What is ex officio member

Using the example from above, this law means that the Executive Director of Nonprofit B would be qualified to be an ex officio Board member for Nonprofit A only for the time that he or she served as Executive Director of Nonprofit B.

Nonprofit organizations that had certain ex officio members as a way to honor long-term members of the community without giving them a voting position on the Board can still achieve that goal while staying within the bounds of the Corporations Code. One way to do that is, instead of calling such people ex officio Board members, the nonprofit can instead honor them as Directors Emeritus or Honorary Advisors.

Learn More About ex officio. Time Traveler for ex officio The first known use of ex officio was in See more words from the same year. Style: MLA. English Language Learners Definition of ex officio. Legal Definition of ex officio. More from Merriam-Webster on ex officio Thesaurus: All synonyms and antonyms for ex officio. Get Word of the Day daily email! Test Your Vocabulary. The person serving should be serving by virtue of an office or position they hold, not simply be a representative of a group.

If the desire is to allow non-board members or non-members the right to attend meetings, offer input and receive notices and minutes but not vote, then listing those positions in the bylaws as ex-officio, non — voting may be appropriate.

Remember, ex-officio members have all the rights of membership and thus may serve in the capacity as any other member. I challenge organizations to think through the purpose of ex-officio members.

If someone by the nature of their position is worthy enough to attend your meetings, make motions and deliberate, why would you not allow them to vote? If the participation of a person being invited to attend board meetings is limited, then perhaps rather than listing them as ex-officio, they should be described in their precise capacity thereby reducing confusion about their purpose on the board.

This is one of several articles on parliamentary procedure and how to conduct more effective organizational meetings. Mary has a liberal arts degree from Goddard College and spends her free time reading, cooking, and exploring the great outdoors. Mary McMahon. Please enter the following code:. Login: Forgot password?