International Growth Phases and Governance Change

International Trends

Membership organizations (especially those that are organized into chapters or other local units) and that expand their membership internationally, tend to grow and modify their governance structures along a spectrum of phases.** These phases have patterns to them, that provide lessons that other organizations at earlier stages of their growth can learn from. Some of these general phases of growth are outlined in the chart below.

Note: The time period to enter different growth phases will differ by organization as will the number of member organizations and/or countries. These are broad outlines for illustrative purposes.

Phase I - Geographic spread: a few countries;

Number of (voting) members: under 10

Governance: each chapter (or local unit) has representation on the Board

Phase II - Geographic spread: 10-15 countries / more than one region;

Number of (voting members): 11-25

Governance: each regional grouping has representation on the Board

Phase III - Geographic spread: over 16 countries; several regions

Number of voting members: over 20

Governance: Smaller Board, elected by members at-large.A Nominating Committee may have Board candidate qualifications

to consider such as encouraging geographic diversity and/or an advisory chapter body may be created.

Many organizations will start with a one member organization, one vote structure on their Board of Directors. This structure can exist for many years (even decades) before at some point the Board of Directors has grown so large that it is no longer effective. As the number of Board members grow, some organizations may even create an Executive Committee (or strengthen the role of an existing one) to compensate for the Board's inability to be an effective decision-making body, but this is usually just a temporary solution.

The following are examples of some organizations that have made the transition to Phase II or III in their governance.

Phase II

International Association for Jazz Education

Founded in 1968, IAJE currently has over 8000 members in 42 countries. IAJE's members are organized into units (chapters), regions (countries or groups of countries where the membership is still growing and organizing) and/or sections (countries or groups of countries that have a stable membership). The U.S. is the only country that has chapters. There are currently two regions and four sections. Regions are Latin America and Southern Africa. Current sections are Australasia, Canada, Europe, and the U.S.

The Board has 13 members: six officers who are elected by the members at large, and a representative from each of the following 6 regions and sections: US, Canada, Europe, Australasia, Middle East/Africa, and Latin America (with the Executive Director as an ex-officio member). Section representatives are elected by members from their specific section.

{IAJE was a Going International client - link to IAJE website IAJE )

Phase II to Phase III

International Association of Business Communicators (IABC)

IABC is a professional society founded in 1970. In 1974 a Canadian association merged with IABC and the association became international. Currently 13,000 members and 100 chapters

IABC's membership is divided into chapters, districts and regions. Districts are within one country, regions are multinational. Districts and regions are established when there is a Acommunity of interest@. There are currently five districts/regions outside of the U.S. - two districts in Canada and three regions - Africa, Asia Pacific, and Europe and the Middle East.

Until 2006, each district/regional director served on the Board and were selected by each district/region by their own procedures. They served for one year. In addition, IABC=s chairman, vice-chairman and directors at large (8) were selected by an open nominations process.

Transition to Phase III: In 2006, IABC began the transition to a Phase III governance structure. There were two major reasons why the association decided to make this change: 1) The Board was becoming too large and 2) The regional representatives were responsible to both the regions and the international Board, sometimes pulling them in different directions. The new Board will be 12 members, nominated by a nominating committee based on identified competencies. The Board will be elected from the membership at large. Each region will have a Board member liaison.

Phase III

Zonta International

A women's service organization with 33,000 members in 68 countries, in over 100 chapters (called clubs). There are also 30 districts - clubs are assigned to districts based on their geographical location, administered by volunteer governors.

The Board of Directors is elected by the chapter delegates, at a biennial conference. A Nominating Committee is responsible for looking at candidate qualifications and nominating a slate with geographic diversity.

International Facilities Management Association

18,000 members in 54 countries. Members can join chapter or as at large members. There are 130 chapters in 20 countries primarily in North America, Europe and Asia.

The Board has 11 members and is seen as a strategic board, elected from the members at large and does not guarantee any geographic representation.A Nominating Committee is responsible for looking at candidate qualifications. There is a House of Delegates that makes recommendations from the chapters to the Board.

** Note that this article applies primarily to membership organizations, organized into chapters (or other local units) that are expanding their membership internationally. There are many other ways for organizations to engage internationally. For additional information see Going Global for the Greater Good: Succeeding as a Nonprofit in the International Community, Jossey Bass, California, USA Going Global for the Greater Good: Succeeding as a Nonprofit in the International Community

May 2006