CHRISTIAN COUNCIL FOR MONETARY JUSTICE:  CONSTITUTION

1. PURPOSE: To bring together, in association, all who seek as part of their faith, a more just financial system other than that currently in use.

2. NAME: The association shall be called the Christian Council for Monetary Justice [CCMJ]

3. AIMS:
a. To present a Christian Witness as to the true function of a monetary system in society.
b. To examine the working of existing laws and international arrangements which relate to financial institutions especially in regard to their wider economic, social and moral implications.
c. To press for monetary measures that will contribute to economic and social justice throughout the world.
d. To develop and promote an economic reading of the Bible and a biblical reading of the economy
e. To resource the work of economic literacy and popular education around domestic and global issues of economic justice in the faith communities.
f. To seek to enable people far and wide to stimulate a more general awareness of the pertinence of faith to the economic order and in particular to the urgent need to generate monetary reform.

4. MEMBERSHIP:

a. Membership shall be open to persons of the Christian faith who are interested in active furtherance of the aims of the Council and to those of other faiths sympathetic to exploration of monetary justice.

b. Applications for membership shall be deemed to be provisional until accepted by the Executive. Should the Executive decline to accept a membership application, or a renewal of membership, it shall advise in writing the applicant, who shall have the right to appeal the decision to the annual general meeting for final adjudication.

c. Members, paying such financial subscriptions as contributions to the work of the Council as are determined by an annual general meeting, shall be deemed to be full members.

d. The membership of a full member will be deemed to have lapsed twelve months after the date when any financial renewal was due and for the following twelve months it will be deemed to be that of an associate member.

e. Applications for non financial associate membership shall be considered on the same basis as outlined in rule 4b.

5. ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING:

Notice of the annual general meeting shall be given by the Executive to all members at their last known address no later than 14 days prior to the proposed gathering, which shall be held, apart from exceptional circumstances, between the months of September and November. The purpose of the meeting shall be to elect officers for the coming year, receive reports from retiring officers, and attend to any matters brought to the meeting for consideration. Financial accounts for the previous year shall be presented to the meeting, but shall be audited before being approved by the Council.

The annual meeting shall appoint an auditor or auditors to audit the accounts for the following year. The financial year of the Council shall end on 30 June of each year.

6. OFFICERS

Officers of the Council, to be elected at the annual general meeting, shall comprise a chairman, a vice chairman, a secretary and a treasurer. The officers will form the Executive of the Council and shall have the right to co-opt such persons as they deem necessary for the fulfilment of its work. Those co-opted shall not have a vote on any matter requiring a ballot to reach a decision. Any vacancy in elected positions may be filled by the Executive on a temporary basis if necessary until the next annual general meeting.

7. PRESIDENT AND VICE PRESIDENTS

Appointments to the positions of president and vice presidents may be made by the Executive, but shall require to be confirmed at the annual general meeting.

8. MEETINGS OF THE COUNCIL

(a) The Executive may call, or approve of the calling any meeting of the membership at any time between annual general meetings in furtherance of the aims of the Council.

(b) All meetings shall be held at commonly accepted sociable hours and at venues in the United Kingdom accessible by public transport and in accordance with disability legislation as subsisting.

(c) Only full members will be eligible to vote on matters for which a vote has been sought.

(d) (i) A quorum for any meeting requiring a vote to resolve or determine matters or elect officers shall be 20% of the total full membership at the time of the meeting (ii) Should there fail to be a quorum, the Executive will call another meeting, but, if there is still no quorum at that meeting, then those present will be deemed to constitute the necessary quorum.

(e) A change to the constitution shall require the approval of 75% of those full members attending unless the council resolves by majority vote that the matter should be determined by a postal ballot of all full members. In such circumstances, a change to the constitution shall require the approval of 75% of those full members voting.

9. DISSOLUTION OF THE COUNCIL

Should a properly authorised meeting decide that the Christian Council for Monetary Justice should be dissolved, then any liabilities outstanding will either first be met before dissolution or become the responsibility of those who incurred such liabilities.

Should the Council have assets at the time of the dissolution, then such assets will be disposed of in such a manner as the meeting determining the dissolution decides.
This constitution was adopted on 27 October 2007