X-Message-Number: 29972
Date: Mon, 22 Oct 2007 02:45:14 -0400
From: "Charles Platt" <>
Subject: Lack of voting privileges of Alcor members

Regarding Steve Van Sickle's defense of Alcor's practice of only
allowing directors the right to vote, I have done a little more
research on this topic. I went to Wikipedia and found a list of the
largest, best-known foundations. Then I checked online to find if they
allow their members voting rights. In most cases members have to
qualify to become voting members, but I find this quite acceptable,
since the conditions are not onerous.

Here are the results:

Amnesty International: YES
Better Business Bureau: YES
Oxfam International: YES in regional affiliates, each of which then
puts trustees on the international board
Carnegie Corporation: YES
Goodwill Industries: YES
United Way: YES in regional affiliates
Habitat for Humanity: YES
The Red Cross: YES
IEEE: YES

After checking these I began to feel the exercise was a waste of time,
since I couldn't find any nonprofit foundation with members--other
than Alcor--that doesn't allow the members the right to vote. (Note, a
nonprofit foundation is not the same as a charity, if you want to
conduct a check of your own. Alcor of course is a foundation.)

Why should Alcor be different from all the others? Obviously the
nonprofits listed above have much greater assets to protect, which
eliminates the argument that a self-electing board is necessary for
that purpose.

I believe Alcor's bylaws allow the directors the exclusive right to
elect each other simply because the person who wrote the bylaws, Mike
Darwin, thought that it would be a good idea, and the arrangement has
persisted because human beings generally do not like to give up power
that has been assigned to them. Darwin, incidentally, has said that he
thought he made a big mistake about voting rights.

So why did Steve Van Sickle state at the Alcor Conference that it is
quite common for nonprofits to deprive members of voting rights? Did
he know something that I don't know, or was he just looking for a
quick way to end the discussion?

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