. Membership shall be in one of three levels of voting participation, as defined and limited in the Bylaws and Article IV B of this Constitution.
A. Executive Board – The Executive Board, as elected by the majority of the Level I membership, shall be the governing board of this association and shall be comprised of the Officers and Regional Directors as set forth below.
1. Officers – Eligibility requirements, duties and responsibilities for each office set forth below shall be established in the Bylaws.
a) President
b) Vice President
c) Secretary
d) Treasurer
e) Outreach Mentoring Program Chairman
2. Regional Directors – There shall be Regional Directors for each designated regional area as defined in the Bylaws. Each Regional Director shall be elected by the majority vote of the Level 1 members within the defined regional area. The specific areas included within each of these regions shall be defined in the By-laws. The number of regional areas defined in the Bylaws shall not exceed ten (10) at any time.
B. Voting members – There shall be three (3) voting levels within the membership as set forth below and the voting privileges of each level shall be established in the By-Laws.
1. Level 1members shall have full voting privileges.
2. Level 2 members shall have limited voting privileges.
3. Level 3 members shall have no voting privileges.
C. Election of Executive Board
Executive Board officers shall be determined by the majority vote of Level 1 members in good standing who cast ballots.
D. Procedures for Introducing New Ideas or Changes by the Membership
1. Method for members to make proposals shall be defined in the Bylaws.
2. The procedures for modification of the Bylaws and the Code of Ethics shall be set forth in the Bylaws.
E. Constitutional Amendments
1. A written petition for Constitutional Amendment sponsored by twenty percent (20%) of total Level 1 members, as indicated by their signatures, may be submitted to the Executive Board for consideration. Such petition shall be filed through the President. Each of the twenty percent of total Level 1 petitioners shall have two consecutive years of membership in NFCFA as a Cattery Owner and must be Level 1 members in good standing at the time of the submission of the written petition. The written petition shall be explicit in detail regarding the desired amendment and shall include an accompanying written statement providing the rationale for the requested amendment. Within ten (10) days the President shall forward a copy of the petition to all Executive Board Members. The Executive Board shall be allowed up to one hundred twenty (120) days to discuss, negotiate, and consider the petition. At the end of the 120 day period, the Executive Board shall either make a written recommendation to submit the petition as submitted or as modified, with the consent of a majority of the petitioners, to the Level 1 membership for a vote or shall recommend in writing that such petition not be submitted to the Level 1 membership for voting. Such vote shall be conducted as expeditiously as possible. A two-thirds (2/3) majority vote of the Level 1 membership to approve the amendment shall be required in order to accept any such Constitutional Amendment.
2. Any Executive Board member may submit to the Executive Board, by filing with the President, a written petition for Constitutional Amendment. Once the petition has been filed with the President, it shall be subject to the same procedures as set forth in Section A of this Article above.
Article V - Ethics Committee Guideline
A. The President shall be given the right to appoint an Ethics Committee Chairman as described by Bylaws Article III, Sections B and C.
B. Membership of this committee shall be four members in total, including the ex officio member and the Chairman.
C. A jointly held agreement between Chairman and President shall have the right to change the other two members as deemed necessary to:
1. protect confidentiality, or
2. protect any Ethics Committee members who may be involved in business relationships connected to the dispute to the extent they cannot render an impartial opinion, or
3. avoid conflict of interest if any member of the Ethics Committee be involved in a dispute.
D. Guidelines for the Ethics Committee shall be described in Bylaws Article X.
Article VI -
Disbandment of
A. NFCFA shall not vote to disband as long as there are sufficient Level 1 members to fill 100% of the Executive Board, Officers and Regional Directors, as defined in the Bylaws.
B. In the event of disbandment of this association by the majority of the remaining Cattery Owners (Level 1) members or the President, if deemed necessary, shall:
1. Pay all outstanding bills.
2. Audit the accounts and inventory. Inventory shall be dispersed as Officers majority vote to do so.
3. Any credit balance of money shall be donated for such use as deemed in the best interest of the Norwegian Forest Cat such as, but not limited to, cat health research or Norwegian Forest Cat rescue groups.