Organizational bylaws can be tools to create equitable, inclusive, and democratic spaces for collaboration. They can also be jargon-laden documents that give power to only the few people who understand them. In this teach-in, we will deconstruct traditional legalistic approaches to bylaw drafting, and explore how to create participatory bylaws for democratically run nonprofits that democratize knowledge, build leadership within your organization, and protect your organizations from cooptation. By making bylaws accessible, participatory, and transparent we can remove them from the purview of expert lawyers, and transform them into tools of the people. 

Join us to learn more about our brand new Bylaws Toolkit for Worker Self Directed Nonprofits! Participants will learn about basic legal requirements, key intervention points for democratizing power, and creative ways of developing and recording bylaws for workplace and economic democracy.

Presenters: 

Simon Mont | Harmonize

Simon is facilitator, attorney, and consultant dedicated to helping the people find ways to collaborate in service of the collectively liberated world our hearts know is possible.  He works with organizations to develop structures, practices, and policies that are aligned with radical values and designed to maintain integrity and effectiveness as folks navigate the pressures of capitalism and the nonprofit industrial complex.  He is a founding co-steward of the Nonprofit Democracy Network and a founding Principal at Harmonize as well as a board member with IfNotNow and Jewish Youth for Community Action.  In his journey to find his role in the movement, Simon has served as a dialogue facilitator, school teacher, juvenile probation reform advocate, restorative justice organizer and facilitator, public defender, and healer.  

Chris Tittle | Sustainable Economies Law Center

Chris is an organizer, facilitator, and attorney focused on land and housing justice, participatory governance, and co-creating post capitalist / post white supremacist futures. He is Director of Land and Housing Justice at the Sustainable Economies Law Center, and contributes to the Law Center’s Housing, Worker Self-Directed Nonprofits, and Radical Real Estate Law School programs. Chris also organizes in grassroots coalitions including the South Carolina Housing Justice Network, the Lowcountry Mutual Aid Fund, and Charleston Democratic Socialists of America. He became an attorney without going to law school.