National Student Nurses’ Association
Bylaws, Policies and Procedures Guidelines for
Starting an Official NSNA Chapter
Policies, Procedures, and Bylaws
A policy is a tool to regulate or direct an action. Policies are formed from decisions taken by the governing authority of the organization or the administration. Bylaws are standing rules. Bylaws govern the regulation of an organization's internal affairs and are adopted and maintained by the association (Jacobs, 1986). Both policies and bylaws are important to student organizations because they provide a method to operate consistently from year to year. This is particularly important in a student organization which changes leadership annually.
Policies are guiding principles; procedures are working methods. Policies reflect the thinking of an organization's leaders in matters of importance to an association, both internally and externally. Internal policies guide decisions related to the organizational mission, its purposes and structure. External policies reflect the association's thinking and philosophy and relate to positions on various issues facing the association which can affect the membership, the profession, and the population served by nurses.
Some basic internal policies set forth in the association's bylaws may include:
Membership eligibility and categories.
Officers, board and committee policy, titles, board size, tenure of board members, executive committee's role, committee structure, and responsibilities of various board members.
Financial policies relating to reimbursement for expenses, dues and reserves, financial controls, and membership accounting.
Meetings, quorum, and voting rights.
Nominations and elections.
Official publication
Filling vacancies
Parliamentary authority
One of the oldest and most respected guides for the development and maintenance of bylaws is Robert's Rules of Order Newly Revised (Robert's). This excellent reference contains a wealth of information on all aspects of bylaws and policies. NSNA encourages all school constituents to have at least one copy of Robert's available during meetings as a reference tool.
Development of Policies
The development of policies in school associations is related to the needs of the particular organization. Policies are often developed in response to internal and external events that call for an "official" response or position to be taken by the association. Policies may be adopted by the board of directors, the executive committee (to be ratified by the full board at the next meeting), and by the voting body (house of delegates or voting membership in a school association or assembly of voting members at the state level).
Policies start out as main motions or resolutions, are seconded, and then opened for discussion. Following discussion, a vote is taken and the motion or resolution either passes or fails. Majority vote is normally required for passage unless other provisions have been made. Once the motion or resolution is adopted, it becomes the position of the association until another motion or resolution changes or negates it. There are very specific rules regarding motions and resolutions which can be found in Robert's.
Examples of Policies
An example of a policy at the school level might be the passage of a main motion by the voting body to support the activities of a specific community organization that helps homeless people. The motion might read:
It is moved and seconded to provide volunteer assistance to the Metropolitan Homeless Shelter during the upcoming academic year.
The terms of this motion are clear: the time frame does not bind the next board to support the program and the motion is very specific about the organization it will support. Note that the motion does not commit financial resources. However, it does call for volunteer assistance. To implement this motion, the board of directors will need to designate a committee (preferably one that is already in existence such as the community projects committee) to coordinate volunteer participation. The president will notify the Metropolitan Homeless Shelter of the position and establish a liaison relationship with the Shelter to coordinate volunteer participation.
It is important to point out that school associations should focus their policy decisions on local activities rather than on national or state activities. For example, it would be senseless for a school chapter to take a position to support a New York City homeless shelter when the chapter is in Los Angeles, California unless it has the resources to support the travel and maintenance of its volunteers to participate. Generally, school policies relate to the nursing program or to the college or university, and to local community affairs.
NSNA constituents and members can bring forth motions and resolutions to both their state association and to the national association. Information about bringing resolutions to the annual NSNA House of Delegates can be found in Getting the Pieces to Fit and the Resolutions Handbook (available from NSNA or from the NSNA Web Site: http://www.nsna.org; click on Publications). Check with your state association regarding the procedure for bringing resolutions to the state's annual meeting. States have their own set of procedures and guidelines, many of which appear in the state's bylaws or policy manual.
Policy development on the level of the school board of directors might take the shape of managing internal operations such as developing a policy that all board members must have written reports for presentation at each meeting. Since members at the school level meet frequently, it is generally accepted procedure to have members more involved in the decision-making of the organizations.
Examples of Procedures:
After approval, the secretary shall file one copy of the minutes in the association's files. All reports will be attached to the minutes.
The secretary shall distribute copies of minutes along with the agenda for the upcoming meeting to all board members at least 5 days prior to the next meeting.
Following approval of the expenditure, disbursement checks will be signed by both the treasurer and the president or the vice president.
To be considered for reimbursement, all requests must be received in writing with receipts attached at least 3 days prior to the board meeting.
The list can go on and on. Generally, procedures are developed by each officer or committee and presented to the board for approval. Once a procedure is in place, it remains in place until a new procedure is adopted to replace it. Proposals for procedures should be in the form of a main motion. Procedures should be short and to the point, easy to implement, and should be reasonable and fair. It is prudent to review procedures yearly and to update them as necessary.
When developing procedures, consider the following:
Who is involved in implementing the procedure?
Should there be a time frame built into the procedure?
How will the procedure be communicated to those involved in its implementation?
Has it been tried in the past and has it worked?
How do like organization's manage this particular matter?
Will the procedure be a burden and will it obstruct efficient management of the association?
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