Structure

Board Structure

• There are 2 models: 

  1. 1. 1. 1. BOD (board of directors) only

           2. BOD and BOT (board of trustees)

• There are 2 ways to fill those positions: 

  1. 1. 1. 1. Election 

              • • The advantages of election are representation of the community, newer ideas, and fairness. 

                • Disadvantages are nasty politics and choosing less qualified people

           2. Appointment

              • • In a starting masjid, it is ok to appoint the first board till things are stable (BOD for 3 years and BOT for 7 years)

                • The advantage of appointment is that if it is done fiarley and based on qualifications you would get the most qualified person for the position needed. 

                • The disadvantage is that most of the time it is not done right and influential people appoint their allies which leads to concentration of power and corruption

• In my humble opinion, you can have the best of both election and appointment by:

• Having people serve for 1-2 years on the committee of their expertise before they can run for the board

• Have candidates run for positions based on their qualification and expertise (like people with financial experience running for treasurer position). 

• Some positions can be at large positions

• Examples of qualifications for candidates (scoring system of multiple factors could be adopted):

  1. 1. 1. 1. • Expertise

              • Education

              • Years of service at the masjid

              • Donations (it shows commitment and encourage people to donate) 

              • Volunteerism

BOD only model (not recommended)

• 3 years term

• Number of 7 or 9 board members

• Staggered election for 2 or 3 members every year is better than complete change of the entire board every election

• Quorum is 50% attendance

• Property decision requires ⅔ of BOD vote

• Other decisions require >50% of the board (not attendee, otherwise 25% of people end up making decision which is problematic for masjid as it can be used for few people who call an emergency meeting during a time when other members are out of town)

• Again, I recommend adding requirements of serving on committees for 1-2 years before running. I also recommend other qualifications mentioned above

DOD and BOT model

• BOT appointed the first time for 6 years

• 9-13 members and diverse

• a 6 year term (permanent position are definitely not recommended. It will lead to stagnation and concentration of power)

• Staggered elections of 2-3 every 2 years so each member ends up staying about 6 year. Not having the same people for 6 years helps preventing big disruption and prevent alliances and concentration of power

• Main function of BOT: property decisions (sale, purchase, rent, build) and dissolving BOD if BOD went off mission. BOT should not be able to change bylaws, pick which members are eligible for election (they can only certify a list prepared by an independent group based on bylaws), and definitely must not lobby or develop election lists during election. This should be the most honest neutral board in the community

• Property decisions require 2/3 majority. Otherwise >50%.

• Both BOD and BOT work should be subject to internal and external audit

• Again, I recommend other requirements like serving on BOD first, donation (based on income), volunteerism, education, and expertise

• Non-for-profit organizations can be member or non-member based organizations

• Non-member based organization means having only a board that runs the organization with no members nor election

• Members based organization have members that are involved in bylaws, elections, committees and building the community

• Non-member based organization is recommended in the begining only especially in case of significant division and conflict

• Eventually, successful masjid with a supportice community must be members based organization with a true membership

Ownership: 

• Ownership can be internal with the BOT if there is one 

• Or external with NAIT

Subsidiary orginization (schools, food bank, gym, cemetary, and banquette hall)

• Schools like Sunday school or full time school can be either a committee under BOT or BOD and fully part of the organization

  • • Advantages:

      • Guarateed ownership with no chance of separation or power struggle

      • School issues will not conflict with masjid issues

    • Disadvantages

      • • School liability is a masjid liability

• Or it can be a separate organization that is subsidiary to the masjid through legal connection

  • • Advantages

      • • Avoiding legal liability to the school from affecting the masjid

    • Disadvantages

      • • Difficult to craft the connection in a way to prevent liability, yet keep being subsidiary

        • School could separate 

        • School could become bigger than the masjid and control it (or control most of its facilities) 

Affiliation

• Local

• National

Conflict resolution between board and members and between masjids: and independent body of the community elders/scholars (or in some cases a national arbitrator) must be established to find and resolve conflicts and not to leave them hanging

Audit (internal and external)

• Internal: an independent committee that will review masjid operation and finance and issue a report of compliance or lack of. The BOT auditor reports t BOD and the BOD auditor reports to BOT

• External: an ouside auditing body that will review masjid operation and finance (of both BOD and BOT)and issue a report of compliance or lack of