Members of Voice of the Faithful (VOTF) are invited to submit nominations of qualified persons to serve as candidates for membership on the organization’s board of trustees.

Trustees should be individuals of high character, diverse talents, and an understanding of and commitment to the mission and goals of VOTF. The board of trustees is responsible for overseeing the legal and financial integrity of the organization.

Voice of the Faithful is incorporated under the laws of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts and is subject to Massachusetts corporation law. It is also subject to the U.S. Internal Revenue Service (IRS) on matters related to its tax-exempt status as a Section 501c3 not-for-profit organization.

Trustees bear a fiduciary responsibility to the organization. According to the American Bar Association Handbook for Directors of Nonprofit Organizations, this means that each trustee bears a duty of loyalty to the organization (no conflict of interest) and a duty of care in his or her oversight of the affairs of the organization.

Trustees are not compensated and are elected to serve a three-year term of office.

The normal workload is approximately 20 hours per month, including regular meetings of the board of trustees, committee membership and meetings, and special assignments.

Board meetings and committee meetings can be attended by conference call.  Committees include the audit committee; nominating committee; governance committee; development committee and such other committees as the board may create to conduct its business.

There are four open trustee positions to be filled in this election cycle. Current trustees may or may not seek nomination.  We also have one position that is open which is to be filled with an “appointed” trustee who will bring special skills (e.g., development, legal). This position will be filled when the appropriate candidate is identified, which may or may not be during this election cycle.

Nominations should be submitted by e-mail to Brian Roylance at the VOTF national office at office@votf.org.

Before submitting names to the Nominating Committee, members must determine the interest of potential nominees in serving on the board of trustees. We do not wish to burden those who are not interested in the possibility of such service.

Timeline:
1. Call for nominations sent out to membership by January 28, 2009.
2. Nominations due in no later than February 18, 2009.
3. Nominees will compose a statement of why they would like to serve on the Board of Trustees of 500 words or less, and send this along with a resume to the Nominating Committee by February 23, 2009.
4. The Nominating Committee will conduct phone interviews with the candidates.
5. The nominated slate of candidates will be referred to the National Representative Council for voting in May. 
6. New Trustees will be seated in June 2009.