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BYLAWS

Kansas Suicide Prevention Coalition

July 21, 2021

ARTICLE l – NAME

The official name of the organization shall be known as Kansas Suicide Prevention Coalition (also known as “KSPC”).

ARTICLE ll – MISSION and PURPOSE

Vision Statement
Kansans United to Prevent Suicide
Mission Statement
The Kansas Suicide Prevention Coalition champions suicide prevention for all Kansans through equitable access to partnerships, advocacy, resources, ideas, and data.

Purpose

  • Connect suicide prevention groups, coalitions, organizations, and those with lived experience across the state of Kansas in a collaborative effort to make positive change.
  • Seek to develop systems to support Kansans’ mental, emotional, physical, cultural, and financial well-being to reduce risk for suicide. We strive to accomplish this through eliciting input from diverse sectors.
  • Equip Kansans to take action on suicide prevention efforts at all levels: policy makers, organizations, professionals, community, family, and individuals.
  • Advocate for suicide prevention that is inclusive, guided by data, and addresses diverse needs across geographies, races, ethnicities, sexes, gender identities, sexual orientations, ages, occupations, economics, languages, and education levels.
ARTICLE lll – GOALS
  • Integrate and coordinate suicide prevention collaboratively across diverse public and private sectors.
  • Strengthen and broaden com-munication to assure safe, consistent, and united messaging across suicide prevention partners and to the public.
  • Educate and advocate for equitable resources and services for all Kansans while striving to understand and address the unique needs of those groups/populations disproportionately affected by suicide
  • Promote best practices for suicide prevention, intervention, postvention and data collection.
ARTICLE lV – MEMBERSHIP

Membership is open to any business, not-for-profit agency, organization or individual who has an interest in preventing suicide in Kansas. Additional membership qualifications may be
established and modified from time to time. All members of the coalition will be classified as voting members.
Membership shall be on an annual basis, with the membership year being January 1 through December 31. An individual or organization is considered a member in good standing with voting rights, board service, and listing on the coalition roster and public materials when they have both completed the membership form and are current on payment of assessed dues or agreed upon dues payment plan. Dues should not be a barrier from membership, a complementary membership may be requested from the executive committee. New members who join at a time other than the beginning of the membership year shall be assessed partial first year dues based on the number of months as a member.
The Executive Committee will establish membership categories with an accompanying dues assessment for each membership category established. All memberships shall be renewed annually, regardless of whether a dues payment is associated with established membership
categories. Dues not paid by March 31 for the current membership year will be considered delinquent unless the Executive Committee has approved a payment plan and/or deferred payment of dues to meet unique circumstances. Members who are delinquent in payment of their dues or fail to submit a renewal shall be notified in writing by the Secretary or designee within 30 days of the delinquency. Absent a plan for the deferred payment of dues, members will lose their membership rights within 30 days of such notification.

ARTICLE V – OFFICERS AND DUTIES

Section One: Officers
The officers of the KSPC shall be elected by the membership at the April meeting. All officers will be members of the Executive Committee. The elected officers shall be as follows: President, a Vice-President, a Secretary and a Treasurer.
Section Two: Membership Category Representative
Representatives numbering at least 3 and no more than 10 from coalition membership will be nominated and elected to serve as at-large members to the executive committee. At-large members shall be nominated at least once yearly coinciding with officer elections or at a greater frequency dependent on the need of the coalition.
Section Three: Executive Committee
The Executive Committee will consist of the four (4) elected officers, three to ten (3-10) at-large coalition representatives, and a representative from the fiscal agent. Coalition members who are representing state agencies which report to the executive branch will not seek nor be elected to the executive committee either as officers or at-large members.
Section Four: Election and Term of Office
The officers and at-large representatives shall be elected at the April meeting of the members. If the election is not held at such meeting, such election shall be held as soon thereafter as convenient. Officers and representatives will be elected for a two (2) year term. In odd years, the President and Secretary shall be elected. In even years the Vice-President and Treasurer shall be elected. Newly elected officers or representatives will take office immediately. Each officer or representative shall hold office until their successor has been duly
elected or until they resign or have been removed in the manner hereinafter provided. An elected officer or representative may serve no more than two (2) consecutive terms in the same office.
Section Five: Removal of Officers of the Committee
Any officer of the Executive Committee may be removed by the committee with or without cause by three-fourths vote of the remaining committee members at any regular or special meeting. Removal of an officer will serve solely to terminate the leadership position and will not automatically terminate membership in the organization.
Section Six: Vacancies
A vacancy in office because of death, resignation, removal, disqualification or otherwise, may be filled for the unexpired portion of the term by the Executive Committee at any time by appointing an individual from current coalition membership.
Section Seven: President
The President shall be the principal executive officer of the KSPC and shall in general supervise and control all the business and affairs of the coalition. The President, when present, will preside at all regular and special meetings of the Coalition and Executive Committee and represent the Coalition in any official capacity and perform all such duties as authorized by the Executive Committee, for the supervision and management of the Coalition. The President will be ex-officio member of all committees. The President or their designee shall sign all checks of the Coalition.
Section Eight: Vice-President
The Vice-President shall exercise all duties of the President in the event of the absence or inability of the President to serve and shall perform such other duties as the President or the Executive Committee may assign.
Section Nine: Secretary
The Secretary shall ensure that the following functions are completed: keep the minutes of all meetings, issue notifications of all meetings, be custodian of the corporate records, keep a register of all members and their information, and in general perform all duties incident to the office of Secretary and such other duties as from time to time may be assigned to them by the President or by the Executive Committee.
Section Ten: Treasurer
The Treasurer shall be custodian of all funds and shall be empowered to disburse monies upon the approval of the Executive Committee or upon written order of the President within guidelines established by resolution of the Executive Committee. The Treasurer will issue membership invoices two months prior to dues coming due. The Treasurer shall review the KSPC’s annual income and present a financial report at all meetings.
Section Eleven: Fiscal Agent
While not an elected position, the fiscal agent’s primary duty will be to promote the mission of the KSPC by managing accounts, controlling the outlay of funds, providing periodic financial/budget reports, and supporting the operations of the coalition through allocation of personnel, business and operational resources. The fiscal agent will have one voting member on the Executive Committee.

ARTICLE Vl – MEETINGS

Section One: The KSPC will have regular monthly meetings and special meetings can be requested through the Executive Committee. Notice of upcoming meetings will be provided by the Secretary through email or other agreed upon contact methods. Any agenda item being requested to be included in an upcoming meeting and input for any reports is to be given to the Secretary 48 hours prior to the scheduled meeting so members can be informed through an email of the planned agenda.
Section Two: The coalition’s meetings will be conducted through a consensus forum allowing the meeting to be informal but guided by the current agenda. Decisions of the coalition will be made by the members present at scheduled meetings. At any time after sufficient discussion, any member may make a motion to take a decision to a two-thirds majority vote.

ARTICLE Vll – DISSOLUTION CLAUSE

In the event that the KSPC determines it no longer plans to dissolve by a two-thirds majority vote, all properties or monies will become the property of the fiscal agent. Any grant monies will be dealt with in accordance to the requirements of the grant-funding sources.

ARTICLE Vlll – AMENDING BYLAWS

The bylaws of the KSPC can be amended at any time through a two-thirds majority vote. The procedure for amending bylaws can be through any of the following actions: • Notify the Executive Committee of a request to place the amendment of bylaws on the agenda at least five (5) business days before a scheduled coalition meeting to allow notification of the coalition members.

  • Make a motion at a scheduled coalition meeting for an amendment to be made, make the suggestion, and allow the coalition to vote for the amendment at the current meeting.
  • Make a motion for the Executive Committee to review the bylaws and have the Executive Committee submit a draft of the possible amendments to the coalition group at the next scheduled coalition meeting to allow voting on the new draft.
  • Make a motion for a special committee to be formed for the task of amending the bylaws. The special committee would then submit a draft to the coalition at the next scheduled coalition meeting to allow voting on the new draft.