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Board members are a critical aspect of a nonprofit’s success. Because board members often provide their time for free, they donate their expertise at no cost. A nonprofit organization gets all of the benefits of a person’s in-depth knowledge without the financial impact.  However, this doesn’t mean just anyone should be allowed

Setting up and running a non-profit organization is tough. Just because it is not established with the sole purpose of making profits does not reduce the effort needed to run it. One of the more time-consuming processes for any business, even a nonprofit, is selecting board members. Unfortunately, it’s currently illegal to run an incorp

Updated: September 28th, 2026 A nonprofit does not always have to have a board of directors, but the answer depends on how the organization is structured and the laws that apply to it. Understanding nonprofit board requirements is an important part of creating a strong governance structure, especially for organizations deciding whether th

If you are a member of a deliberative assembly, then you’ve probably been in a gathering where a member who moved a motion became disappointed by how the debate was going and therefore decided to withdraw the motion. Many people seem to believe that when this happens, the motion ceases to exist. But that’s not […]

All deliberative assemblies around the world conduct their businesses using motions. The process of making, amending, voting on, and approving motions is guided by a parliamentary procedure that has been agreed on by the members. These rules must be followed when making or amending a motion, prior to the motion vote. This article talks ab

Updated: August 31, 2026 Amending a motion allows members of a deliberative assembly to change a proposal before it is decided. Under standard parliamentary procedure, a member can make an amendment to a motion to add, remove, or modify specific wording while keeping the underlying proposal relevant to the matter being considered. Dependi

As democracies around the world continue to develop, electoral reforms have become necessary. That’s why many companies, non-profit organizations, and governments are adopting the single transferable vote (STV) system. This is a voting system that allows voters to elect multiple candidates for various positions using a single ballot. Th

The single transferable vote (STV) system is a voting system that uses a ranked preferential method of voting to choose the best candidates for multiple vacancies. It is a system of proportional representation that allows votes to be transferred to alternative candidates where the winning candidates surpass the quota or the least preferre

Different countries, organizations, and groups use different voting systems to manage elections and referendums. These voting systems determine how polls are conducted and results counted. One of the most popular voting systems in the world is the single transferable vote (STV). It’s a voting system that allows voters to choose their mo

Updated: September 9th, 2025 Voting systems determine how citizens select leaders and make decisions in elections. There are several different voting methods, but three main types are widely used around the world: first-past-the-post voting, preferential voting, and majority voting. Preferential voting, also known as ‘ranked-choice voti

A preference ballot is one where the voter ranks the choices of candidates in terms of partiality. It is considered one of the best ways of ensuring that the most popular candidate wins by a majority vote. One of the reasons it has this design is that it is essential to gather a group consensus […]

Preferential voting, also called instant-runoff voting, is used in single-seat elections with more than two candidates. Rather than indicating support for a single individual, voters in preferential elections can rank the candidates in order of preference. The preferential voting platform permits a single candidate to be elected, with sev

Cumulative voting is one of the many different methods used to determine the outcome of an election. Depending on the situation, some voting systems are more appropriate than others. For example, when do you use cumulative voting vs. straight voting?  Cumulative voting can be a more complicated way of determining the winner of an ele

Running elections is more than announcing the most popular nominee as the winner. There are, in fact, several ways that you can count votes to determine an election outcome. Straight and cumulative voting are two examples. You can also calculate elections using plurality versus majority voting methods.  Cumulative voting is a commonl