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Article IV. Autonomy and Organization

Section 1: This organization shall be constituted as a non-profit, educational association.

Section 2: The fundamental authority and responsibility of the Association shall reside in the corporate active membership and shall
be exercised by the free expression and vote of each individual member, by representative legislative powers vested in
the National Board, and by the executive powers delegated to officers.

Section 3: Neither any member of the National Board nor any appointed officer or representative of the Association, nor any member
shall be required to accept financial responsibility for duly authorized activities of the Association carried on in good faith
and in pursuit of the purposes and activities prescribed or authorized by the Constitution and Bylaws.

Section 4: No official action involving ACDA membership may be taken without a regularly constituted or specially invoked meeting
of the National Board.

Section 5: The membership shall be organized, as a convenience and planning and executing some of the activities and programs
of the Association, according to geographic Regions of the United States. The Regions, as defined in the Bylaws, shall be
named: Eastern, Midwestern, Northwestern, Southern, Southwestern, and Western.

Section 6: Any State with a sustained membership of 300 active members or more over the course of three years may petition the
National Board to become an Affiliate State association of ACDA. The State must meet the requirements as specified in the
Affiliate State Application and Procedural Guide, and then complete an application to be evaluated and voted upon by
the National Board. Any independent and previously established State Choral Directors association may apply to become
an Affiliate State Association. Should an affiliate state need to dissolve and revert back to a state chapter, affiliate state
leadership must complete the disbandment process as specified in the Affiliate State Procedural Guide.

Section 7: Each Affiliate State Association shall exercise autonomy over State association government and programs and activities
as provided in the ACDA Constitution and Bylaws. Each Affiliate State Association shall have a Constitution and Bylaws to
determine the organization and government of that association and for the direction of State activities.

Section 8: All publications of Affiliate State Associations shall include the following under or immediately following the name of the
Association: Affiliate Association of the American Choral Directors Association.

Section 9: The ACDA membership in each state not organized as an Affiliate State Association shall be designated as either (1)
a state membership of the Association governed by the ACDA Constitution and Bylaws (“state membership”), or (2) a
subordinate chapter of the Association within the meaning of the group tax exemption rules of the Internal Revenue
Code (“Subordinate Chapter Association,” collectively, together with state membership, the “state associations”). Any state
membership that intends to be treated as a Subordinate Chapter Association covered by the Internal Revenue Service
group tax exemption shall adopt corporate bylaws substantially in the form of the model proposed in ACDA’s current
Financial Policies and Procedures.

Section 10: ACDA will follow all current regulations of the US Internal Revenue Service for those affiliates who reside in the United
States.

Section 11: The Association shall not discriminate based on race, color, sex, language, religion, political affiliation, national or social
origin, property, birth, or other status such as disability, age, marital and family status, sexual orientation, gender identity,
health status, place of residence, economic or social circumstance.

6 CHORAL JOURNAL February 2024 Volume 64 Number 6