The purpose of this document is to:

• broadly describe the Bylaws of the Southern California Kendo Federation (SCKF) and contrast them with policies and procedures
• provide recommendations for amending the Bylaws and for creating or amending policies and procedures documents (PPDs)

The SCKF Bylaws are the governing document of the SCKF Board of Directors (BoD, comprised of the Dojo Representatives, Elected Officers, and Appointed Officers). The Bylaws cover the fundamental principles and rules of the organization, such as objectives, membership, governing structure, fiscal year, etc.

The Bylaws also describe how they can be amended. In summary, a document of the proposed amended Bylaws is presented to the Dojo Representatives, who will typically discuss the proposal within their respective dojo. After a period of review set by the BoD, typically one month, the Dojo Representatives vote. If more than 50% of the total membership of the Dojo Representatives approve, the amended Bylaws are adopted.

Since the fundamental concepts of how SCKF is defined and governed are not expected to change often, the threshold to make changes to the Bylaws is intentionally set high.

Policies and procedures may do one or more of the following:

• clarify the Bylaws
• provide supplemental information on how the organization should be run
• provide a reference for carrying out certain duties and operations

Policies and procedures documents (PPDs) may also be referred to as rules, regulations, guidelines, etc, depending on the nature of the document. A financial budget could be considered a special case of a PPD.

A document of the proposed PPD (new or amended) is presented to the BoD, who will typically discuss the proposal within their respective dojo. After a period of review set by the BoD, typically one month, the BoD votes. If a simple majority of a quorum approves, the new or amended PPD is adopted.

Whether amending the Bylaws, creating a new PPD, or amending an existing PPD, a proposal document must eventually be created to present to the BoD. The following steps are recommended:

• first, determine whether it is appropriate
  1. rather than amending the Bylaws, could a PPD suffice
  2. rather than a PPD, could recommendations be discussed and agreed upon at the BoD or committee level
  3. is there enough support among BoD members to proceed
• second, create a summary presentation
  1. summarize the major concepts of the proposal
  2. present and discuss the proposal summary with the BoD
  3. if necessary, improve the proposal and return to step b
  4. once the BoD accepts the proposal (by a simple majority of a quorum), then proceed with the mechanics of implementing the proposal document. Obtaining BoD approval of the concepts prior to launching into production of the final document may save considerable effort if the concepts are complex or controversial.
  5. example: 2015 Bylaws proposal
• finally, create the proposal document
  1. for a new PPD, create the draft document (to be voted upon)
  2. for an amended document
     • create a highlighted draft, to make it easy to understand the changes
     • create a clean draft, to be voted upon
     • example: 2015 Bylaws implementation notes
• submit summary presentations or proposal documents in time to be included in the draft agenda for the board meeting in which the document will be discussed