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Article I
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General Provisions
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Section 1
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This consortium is incorporated under the name Taiwan Community Living Consortium (hereinafter referred as the Consortium).
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Section 2
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The Consortium is legally incorporated as a nonprofit, non-partisan social organization, with the mission of upholding the rights of disadvantaged citizens in Taiwan to community living and independent living.
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Section 3
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The Consortium defines disadvantaged citizens as economically or socially disadvantaged individuals and families. These include:
1. Low-income families
2. Single parent families
3. Children
4. Youths
5. Elderly people
6. Women facing hardships
7. People with disabilities
8. People with Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) or Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS)
9. Aborigines
10. New immigrants
11. Recovering substance abusers
12. Ex-convicts and their family members
13. Victims of natural disasters
14. Homeless people
15. Other individuals or families in need.
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Section 4
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The scope of the Consortium shall be the jurisdictional territory of the Republic of China (ROC, also know as “Taiwan”).
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Section 5
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The Consortium head office is located in the area under the jurisdiction of government authorities. Branches shall be established upon the approval of the government authorities concerned.
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Section 6
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The tasks of the Consortium are as follows:
1. Promote the concepts of community living and independent living, fulfill them through services, and improve the housing and life quality of disadvantaged people in Taiwan.
2. Advocate for policies and service measures related to community living and independent living, demand the integration of disadvantaged people in social life, as well as the rights to use social housing.
3. Carry out services beneficial to the clients of the Consortium, including social housing and living services, individual and family support services, services that promote social participation and social integration.
4. Help those whose rights to community living or independent living are discriminated against or violated by upholding and fulfilling their rights.
5. Create links between organizations in Taiwan working on the issues of community living and independent living for disadvantaged people, share experiences, build partnerships and create an information network.
6. Carry out research and development, as well as exchange on the issue of services for community living and independent living in Taiwan and abroad.
7. Publish specialized books, organize specialized trainings, provide professional consulting, cultivate professional workers in the field of community living and independent living.
8. Other related endeavours.
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Section 7
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The government supervising agency of the Consortium is the Ministry of the Interior. The competent government authority is the Construction and Planning Agency of the Ministry of the Interior. The activities of the Consortium shall be subjected to the guidance and supervision of this government agency.
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Article II
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Membership
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Section 8
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Consortium membership is classified into three categories:
1. Individual member: Any person 20 years of age or older who supports the Consortium’s mission and shows concern for the housing and living rights of disadvantaged people.
2. Institutional member: Any group, foundation, organization, hospital or school that supports the Consortium’s mission and strives to improve the housing and living quality of disadvantaged people.
3. Donor member: Group or individual that provides donations in support of the Consortium’s work.
A membership application form shall be submitted and following approval by the Board of Directors, the membership dues should be paid.
Institutional members shall appoint one representative who will exercise his or her member’s rights and shall change the representative when necessary by informingpromptly in writing the Board of Directors, who will give approval.
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Section 9
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This Consortium’s individual and institutional members have the right to vote, to elect, to be elected and to recall, as well as take part in activities organized by the Consortium. Each member (member representative) is entitled to one vote.
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Section 10
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This Consortium’s donor members shall enjoy the rights to make recommendations, as well as take part in the activities organized by the Consortium.
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Section 11
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A member is obliged to abide by the Consortium’s bylaws and resolutions, as well as pay membership dues.
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Section 12
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Any member/member representative who violates the law, Consortium bylaws or resolutions of the General Assembly shall be issued a warning or membership suspension penalty, as provided in the Board of Directors resolution. In the event of violations having a serious detrimental effect on the organization, membership of the concerned member shall be terminated upon the resolution of the General Assembly.
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Section 13
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A member who has not paid membership dues shall not enjoy member’s rights. Any member who fails to pay membership dues despite repeated notices sent over a period of half a year shall be considered as having voluntarily withdrawn. Any member who was disqualified, withdrew or saw his/her membership suspended as a penalty, and requests to be reinstated as member or regain member’s rights, shall pay outstanding membership dues except in the case of a legitimate reason which is approved by the Board of Directors.
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Section 14
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Membership shall be cancelled in the event of any of the following:
1. Member looses membership qualifications.
2. Membership is cancelled following a resolution of the General Assembly.
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Section 15
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A member wishing to withdraw membership should submit to the Consortium a formal written application, stating the reason of withdrawal.
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Article III
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Organization and Authority
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Section 16
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The Members’ General Assembly is the highest authority of the Consortium. Once general membership exceeds 300 persons, then divisions shall be created and a division representative shall be elected based on the membership ratio. The divisions shall jointly hold a member representative meeting to execute the authority of the Members’ General Assembly. Member representatives serve for a period of three years. The number of seats and election procedures shall be defined by the Board of Directors and submitted to the relevant government authorities for approval prior to implementation.
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Section 17
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The Members (Member Representatives) General Assembly shall have the following authorities:
1. Enact and amend bylaws
2. Elect and recall Directors and Supervisors
3. Approve the reports and decisions of the Directors and Supervisors
4. Resolve annual activity plan, reports, budgets and financial statements
5. Resolve member (member representative) expulsion matters
6. Resolve asset appropriation matters
7. Resolve organization dissolution
8. Resolve all matters regarding law, membership rights and obligations, as well as major organization matters
The scope of major organization matters mentioned in Item 8 shall be determined by the Board of Directors.
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Section 18
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The Consortium shall have twenty-one Directors and three Supervisors, elected from the general membership (member representative), to establish respectively a Board of Directors and a Board of Supervisors.
The current Board of Directors shall draw up a list of prospective candidates for the succeeding Board of Directors and Supervisors election.
Directors and Supervisors can vote by correspondence but this method cannot be used consecutively. The Board of Directors shall draft regulations for vote by correspondence and then report to the regulating authority for approval prior to implementation.
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Section 19
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The Board of Directors shall have the following authorities:
1. Call for the Members’ General Assembly and implement its decisions
2. Review qualifications of prospective members
3. Elect and recall Executive Board Directors and the Chairperson
4. Recruit and recall the Secretary General
5. Prepare the annual activity plan, reports, budgets and financial statements
6. Other executive matters
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Section 20
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The Board of Directors shall elect three Executive Board Directors; the Chairperson is to be elected from among the Executive Board Directors.
The Chairperson shall attend to Consortium affairs, represent the Consortium, as well as preside to the Members’ General Assembly and the Board of Directors meetings.
In the event the Chairperson is unable to execute his/her functions, he/she should appoint an Executive Board Director to act as his/her deputy and in the absence of an appointed deputy, the Executive Board Directors shall elect a deputy from among themselves.
If the positions of Chairperson or Directors fall vacant, they must be filed within one month through a new election.
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Section 21
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The Board of Supervisors shall have the following authorities :
1. Monitor the performance of the Board of Directors
2. Evaluate the Consortium’s annual financial statements
3. Elect or recall Executive Supervisors
4. Attend to all other supervision matters
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Section 22
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The Board of Supervisors shall elect an Executive Supervisor from among the Supervisors who shall attend to Board of Supervisors affairs and preside on the Board of Supervisors meetings.
In the event the Executive Supervisor is unavailable to execute his/her function, he/she should appoint a Supervisor to act as his/her deputy and in the absence of an appointed deputy, the Supervisors shall elect a deputy from among themselves.
If the position of Executive Supervisor falls vacant, it must be filed within one month through a new election.
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Section 23
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Directors and Supervisors are not remunerated and their term of office is three years; however, term continues upon re-election. Term of office of Directors and Supervisors becomes effective upon the first meeting of the Board.
The term of office of the Chairperson is the same as the term of Directors and Supervisors. The Chairperson may only be re-elected once.
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Section 24
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The term of Directors and Supervisors shall be terminated in the advent of one of the following situations :
1. Loss of member (member representative) qualification
2. Resignation that has been approved by the Board of Directors or the Board of Supervisors
3. Recall or dismissal
4. Suspension of authority for a period over one half of the Director’s or Supervisor’s term
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Section 25
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The Consortium shall have one Secretary General nominated by the Chairperson to handle Consortium affairs.
Directors and Supervisors cannot hold the above mentioned position.
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Section 26
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The Consortium shall establish committees, groups or internal operation teams following the approval by the Board of Directors of these groups’ general provisions. Modifications must also receive the approval of the Board of Directors.
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Section 27
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In order to implement Article I, Section 2 of these bylaws, and in the spirit of a non-partisan social organization, the Chairperson and Secretary General of the Consortium shall not, except with approval from the Board of Directors, hold or take part in elections for party position or public office. Non-compliance with this rule will be considered as a voluntary resignation.
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Article IV
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Meetings
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Section 28
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Meetings of the Members’ (Member Representatives) General Assembly include regular meetings and special meetings. The meetings shall be called by the Chairperson, by sending a letter of notice fifteen days before the meeting, with the exception of urgent special meetings. Regular meetings shall be held once a year, special meetings shall be held when the Board of Directors sees it necessary, when at least one fifth of members (member representatives) make the demand, or when the Board of Supervisors makes a demand.
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Section 29
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Members (member representatives) who cannot attend the Members’ General Assembly meetings must appoint in writing another member (member representative) as a representative. Each member (member representative) can only appoint one representative.
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Section 30
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Resolutions adopted during the Members’ General Assembly become valid if at least half of the members (member representatives) are present to the meeting, and resolutions are accepted by a majority of voting members present. However, approval by at least two third of voting members present is needed for the following matters:
1. Enact and amend bylaws
2. Recall of Directors and Supervisors
3. Resolve asset appropriation matters
4. Resolve organization dissolution
5. Resolve all matters regarding membership rights and obligations, as well as major organization matters
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Section 31
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The Board of Directors and Supervisors must hold a minimum of one meeting every six months. Joint meetings or special meetings shall be held when necessary.
With the exception of special meetings, a meeting notice must be sent seven days before the meeting is held. Resolutions must be adopted by majority of Directors and Supervisors. At least half of the Directors must be present.
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Article V
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Finance and Accounting
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Section 32
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The Consortium shall draw its revenues from the following sources :
1. Initial membership fee: NT$1,000 for individual members; NT$3,000 for institutional members; NT$50,000 for donor members. The initial membership fee is to be paid when membership is approved.
2. Annual fee: NT$1,000 for individual members; NT$2,000 for institutional members
3. Income from projects and activities
4. Voluntary donations
5. Project contracts
6. Endowment and interest
7. Other sources
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Section 33
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The fiscal year of the Consortium starts on January 1 and ends on December 31.
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Section 34
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Two months before the start of the new fiscal year, the Board of Directors of the Consortium will prepare the annual activity plan, income and expenditure budget, and list of employee salary to be submitted to the Members’ General Assembly for approval (in the advent that the Members’ General Assembly cannot convene, the Board of Directors and Supervisors will first give approval), and the above mentioned documents shall be submitted to the government supervising agency before the start of the fiscal year.
Within two months of the end of the fiscal year, the Board of Directors will prepare an annual activity report, final accounting form of incomes and expenditures, statement of incomes and expenditures in cash, statement of assets and liabilities, inventory of properties, and statement of incomes and expenditures in fundto be submitted to the Board of Supervisors for review. The approved documents shall then be submitted by the Board of Directors to the Members’ General Assembly for approval. The documents shall be submitted to the government supervising agency before the end of March (in the advent that the Members’ General Assembly cannot convene, the documents shall first be sent to the government supervising agency).
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Section 35
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Upon dissolution of the Consortium, the residual properties shall be vested in the local autonomous associations of the area(s) where the association is located or a department or association designated by the regulating authority.
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Article VI
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Additional Articles
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Section 36
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Matters not covered by these bylaws shall be subjected to relevant legal regulations.
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Section 37
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These bylaws are to be approved by the Members’ (Member Representatives) General Assembly and become effective after having been submitted to the government supervising agency. Amendments shall be submitted to the Members’ General Assembly and the government supervising agency.
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Section 38
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These bylaws were approved during the first Members’ General Assembly held on August 25, 2007.
These bylaws were approved by the Ministry of the Interior on October 8, 2007, approval notice from the Department of Social Affairs, Ministry of the Interior of Taiwan Number 0960152201.
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