Manual of Procedure
Camp Property Management Committee
The Camp Property Management Committee (CPMC) consists of at least eight members nominated by the Nominating Committee and appointed by the Yearly Meeting. In addition, either the clerk or another member of the Trustees, Camping Program Committee, Stewardship and Finance Committee, and the Camp Property Manager are ex-officio members. The Committee may appoint subcommittees as needed, which may include members from outside the Committee.
The Committee will normally meet at least six to eight times a year. Members unable to meet face-to-face for committee meetings are encouraged to use other technologies. The committee works in coordination with Camping Program Committee.
The Committee is a governing committee that oversees the management of the present and any future properties the Yearly Meeting uses for camping programs, retreats, and other similar activities. The Committee’s purpose is threefold: (1) to plan ahead for the long term needs of the camp properties; (2) to work collaboratively with the Camp Property Manager in prioritizing short and long-term projects; (3) to support the Camping Program Manager with specific projects as needed. The Camp Property Management Committee, in cooperation with Camping Program Committee, plans and executes Family Camp Weekends held in the spring and fall. On-site participation in camp activities or camp visits by committee members is an integral part of the work of the committee.
While the committee has full authority to carry out its tasks, the fiduciary responsibility for the Yearly Meeting properties rests with the Trustees. The Committee manages the camp properties as one financial entity and prepares its operating and capital budgets which are presented to the Stewardship and Finance Committee and incorporated into the Yearly Meeting operating and capital budgets.
The committee is responsible for setting camp rental fees. All income generated by the camp properties (including camp property rental, sales of natural resources, gifts, and bequests) will be available for the operation and development of the camp properties.
The Committee reviews and remains familiar with the content of the Youth Safety Policy and other relevant Yearly Meeting policies in order to ensure that the practices of the Committee reflect the guidelines adopted by the Yearly Meeting. The Committee provides any necessary CPMC staff and volunteer training and ensures that programs and events are held in compliance with policy guidelines.
Faith and Practice Committee
The Faith and Practice Committee consists of six to ten persons nominated by the Nominating Committee and appointed by the Yearly Meeting. This committee will benefit from having members with diverse perspectives of theology and Quaker practice, as well as members of diverse ages, races, and backgrounds, and from diverse regions.
The Faith and Practice Committee is charged with the care of our Faith and Practice and will regularly review it. The Committee engages with the constituents of the Yearly Meeting to explore and clarify our continually evolving experience with Quaker faith and practice and seeks to have the published Faith and Practice reflect this experience. The Faith and Practice Committee is expected to be in close communication with other committees, particularly the Ministry and Pastoral Care Committee. The Committee is responsible for printing, posting, and distribution of Faith and Practice or its revised sections, as needed.
Faith and Practice is a living document; changes to it are brought forward as needed. Seasoned changes to Faith and Practice may be proposed by:
- The Faith and Practice Committee itself
- Monthly Meetings, Preparative Meetings, and Worship Groups
- Worshiping communities, such as the camps, Young Friends, Young Adult Friends
- Baltimore Yearly Meeting Committees
- Quarterly Meetings
The Faith and Practice Committee will disseminate proposed changes to local Meetings and others as appropriate for their consideration and discernment. After considering feedback, the Committee will bring recommendations for change to Interim Meeting for a first reading and then to Annual Session. An individual with a proposed change is expected to work through one of the groups listed above. The Faith and Practice Committee is available to help with this process, working to ensure that all concerns are seasoned at the appropriate level. In the interest of accuracy and clarity, the Faith and Practice Committee may copy-edit Faith and Practice.
Manual of Procedure Committee
The Manual of Procedure Committee, composed of not fewer than three persons nominated by the Nominating Committee and appointed by the Yearly Meeting, is responsible for continually updating the Manual by incorporating all changes in procedure adopted by the Yearly Meeting. The Committee may recommend changes in procedure deemed useful to the Yearly Meeting. Such changes are to be recommended in writing to the Interim Meeting for consideration and forwarded to the Yearly Meeting if approved. In the interest of accuracy and clarity, the Manual of Procedure Committee may copy edit the Manual of Procedure.
Nominating Committee
The Nominating Committee is composed of 12 persons, with at least one from each Quarterly Meeting. One-third of the Committee is nominated each year by the Interim Meeting for appointment by the Yearly Meeting. Quarterly Meetings may suggest the names of suitable persons from their membership to serve on the Nominating Committee.
The Committee recommends to the Yearly Meeting in session the names of persons to serve on committees and in other offices for which no other means of nomination has been herein provided. Unless otherwise specified, a three-year term is suggested for all committee members, one-third of the membership of a committee being appointed each year to serve from the close of the Yearly Meeting session at which they were appointed. Persons may be appointed to an office or committee for no more than six consecutive years, unless longer terms are specified.
Nominations may arise in the Nominating Committee, or may be suggested to the Committee by Quarterly or Monthly Meetings, by clerks or members of established committees, or by any member of the Yearly Meeting. Normally, persons eligible for nomination are members of Baltimore Yearly Meeting. However, the Nominating Committee may nominate Friends from other Yearly Meetings who are sojourning among us. On the recommendation of a Monthly Meeting, the Committee may nominate an active attender, except that appointments to other Friends organizations must be limited to members of the Society of Friends if the applicable bylaws so specify.
In general, committees charged with a nominating function do not nominate any of their own members; Friends serve the Yearly Meeting on no more than one standing committee at a time. However, the nomination of a particularly well qualified Friend as a representative to an outside body or as a member of an ad hoc committee, after the Nominating Committee has given due consideration to other qualified Friends is permitted. Nothing in this Manual is to be interpreted as barring any Friend from serving in a specific capacity when special circumstances warrant.
Friends appointed to the Nominating Committee may complete a term already being served on another Committee; and a Nominating Committee member may be nominated for service on another committee immediately on rotation off the Nominating Committee.
In order for the business and concerns of the Yearly Meeting to be effectively carried forward, it is desirable for committees to be representative of various age groups and interests and for Friends to become acquainted with various aspects of Yearly Meeting affairs. It is the duty of the Nominating Committee to evaluate the qualifications of Friends for committee service and to endeavor to be informed about the functioning of Yearly Meeting Committees, in order to ascertain at what point a committee assignment or a change of assignment might benefit a Friend, the Yearly Meeting, or both.
Program Committee
The Program Committee consists of nine persons nominated by the Nominating Committee and appointed by the Yearly Meeting, plus the following, ex-officio: the Presiding Clerk of Yearly Meeting, the Clerk of Ministry and Pastoral Care Committee, the General Secretary and Youth Programs Manger of the Yearly Meeting, the Young Friends Annual Session Planners, the clerk of Junior Yearly Meeting staff, and a registrar appointed by the Committee.
The Program Committee has oversight of all program plans for Yearly Meeting sessions. This oversight includes negotiating each year a suitable site for the following year’s Annual Session, Junior Yearly Meeting, the planning of the time schedule in detail, assigning places for all meetings, selecting guest speakers and special program events or delegating the selection to appropriate groups, and caring for the book room.
The Committee will review and remain familiar with the content of the Youth Safety Policy (Appendix D) in order to ensure that the practices of the Committee reflect the guidelines adopted to promote the safety of our youth and youth workers. The Committee will ensure that any necessary staff and volunteer training is provided and that programs and events are carried out in compliance with policy guidelines.
Stewardship and Finance Committee
The Stewardship and Finance Committee consists of 14 members nominated by the Nominating Committee and appointed by the Yearly Meeting, with careful attention to the special need of this Committee to be knowledgeable about the situation of all Monthly Meetings. Ideally, each Quarterly Meeting is represented. In addition, the Treasurer and Assistant Treasurer are ex-officio members of this Committee, and either the Treasurer or the Clerk of the Stewardship and Finance Committee from each local Meeting is a corresponding member.
Each year, the Committee prepares for Yearly Meeting consideration a budget and a plan of apportionment of the budget to the Monthly Meetings. It has oversight of the accounting methods used and the adequacy of the financial reports given by the Treasurer, and it makes adequate provision for preservation of all assets of the Yearly Meeting not specifically managed by the Trustees.
This Committee is also expected to keep all Monthly Meetings informed of the financial needs of the Yearly Meeting and aware of their responsibility to support adequately the activities of the Religious Society of Friends, including any special appeals from Friends General Conference and Friends United Meeting.
The Clerk or another member of the Stewardship and Finance Committee serves as a member of the Camp Property Management Committee. The Clerk or another member of the Stewardship and Finance Committee serves as a member of the Development Committee.
