DELAWARE VALLEY VETERANS CONSORTIUM

DVVC Bylaws

SECTION ONE: Name
This Association shall be known as the Delaware Valley Veterans Consortium (hereafter named DVVC).
DVVC’s mission is to unite military and veteran service organizations and advocates who share common goals to build programmatic capacity and increase services to clients under the umbrella of regional collaboration.
Organizations who have as part of their mission, service to the military and Veteran communities are eligible to join the DVVC. This may include organizations providing direct service or research or support these programs through funding. There are two membership categories: Member Organizations (MO), which have full voting rights, are non-profit and/or government entities that demonstrate a positive impact on the veteran or military community and/or their families. Supporter organizations (SO) are for-profit organizations that proactively or retroactively demonstrate a positive impact on the veteran or military community and/or their families. SO do have voting rights on any votes that come before the general membership. Attendees are individuals that wish to have a positive impact on the veteran or military community and/or their families but does not fall into either the Member or Supporter category. Attendees can be individual veterans. Attendees do not have voting rights on any votes that come before the general membership. MOs and SOs are expected to designate at least one individual to represent them at meetings and receive emails sent from the DVVC. Organizations seeking membership status will complete an application, which will be reviewed by the membership committee.

The Membership Committee will vet all applications submitted online through the website and determine eligibility of applying organization. Members are encouraged to provide input to the Executive Committee for proposed initiatives, activities, and informational sessions.

The Membership Committee will vet all applications submitted online through the website and determine eligibility of applying organization. Members are encouraged to provide input to the Executive Committee for proposed initiatives, activities, and informational sessions.

The Officers of the DVVC shall constitute the Executive Committee (EC) and shall consist of the following: Chair, Vice-Chair, at least one of whom shall be a veteran; Secretary, and four Members-At-Large. The EC will also include representation from the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) as non-voting members.

Each member of the EC shall be elected for a two-year term and shall hold office on the first day of November following his or her election. The Chair, Secretary and two members-at-large will be elected in even numbered years. The Vice-Chair and the remaining two members-at-large will be elected in odd numbered years.

After holding three consecutive two-year terms on the EC an officer must rotate off the EC for a two-year interval. The outgoing Chair becomes the ex-officio chair emeritus member of the EC. No officer can be reelected to the office s/he previously held for three full terms.

When a vacancy exists, the EC shall elect a member of the DVVC to fill the vacant office for the balance of the term for which the former officer had been chosen. If an EC’s organization (either MO or SO) withdraws its membership from the DVVC, then the officer must resign from his or her position on the EC. (See Section Twelve)

The DVVC shall hold at least four quarterly meetings each year. No quorum shall be necessary. However, to decide on policy or governing issues the required quorum will be 51% of the membership in good standing. The EC shall hold meetings at least once per month on a day to be agreed upon within the EC. The quorum for an Executive Committee meeting will be a simple majority of the officers.

The DVVC will have four standing committees: Membership, Programming, Marketing/Social Media and Website Management. Each member of the EC shall chair or co-chair one of the standing committees which will be made up from representatives of the MO and SO. The Chair shall appoint special committees and their chairs as necessary.

Prior to the fall quarterly meeting every year, a new partial slate of officers (see Section Six), shall be presented to the membership for election. A Nominating Committee, which may be the Executive Committee, will solicit for candidates, review the candidates’ applications, and present the candidates for the election ballot to the EC. The Nominating Committee opens the nomination process to the entire membership through email 60 days prior to the election. The names of all nominees, as well as the mechanism for voting shall be submitted to the entire membership thirty (30) days before the fall quarterly meeting. Voting will take place at the Fall quarterly meeting, either in person, or electronically prior to the meeting. Each organization shall have one vote per office. In the case of a candidate unopposed for office, the voting for that office can be by acclimation.

Immediately after the election, the candidate in each office having the highest number of votes shall be declared duly elected to that office to begin holding office on November 1.

The Chair shall preside at all meetings of the DVVC and of the EC. The Chair shall appoint chairs for the standing committees and shall appoint special committees and their chairs as necessary.

The Vice-Chair shall perform the duties of the Chair in the Chair’s absence.

The Secretary shall keep the minutes of all meetings of the DVVC and act as custodian of all records. The Secretary, or his/her designee, shall send email notices of all meetings of the DVVC and of the candidate slate for DVVC EC to the membership. The Secretary shall answer all correspondence as directed by the Chair.

The four Members-At-Large will be assigned duties as needed to head the standing committees and any special committees as requested by the Chair. In addition, they will help manage the website, Facebook page and other special assignments as deemed necessary.

The EC shall have general management and control over the operation of the DVVC. The EC shall have the power to call upon the officers and committees of the DVVC for reports and shall, in general, perform all duties and exercise all such powers, which in the opinion of the EC, is necessary for the welfare of the DVVC and for the furtherance of the purposes and objectives thereof. Members of the EC will serve on at least one standing committee and on ad hoc committees as needed.

The EC consents to work with the Department of Veterans Affairs to integrate the DVVC with the Community Veterans Engagement Board (CVEB) initiative. In accordance with the Department of Veterans Affairs directive to create and be part of a local CVEB community, local leadership from the Veterans’ Health Administration (VHA), the Veterans’ Benefits Administration (VBA) and the National Cemetery Administration (NCA) will serve in auxiliary leadership positions working with the EC of the DVVC on the initiatives of the DVVC.

Resignations of Officers shall be forwarded in writing to the Secretary of the DVVC. In the event of the resignation, death, or other vacancy, of any Officer, the EC shall elect a successor to fill the vacancy for the unexpired portion of the term so affected. (See Section Six)

If any Officer fails to attend two or more Consortium quarterly meetings in any 12-month period without being excused by the Chair or Secretary, the EC shall have the power to remove that person with a simple majority quorum.

Unless specifically stated otherwise in this document, these bylaws may only be amended upon a vote of at least 2/3 of the total membership present at a quarterly meeting or by email and must be confirmed at one of the quarterly meetings by the general membership.

Any provision declared illegal or inconsistent with the laws of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania or the United States of America does not invalidate the document as a whole and the offending clause(s) may be stricken by a court of competent jurisdiction.

Adopted July 22, 2016; amended July 21, 2017, January 21, 2022, and July 21, 2023.

Click here to download a copy of the bylaws.