A prospective member has asked to join our nonprofit. This individual is known to cause much controversy, posting drunken videos and rants about groups, individuals - whatever and whomever hits their fancy. She has taken official documents in other cases and posted them inappropriately on Social Media. We do wonderful things for the community and most of the membership has said they will leave if this membership is accepted. By tradition there was a vote to accept or deny, but nothing in the bylaws. What should we do?—
I would recommend that you follow your tradition and take a vote on whether she should be admitted to the membership. You will find out whether enough members who would leave if she is elected are willing to do something to make sure that she isn’t elected. An applicant has no legal right to join and is unlikely to contest a negative vote.
After that, I would look closely at the bylaws to be sure that they deal with both election and termination of membership. It may be sufficient to say that a method of approval will be established by the board. The board can decide whether it will be the membership committee or if it should create one. You don’t want to allow anyone to become a member merely by paying dues or signing up. You want to be able to deny membership to misfits, and to avoid a takeover by stealth if you develop a large treasury. You also want a reasonable way, with a certain amount of due process, to remove individuals who show themselves to be misfits. (See Ready Reference Page: “Bylaws Function as ‘Constitution’ of Nonprofit Corporations”)
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