The GCD Charter

Statement of Purpose

Purpose: The Grand Comic-Book Database [herein called the GCD] is a nonprofit, Internet-based organization of international volunteers dedicated to the collection, preservation, and dissemination of information about all comics publications throughout the world. Its primary objective is to build a publicly accessible database using the latest technology available in order to document the medium of comics magazines and books wherever they may be published. The GCD may also pursue other activities that relate to the general purpose described above.

Membership

Membership shall be conferred upon those individuals who volunteer their time in furtherance of the GCD's goals in any of the following manners:

• Submitting a requisite number of new and/or corrected indexes or cover scans, as specified in the current operating guidelines.
• Performing an administrative task, such as coordinating reservations, administering submissions, maintaining web sites, etc.
• Serving in any capacity or performing any task deemed worthy of membership by a majority vote of the board, including but not limited to providing regular assistance or background information that further (i) or (ii) above, creating or maintaining software tools, and serving as an active member of a temporary sub-committee.

Members of the GCD shall elect members from within their ranks to hold positions on the governing board, and must approve all amendments to the governing by-laws by a two-thirds majority vote of those voting. Furthermore, any group of members equal in number to at least twice the current size of the governing board may formulate a proposal, or petition the board asking them to formulate a proposal, for the consideration of the membership on any of the following matters:

• Recall or reprimand of a board member or coordinator.
• The challenging of any existing board ruling by putting it to a vote of the membership.
• The initiation of a Charter Amendment.
• No such vote of the membership should be taken less than 28 days from an announcement to the membership.

Board

Role & Responsibility of Board

The Board is the official representative body of the GCD membership. The board is responsible for serving as the leadership necessary to ensure that the GCD's mission statement is being met. In pursuit of the GCD mission, the Board is empowered to appoint agents and committees to achieve authorized activities, to coordinate and monitor these activities, and make such administrative and organizational changes needed to achieve smooth operation in accordance with the GCD mission including but not limited to:

• finding or recruiting additional resources to help those that need it,

identifying and fulfilling the need to create additional coordinator positions and committees as needed to meet the project's statement of purpose, and

• recruiting replacements for vacated coordinator positions or committee seats.

The board is also responsible for establishing, maintaining, and updating the organizational structure. This structure will define the relationships of the various administrative entities to each other and the place of each within the operational flow.

Board Structure

Operations of the GCD shall be governed by a board of directors. The board shall consist of nine members serving two year terms each. Elections shall be held annually for at least four of the nine seats. Vacancies occurring within three months of a previous election shall be filled from nearest runner-ups from that most recent election. Vacancies occurring more than three months from the previous election and more than three months from the next election will be filled by a special election to be organized by the remaining board members. Vacancies occurring less than three months from an upcoming election will be filled during that election. Should they find it necessary in order to ensure adequate representation by members for whom English is not their first language, the Board is authorized to set aside up to three positions on the Board to be filled in subsequent elections by said members. This authority may be renewed or terminated at the Board's discretion at the time said positions come up for election. Prodecures for nominating and electing members to these positions will be the same as for other Board members except that the Board will delegate someone to verify the language qualification.

Board members will elect officers as needed from among their membership. Board meetings will be conducted by means of a semi-closed mailing list, available to members in a non-participatory digest form, with bi-weekly summaries of activities being posted to the general membership by means of a web page, a post to the general email list, and/or an FTPable text archive.

Board & Electorate

Candidates who wish to run for a board seat must post a brief note to the main email list no sooner than five weeks prior to the election and no later than three weeks prior to the election. A recall vote may be forced by the membership if at least 9 members demand it within any given one-week period. A 2/3 majority vote of those of the membership voting is required for the recall to pass.

An repeal of a board action may be forced to vote by the membership if at least 9 members demand it within any given one-week period, provided no such vote has transpired in the previous six months. A 3/5 majority vote of those of the membership voting is required for the repeal to pass. Succesful repeals may not themselves be put up for repeal for at least six months.