New York Yearly Meeting
of the
Religious Society of Friends

Fourth Edition

Handbook

of
Yearly Meeting Organizations
and Committees

2000

With subsequent revisions as approved

PREFACE

A New York Yearly Meeting Handbook was first prepared in response to a minute approved by the 1965 sessions of Yearly Meeting. Revisions were made from time to time, and the Handbook was rewritten in 1974 and 1984. This issue reflects some changes in the committee and section organization, changes in Faith and Practice, and staff responsibilities. It does not change or supersede the authority of the book of Faith and Practice of the Yearly Meeting.

The Handbook spells out the present practice of New York Yearly Meeting with respect to the following areas:

1. the officers and staff of the Yearly Meeting and their duties, method of appointment, and terms of office

2. the organization of Yearly Meeting concerns, functions, and committees into sections; the section coordinating committees and their place and functions in the operation of the Yearly Meeting

3. a description of each committee, board, or related body, including its specific functions, its size and method of appointment, and, in many cases, some historical background

4. the principles of financing the operations of the Yearly Meeting

5. information about the funds and bequests held by the Yearly Meeting, particularly with respect to their history and method of administration

6. a statement on the nature of the corporate search in regard to conducting business after the manner of Friends, decisions of the Yearly Meeting, and advices to committees and persons appointed for service to the Yearly Meeting

Notes:

1. In this Handbook, the term "regional meeting" is used to mean quarterly, half-yearly, and regional meeting; the term "monthly meeting" is used to mean monthly and executive meetings.

2. Yearly Meeting business is conducted during the summer at Silver Bay and during the two Representative Meeting weekends. Thus, "Yearly Meeting" usually means business sessions at any of these times.

Revision: A committee, with approval of their coordinating committee, may revise their Handbook section. General Services is responsible for Part 2, with suggestions of the other committees. The Yearly Meeting in business session must approve changes in Purpose and Objectives, Functions and Activities, and other major revisions (Faith and Practice, page 77 [pages 105–6, 2001 edition]). The approved changes are forwarded to the Yearly Meeting office and included in the master copy showing approval dates.

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THE CORPORATE SEARCH

A meeting for business within the Religious Society of Friends should be a meeting for worship with a concern for business. The primary objective is a search for truth, for the right decision. We believe Friends should be sensitive to their knowledge of the feelings of those who may be absent but they must also be sensitive to the Light as it develops in the meeting, and it should be this Light that guides the final decision. Friends should proceed in a constant search for truth without unduly pressing any preconceived point of view. It is a common experience that the united efforts of a group proceeding in this way can, and often do, "discover truth which will satisfy everyone more fully than did any position previously held."

Suggested references for study include:

1. New York Yearly Meeting Faith and Practice (2001)—General Business Procedure

2. L. Hugh Doncaster, Pendle Hill Pamphlet #181—pp. 15–16

3. Howard Brinton, Friends for 300 Years—chapter 6, pp. 99–117

4. A. Neave Brayshaw, The Quakers—chapter 11, pp. 167–73

5. Michael J. Sheeran, Beyond Majority Rule

6. Philadelphia Yearly Meeting, "When Friends Attend to Business," Thomas S. Brown

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PART 1, ORGANIZATION

STRUCTURE OF NEW YORK YEARLY MEETING

1. Organization

The legal aspects of the New York Yearly Meeting are described on page 23 [of previous Handbook] (Corporation and Trustees).

The Yearly Meeting is organized and conducts its business affairs under the guidance of the book of Faith and Practice of New York Yearly Meeting. Its essential organization is suggested in Section B of Faith and Practice but not spelled out in great detail.

The following officers are regularly appointed annually:
Clerks - A presiding clerk and an assistant clerk
    Two or three recording clerks
    Two or three reading clerks

Treasurer and assistant treasurers

Some committees are specifically established in Faith and Practice (Practice and Procedure section), and other committees may be appointed as circumstances warrant. It is largely through committees that the Yearly Meeting meets its responsibilities.

2. Terms of Service

All appointments to Yearly Meeting committees or other bodies are made for a specific term (three years in most cases). Terms commence at the time of appointment, usually at the close of Yearly Meeting summer business sessions, although the Representative Meeting may make interim appointments to fill vacancies. A record of all committees and their membership is published annually with the proceedings of Yearly Meeting sessions in the Yearbook.

Committee members who have served six consecutive years or two consecutive terms, whichever is longer, ordinarily are not renamed without an intervening period of one year. Committee members or other appointees who resign before completion of their terms do so by letter to the clerk of the Yearly Meeting, care of the Yearly Meeting office, with a copy to the clerk of the committee.

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3. Appointment & Duties of Officers

a.Clerks—The clerks are appointed for one-year terms by the Yearly Meeting at its summer business sessions upon the recommendation of the Nominating Committee. Their terms of office begin at the close of the Yearly Meeting sessions at which they are appointed, except that a retiring clerk is responsible for the proper recording of the minutes of the Yearly Meeting just concluded, and may be called upon to sign documents approved for sending by the Yearly Meeting and to provide extracts of the minutes and attest to their accuracy.

The clerk presides over the annual sessions of the Yearly Meeting and Representative Meetings, presents the various items of business or introduces those who will present them, and gathers the sense of the meeting with respect to the business presented. The clerk may be called upon in various ways to represent the Yearly Meeting between sessions but has no power to act in the name of the Yearly Meeting except as specifically authorized by minute.

The clerk is a member ex officio of the General Services Coordinating Committee, the Liaison Committee, the Sessions Committee, and the Central Committee of Friends General Conference.

The assistant clerk may conduct business sessions at Yearly Meeting and performs such other duties as the clerk may assign. The assistant clerk is a member ex officio of the Sessions Committee and the General Services Coordinating Committee.

The recording clerks record the actions of the Yearly Meeting as determined by the clerk and prepare a transcript. They share this responsibility in such a way as to be mutually acceptable to them and to the clerk. The recording clerks are members ex officio of the Sessions Committee and the Liaison Committee.

The reading clerks read letters and other communications written to the Yearly Meeting. They share this responsibility in such a way as to be mutually acceptable to them and to the clerk. The reading clerks should have good speaking voices and be familiar with Friends' vocabulary and the pronunciation of individual Friends' names. The reading clerks are members ex officio of the Sessions Committee.

Guidelines for clerks are to be found in Part 2, pages 71–72 [of previous version].

b.Treasurers—The treasurer is appointed to a one-year term by the Yearly Meeting upon the recommendation of the Nominating Committee, but the term of office begins at the first of the calendar year next succeeding the appointment, thus corresponding with the fiscal year of the Yearly Meeting. The treasurer receives and disburses funds of the Yearly Meeting, has responsibility for the bank accounts in the name of the Yearly Meeting, and may make deposits and sign checks without counter signature. The treasurer is a member ex officio of the General Services Coordinating Committee and the Financial Services Committee.

The assistant treasurer is appointed for a one-year term by the Yearly Meeting upon the recommendation of the Nominating Committee, but the term of office begins at the first of the calendar year next succeeding the appointment, thus corresponding with the fiscal year of the Yearly Meeting. The assistant treasurer has authority to assume the duties of the treasurer, should it become necessary. The assistant treasurer is a member ex officio of the Financial Services Committee. The Yearly Meeting may appoint a second assistant treasurer at its discretion.

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4. Yearly Meeting Staff

Responsibility for the Yearly Meeting's life and activities is carried out by its members; however it has been desirable to employ salaried staff to carry out some functions. The staff supplies specific skills and a consistent level of attention to routine as well as continuity, experience, and breadth of view. A Yearly Meeting office is maintained in New York City.

In fostering the spiritual life of the Yearly Meeting, staff members visit meetings and develop and share understanding of common problems within the Yearly Meeting. Frequently the staff can suggest approaches to solving problems by sharing personal experience and the experience of other monthly meetings. This sharing between meetings and the ongoing attention of staff members supplement the work of the Yearly Meeting on Ministry and Counsel and nurture the life and health of the Yearly Meeting.

In addition, the staff maintains Yearly Meeting records (Sharing Fund, address lists, bookkeeping, and the like). It also carries out specialized work (writing and preparing Spark, the Yearbook, and other publications). The staff provides clerical work in support of the Yearly Meeting Clerk.

The Personnel Committee develops job descriptions (which are available in the Yearly Meeting office). The Yearly Meeting upon recommendation of the Personnel Committee appoints the staff for terms of service specified in the minute of appointment. Staff persons are employees of the Yearly Meeting and are paid by the Yearly Meeting treasurer.

The present job titles are available from the Personnel Committee.

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5. Yearly Meeting Sessions

The Yearly Meeting meets three times a year to transact business. Since 1947 our principal residential sessions have been held in July at Silver Bay, New York. Additional sessions called Representative Meeting, usually held over a weekend, are conducted in December and April. In addition to the business sessions and meetings for worship, Friends meet in worship-sharing groups, committee meetings, interest groups, and Bible-study groups, and to hear invited speakers. During summer sessions, Junior Yearly Meeting provides a program for young people prekindergarten through high school age.

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6. Spring and Fall Sessions (formerly called Representative Meetings)

The Representative Meeting acts on behalf of the Yearly Meeting as described in the Representative Meeting section of Faith and Practice.Any business session of Representative Meeting is a session of Yearly Meeting.

It may act for the Yearly Meeting in all matters when that body is not in session, except that it may not make changes in Faith and Practice nor issue any statement of faith.

It provides for an annual budget needed for the operating expenses of the Yearly Meeting and assigns approved proportional shares to be raised in each regional meeting.

The Representative Meeting transacts business for the Yearly Meeting between its annual sessions. It also carries out instructions given by the Yearly Meeting and performs such services as are delegated to it by the Yearly Meeting.

Membership

All members of New York Yearly Meeting are members of Representative Meeting. In order to encourage participation that reflects the body of the Yearly Meeting as a whole, monthly meetings are asked to name representatives. During the spring quarter, each monthly and executive meeting shall appoint at least one representative for a term of three years. Additional appointments are made in proportion of one representative for each seventy-five members of the monthly meeting. In addition, the Yearly Meeting appoints not more than forty members at large upon the recommendation of its Nominating Committee. The term of appointment is three years, beginning with the closing of Yearly Meeting July sessions, with about one-third appointed each year.

An information sheet entitled "On Serving As a Named Representative" appears here [page 73 of previous version]. If a named representative is unable to represent the appointing meeting, that meeting should name a replacement as soon as possible. Meetings are also asked to name alternates if named representatives are unable to attend a particular session of Representative Meeting. Names of the alternates should be sent to the Clerk, care of the Yearly Meeting office, in advance of the sessions.

A tabulation of the numbers of named representatives for each monthly meeting is printed in the Yearbook and should be updated by the Clerk in cooperation with the Yearly Meeting office at appropriate intervals.

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Meetings

Meetings of the Representative Meeting are held at least twice a year, at such time and place as the Yearly Meeting may determine, and may be continued by adjournment. In recent years, Representative Meetings have been held in April and December. The places to hold the Representative Meetings have been deliberately varied, and invitations from regional meetings prepared to provide the necessary services are encouraged.

Special meetings may be held upon the call of any five named representatives upon ten days' notice by mail, telephone, or telegram to all named representatives. (Faith and Practice, page 80 [page 109, 2001 edition].)

Finances

The Representative Meeting has no separate budget, but named representatives may request travel assistance from the Advancement Committee, which administers funds available for this purpose.

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7. The Yearly Meeting on Ministry and Counsel and the Sections

The activities of the Yearly Meeting are carried out by four specialized sections:

The Yearly Meeting on Ministry and Counsel exercises general care of the ministry and spiritual life of the Yearly Meeting; it assists in pastoral care; it organizes conferences of Friends for sharing its concerns; and it conducts other activities to foster spiritual growth.

The General Services Section provides the main administrative, financial, and reporting services of the Yearly Meeting, including the operation of the Yearly Meeting office.

The Nurture Section provides for the advancement of the principles of Friends, for educational and nurturing services of the Yearly Meeting, and for relationships with a number of the wider bodies of the Religious Society of Friends.

The Witness Section makes visible both the traditional testimonies and newer concerns of Friends in ways that extend beyond the Society of Friends. Its work attempts to express beliefs in action.

Each section includes all those named to its constituent committees and its coordinating committee. The Yearly Meeting on Ministry and Counsel (see page 7 [of previous version]) includes persons named by each monthly meeting and regional meeting, all recorded ministers, pastors, and meeting secretaries, and those named to its constituent committees.

Functions of Each Section

1. to develop and coordinate services and programs and to implement them directly or through committees, task groups, staff, or volunteers. To adapt services and programs to changing needs and interests of Friends and to resources available; this may involve establishment, consolidation, and laying down of committees
2. to explore new ways of service and to respond to concerns of individual Friends and monthly and regional meetings, including:
3. 1. communicating effectively with constituent meetings and individual Friends by written publication, visitation, or other methods
   2. working toward decentralization of services and programs and full participation of monthly and regional meetings
4. to recommend for Yearly Meeting action any major change of activity within its general area of responsibility
5. to work with the Sessions Committee in development of programs for Yearly Meeting and Representative Meeting sessions

Each section has a coordinating committee, composed of representatives chosen by its constituent committees and groups plus members at large appointed by the Yearly Meeting. In addition, the Coordinating Committee for Ministry and Counsel has representatives named by the regional meetings.

The coordinating committees are enabling bodies. They consider the activities within the sections in relationship to each other, assist in their coordination, and help allocate the resources of people, time, and money. They coordinate the preparation of the section budgets, are responsible for their overall administration, and participate in preparation of the Yearly Meeting Operating Budget. They assist constituent committees and others to prepare business coming before Yearly Meeting sessions, and with presentation of business for the consideration of Friends.

The coordinating committees meet from time to time throughout the year to receive reports, suggest courses of action, and advise or act on concerns that come from meetings and individual Friends as well as from groups within their own sections.

Liaison Committee

The Liaison Committee provides for communication among the Yearly Meeting on Ministry and Counsel and the other three sections. It identifies and assigns to a particular section or committee inquiries and concerns coming to the Yearly Meeting. It serves in an advisory capacity to the Yearly Meeting and the Yearly Meeting clerk as needed. It meets daily during Yearly Meeting sessions and at Representative Meeting sessions, and at other times as needed.

The committee is composed of the Yearly Meeting clerk, assistant clerk, and the clerks of the four coordinating committees. The past clerk of the Yearly Meeting may be asked to serve.

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8. Committees and Task Groups

The Yearly Meeting on Ministry and Counsel and the sections carry out their activities using committees, Yearly Meeting appointees to Friends bodies, ad hoc committees, task groups, and individual Friends.

Yearly Meeting Committees

The Yearly Meeting may establish or discontinue committees according to need. When a committee is established, it is the duty of the Yearly Meeting to approve a statement of its purpose and functions. All appointments are to be made for a specified time.

A record of all committees and their membership is published annually in the Yearbook. Terms of service are discussed on page 3 [of previous version].

In general, New York Yearly Meeting committees are suggested by a coordinating committee after the need has been determined. This Handbook is printed to describe the functions of the Yearly Meeting committees and Yearly Meeting appointees to Friends' bodies. Each committee and appointee is responsible, through its section or the Yearly Meeting on Ministry and Counsel, to meet its purposes, objectives, functions, and activities. They are expected to relate their activities to the expectations of the Yearly Meeting for the specialized group of which they are a part. (See "Committee Members" [was page 78].)

Task Groups

One of the functions assigned to coordinating committees is to welcome and nourish new concerns. A task group provides one way of accomplishing this. It provides a way for individuals in the Yearly Meeting to explore their concern more fully and to invite others to join them as they assess the extent of interest among Friends. A task group may grow to become a Yearly Meeting committee, or its members may find their concern best served in another way. A task group will be formed with one particular focus and for a specified period. It can be continued beyond that time if its task is still felt to be important. The members of a task group will be appointed by the appropriate coordinating committee, and financial support will come through funds allocated to the coordinating committee. The task group will be responsible to the coordinating committee, with access to it for support and advice.

Ad Hoc Committees

For a specific task that is outside the responsibility of an existing committee or that may be wider than the activities of one section, the Yearly Meeting may establish an ad hoc committee. Such committees are established for a specific period, usually one or two years, and may be continued until the task is completed. The members of an ad hoc committee are appointed by the Yearly Meeting on recommendation of the Nominating Committee.

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Yearly Meeting on Ministry and Counsel

(being restructured, 2007)

Purposes & Objectives

The Yearly Meeting on Ministry and Counsel is a consultative and exploratory body of the Yearly Meeting. It is more for the weighing of issues than for the making of decisions. Its membership is as representative as possible to make its consideration of the areas of concern and responsibility laid out in Faith and Practicemore valid. Its executive body is the Coordinating Committee for Ministry and Counsel.

Functions & Activities

1. to consider subjects having to do with the spiritual needs of the membership of New York Yearly Meeting
2. to receive reports of concerns from the local, quarterly, regional, and half-yearly meetings, through the Coordinating Committee for Ministry and Counsel
3. to refer concerns that require action to the Coordinating Committee for Ministry and Counsel
4. to consider and approve recommendations for recording gifts in ministry

Organization & Method of Appointment

1. one representative appointed by each monthly meeting
2. recorded ministers, pastors, and meeting secretaries
3. all members of the Coordinating Committee for Ministry and Counsel, and constituent committees, ad hoc committees, and task groups

The clerk of the Coordinating Committee for Ministry and Counsel also serves as clerk of the Yearly Meeting on Ministry and Counsel.

Meeting Times & Places

The Yearly Meeting on Ministry and Counsel meets twice yearly, at summer sessions at Silver Bay and at Representative Meeting in December.

Finances

Any expenditures incurred by the Yearly Meeting on Ministry and Counsel are accommodated in the budget of the Coordinating Committee for Ministry and Counsel.

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Purposes & Objectives

The purpose of the Coordinating Committee for Ministry and Counsel is to exercise general care of the spiritual life of New York Yearly Meeting, to provide pastoral care of the membership, and to listen to the concerns of the Yearly Meeting on Ministry and Counsel and meet them with appropriate action.

Functions & Activities

1. to respond to requests for counsel and spiritual leadership received from monthly and regional meetings
2. to exercise care over the work of the constituent committees of the Yearly Meeting on Ministry and Counsel
3. to respond to needs for mediation and reconciliation from monthly meetings and other groups in the Yearly Meeting
4. to coordinate functions with the Advancement Committee as needed
5. to receive special reports on concerns of monthly and regional meetings
6. to address epistles of advice and instruction to monthly meetings and to expedite a program of visitation to meetings
7. to appoint one or more persons to receive State of the Meeting reports from monthly meetings and to prepare a summary for presentation to the Yearly Meeting sessions as the State of the Society Report
8. to organize general meetings and conferences for sharing its concerns, to foster spiritual growth, and to strengthen the religious life of the membership
9. to plan for the Yearly Meeting sessions:
10. 1. to arrange meetings for worship
    2. to provide leadership for activities such as Bible study, worship-sharing groups, and interest groups designed to broaden and enrich the life of Yearly Meeting
    3. to name an oversight committee to serve as liaison among Yearly Meeting, Junior Yearly Meeting, and the Silver Bay Association to deal with problems and stressful situations arising from behavior at summer sessions
11. to receive minutes concerning proposed recording of ministers from monthly meetings, to appoint clearness committees regarding these minutes, and to take recommendations to the Yearly Meeting on Ministry and Counsel for approval
12. to administer the Stevens Fund

Organization & Method of Appointment

The membership of the Coordinating Committee consists of

1. one appointed representative from each regional meeting (except that Farmington-Scipio Regional Meeting names two) for three-year terms
2. fifteen members at large appointed by the Yearly Meeting for three-year terms, one-third appointed each year
3. one named member from each constituent committee of Yearly Meeting on Ministry and Counsel for one-year appointments

The Coordinating Committee appoints clerk(s), recording clerk(s), a representative to Junior Yearly Meeting, and several subcommittees of the Coordinating Committee, to carry out its work. The clerk, or another appointee, represents the Coordinating Committee on the Sessions and Liaison Committees.

Meeting Times & Places

July sessions at Silver Bay, December Representative Meeting, a one-day meeting in the fall at a time selected by the Committee, Coordinating Committee Weekend at Powell House in the spring, and other times as needed.

Finances

Expenses of Ministry and Counsel are provided for in the Operating Budget.

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Purposes & Objectives

1. to disseminate widely an awareness of the faith, practice, and testimonies of Friends and to encourage their observance by monthly, quarterly, and regional meetings and by members of the Yearly Meeting
2. to reach out to seekers
3. to knit Friends and Friends meetings more closely together
4. to encourage outreach and growth in existing meetings, to undergird and strengthen weak meetings, and to help new worship groups

Functions & Activities

1. to promote intervisitation among meetings
2. to arrange for conferences, seminars, and similar activities for study and consideration of Friends' principles by members and attenders
3. to find or prepare articles, leaflets, or books by and about Friends and to make them available to meetings and individuals
4. to assist in the organization of new monthly meetings
5. to arrange meetings and to speak to interested groups outside the Society about Friends' principles and concerns
6. to distribute funds made available by the Yearly Meeting Trustees, the Yearly Meeting Operating Budget, and New York Quarterly Meeting, for repairing meetinghouses, for training meeting workers, and for assisting Friends to attend sessions of Yearly Meeting, Representative Meetings, and other Friends' gatherings

In addition to the functions and activities of the committee as a whole, there is an individual responsibility of members to nurture their own local and regional meetings and to travel in the Yearly Meeting and to groups of seekers with Friends' message of peace, love, and healing.

Organization & Method of Appointment

The committee appoints a clerk, an assistant clerk, a treasurer, a literature clerk, and a representative to the Nurture Coordinating Committee. The committee comprises from eighteen to twenty-one members appointed by the Yearly Meeting for three-year terms, with approximately one-third appointed each year.

Meeting Times & Places

The committee meets during Yearly Meeting sessions and at the time of December Representative Meeting. Other meetings may be held at other times during the year.

Finances

The work of the Advancement Committee is financed in part by the Operating Budget and in part by the income from certain trust funds. The committee is responsible for distributing the income of the following trust funds:

1. Martin Leach Fund - This is for the general work of the committee.
2. Lafayette Avenue Meeting House Fund - This is for training present or potential meeting workers. This fund comes from part of the proceeds of the sale of the Lafayette Avenue Meeting House in Brooklyn, New York. The trustees of New York Quarterly Meeting distribute this fund to the Advancement Committee.
3. Lockport-Brinkerhoff Fund - This is for the repair and maintenance of meeting properties. The Advancement Committee receives requests from meetings and makes recommendations to Representative Meeting for its final approval.
4. Women's Fund - This fund is to help women attend Yearly Meeting sessions.

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Purposes and Objectives
To provide an education in the spiritual basis and skills of Friends' conflict transformation and to facilitate the transformation of conflicts within New York Yearly Meeting. It will use the June 2003 report of the Task Group on Conflict Transformation to inform and shape its work.

History
Minute 30 of the 2003 Yearly Meeting sessions approved the formation of the Committee, which evolved out of the work of the Task Group on Conflict Transformation laid down the same year.

Functions & Activities

1. The Committee's work is under the care of the Coordinating Committee for Ministry and Counsel, to whom they report regularly throughout the year.
2. The Committee encourages active engagement of the Yearly Meeting and its monthly and quarterly meetings in exploring effective ways to lift disagreements into the light of opportunity for growth and closer community.
3. The Committee provides workshops for learning skills and deepening understanding about conflict and its transformation, ranging in length from three hours to five days. All workshops encourage participation of the Spirit as the key ingredient in resolving conflict and healing from its negative fallout.
4. The Committee makes itself available at times of conflict, acting in confidence, to provide a neutral presence, to listen and to encourage healing dialogue, for the Yearly Meeting and its committees and equally for monthly and quarterly meetings and their committees.
5. The Committee is actively creating a historical record of conflicts and methods that it helped resolve and heal.
6. The Committee provides bibliographies and literature of its own on conflict transformation.

Organization & Method of Appointment
The Committee has from six to eight members appointed by the Yearly Meeting for staggered three-year terms. Two to three are appointed each year as members rotate off. The Committee appoints its own clerk and recording clerk and a representative to Ministry and Counsel Coordinating Committee. These positions are held for a one-year term, which may be renewed.

Potential nominees should have characteristics such as mediation/negotiation/eldering skills, spiritual centeredness helpful in conflict situations, an ability to maintain confidentiality and neutrality, and ability to engage in skills education for Yearly Meeting Friends.

Meeting Times & Places
Meetings of the Committee are held at Yearly and Representative Meetings. At least two, and frequently more, additional day-long meetings are held during the year as called by the clerk, as well as occasional telephone conferences. Insofar as practical, committee meetings alternate between the Albany area and the metropolitan downstate area.

Finances
Funds are provided by Ministry and Counsel Coordinating Committee, which considers for approval an annual budget proposed by the Committee.

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Purposes & Objectives

To revise the Yearly Meeting's Book of Discipline according to the direction of the Yearly Meeting. This direction comes in minutes of the Yearly Meeting in session, from the written suggestions of individual Friends, and from minutes of monthly meetings.

History

The Yearly Meeting referred the task of rewriting the section on the membership of children to an appropriate committee, to be determined by the clerk, in 1977. That fall, the Representative Meeting appointed members for a one-year term to a committee to revise the Book of Discipline.

The committee found additional areas where material needed to be changed or added: sexist language, prison reform, troubled marriages, separation and divorce, death and dying, and human sexuality. The committee also considered how to make sure that references to Christ remained in a faith that the committee recognized ranged from Christian to an unspecified universalist. Friends, individually and in suggestions from monthly meetings, called on the committee to consider most sections of the book. The second part of the book, Practice and Procedure, received final approval in July 1987; the first part, Faith, in July 1995. The most recent edition was approved in July 1998.

Functions & Activities

1. The committee's work takes place under the care of the Coordinating Committee for Ministry and Counsel, to whom the committee reports. Ministry and Counsel may offer any guidance and counsel for the committee's work and any help in gaining Friends' understanding of committee proposals for the revision.
2. The committee meets as needed to consider updating and rewriting ideas, paragraphs, and sections of Faith and Practice. Between committee meetings, members write suggestions for new sections or for changes in sections already published.
3. The committee presents draft proposals directly to the summer sessions of Yearly Meeting. (Friends must consider and approve these proposals at two consecutive yearly meetings before they may be published.) (Faith and Practice, page 104.)
4. The committee is on call to speak about suggested revisions and to listen to Friends' thoughts and concerns.

Organization & Method of Appointment

For the first twelve years, the Yearly Meeting appointed committee members to one-year terms. The Yearly Meeting considered the committee to be ad hoc and therefore not subject to the limits of successive appointments. Since 1988, the Yearly Meeting has appointed members for three-year staggered terms, with about one-third of the members having their terms end each year. The Yearly Meeting's limit of two successive terms now applies to appointees. The Yearly Meeting's Nominating Committee recommends appointments. The committee selects its own clerk and recording clerk for one-year terms and names a representative to the Coordinating Committee for Ministry and Counsel for a one-year term as well. The committee currently has six members.

Meeting Times & Places

Prior to the 1995 publication of Faith and Practice, the committee often met once a month for a day-long meeting, sometimes with an overnight at a weekend, usually in New York City but occasionally out of the city. The committee in session sets future meeting times. The committee may meet during the Yearly Meeting sessions and has held open meetings from time to time.

Finances

The expenses of the committee are met by an appropriation in the Operating Budget. Sales of Faith and Practice cover the costs of printing.

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History

Minute 74 of the 1971 Yearly Meeting sessions marked the initiation of the Fund for Sufferings under the Peace and Social Action Program. The Fund, raised through voluntary contributions, is meant to provide assistance to those who are suffering because of fidelity to Friends' testimonies. In the sessions of 1975, a Committee on Sufferings was established to administer the Fund, and a budget appropriation was placed in the goals of the Sharing Fund to continue until the Fund reached $10,000.

Purposes & Functions

1. To administer the Fund for Sufferings to provide aid and assistance to those who are suffering because of fidelity to Friends' testimonies.
2. To determine that the witness to which the suffering is attributed speaks to Friends generally relative to a common heritage and tradition.
3. To consider applications for assistance from a Yearly Meeting member wherever that person resides and from any who are faithful participants in worship and action in local meetings. Normally, an application will be forwarded by a local meeting with the anticipation that the Fund will supplement the meeting's financial resources in the matter. In lieu of this, a Yearly Meeting committee may endorse and forward the application.
4. The rendering of assistance rests on evidence that the applicant and any dependents have been diligent in self-help and in the search for alternate resources, particularly local meetings. Such assistance should be a decent level of support, especially when extended to the dependents of applicants.
5. Where religious witness involves challenges to authority, legal support must be limited to modest defensive moves and should not include the payment of fines or other financial penalties.

Organization & Method of Appointment

The Committee on Sufferings consists of nine members serving for terms of three years. The Yearly Meeting appoints one-third of them each year upon the recommendation of the Nominating Committee. The committee selects its own clerk and treasurer and names a representative to the Coordinating Committee for Ministry and Counsel.

Meeting Times & Places

The committee meets at such times and places as are necessary to process applications for assistance, to oversee the Fund for Sufferings, and to report on its status each year.

Finances

Appropriations are received from the Sharing Fund. Whatever is not drawn from the accumulating Fund for Sufferings is invested to increase further the size of the Fund. Committee expenses are available from these sources.

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GENERAL SERVICES SECTION

Purposes & Objectives

The General Services Coordinating Committee (GSCC) functions as an enabling body of the General Services Section, which comprises those committees that provide the primary administrative, financial, and reporting services of the Yearly Meeting, including the operation of the Yearly Meeting office. They are:

• Audit Committee
• Financial Services Committee
• Committee on the Expenditure of the H.H. Mosher Fund (as of 2007)
• Junior Yearly Meeting Committee [transferred to Nurture CC 2007]
• Nominating Committee
• Personnel Committee
• Publications Committee
• Records Committee
• Sessions Committee
• Trustees of New York Yearly Meeting
• Trustees of the Lindley Murray Fund

Functions & Activities

GSCC supports and oversees the work of committees in the General Services Section, as well as their relations with others in the Yearly Meeting. It forms task groups when needed, coordinates preparation of the section budget, and participates in the preparation of the Yearly Meeting Operating Budget.

Organization & Method of Appointment

GSCC is composed of the clerk or a named designee of each of the committees within this section, the clerk, assistant clerk, and treasurers of the Yearly Meeting, and six to eight members at large. The latter are appointed by the Yearly Meeting upon recommendation of the Nominating Committee for three-year terms, approximately one-third each year.

The clerk of GSCC or a named designee serves on the Sessions Committee and is a member of the Liaison Committee.

Meeting Times & Places

GSCC meets twice at Yearly Meeting sessions, at Representative Meeting sessions, at the coordinating committee weekend at Powell House in the spring, and at the call of the clerk as needed.

Finances

Expenses approved by the committee are provided for in the Operating Budget.

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History

The Audit Committee was established at Representative Meeting held December 6, 1980. Its purpose was to provide an annual review of the financial records of each Yearly Meeting committee. At Yearly Meeting sessions in 2001, a new Audit Committee was named and asked to articulate a new statement of purpose, which would reflect several changes in the Yearly Meeting's fiscal management and reporting practices. These changes included a sharp reduction in the number of Yearly Meeting committees that maintained their own accounts and records, and a decision by the Yearly Meeting that all its financial accounts and records should be professionally audited.

Purposes & Objectives

Working with the Yearly Meeting treasurer, the treasurer of the Yearly Meeting's trustees, and the clerks and treasurers of any Yearly Meeting committees maintaining their own accounts and financial records, the Audit Committee will assure the Yearly Meeting that its financial accounts, records, procedures, controls, and reports are periodically reviewed and audited by competent, outside professionals in the field of accounting, and will interpret the findings and recommendations of the resulting accountant's or auditor's report(s) to the Yearly Meeting.

Functions & Activities

The Audit Committee will:

1. advise the Yearly Meeting on the recommended schedule and scope of review or audit activities
2. recruit and recommend an appropriate firm or individual professional to carry out the services recommended
3. review and advise the General Services Coordinating Committee on the appropriate engagement letter or contract
4. coordinate the planning and execution of the accountant's or auditor's work with the treasurers, bookkeepers, and other fiscal officers whose accounts, controls, or procedures are being examined
5. receive and review a draft of the professional's findings and recommendations
6. advise the General Services Coordinating Committee on the timing and method of reporting to the Yearly Meeting (It is anticipated that custom will be followed in reporting an auditor's findings or opinions to the full governing body-in our case the membership-and that the widest practical exposure among those affected will be given to the auditor's recommendations to management.)
7. advise the General Services Coordinating Committee on the release of payment for professional services under the terms of the engagement
8. evaluate the performance of those engaged for professional accounting or auditing services and advise on their suitability for future retention
9. help interpret professional findings and recommendations to the treasurers, bookkeepers, other fiscal officers, and others whose work may be affected by those recommendations.

The General Services Coordinating Committee retains its authority to contract and compensate professional services as recommended by the committee or, at its own discretion, to request or act on another recommendation. It also retains its responsibility for the ongoing oversight of financial policies, plans, operations, controls, and systems within the Yearly Meeting organization and for overseeing the adoption and implementation of any recommendations arising out of a financial review or audit.

Organization & Method of Appointment

The Audit Committee should consist of no fewer than three members, appointed one each year by the Yearly Meeting at the recommendation of the Nominating Committee for rotating terms of three years. No member of the Audit Committee should concurrently serve as a trustee of the Yearly Meeting, as treasurer or assistant treasurer of the Yearly Meeting, as a member of the Financial Services Committee, or as an officer or trustee of any board or committee whose accounts and records are subject to a direct review or audit supervised by the Audit Committee. Members of committees whose work focuses on the allocation or distribution of funds for which management is not under their direct control are not precluded from serving, but they may want to consider the potential for conflict before agreeing to serve.

While not a requirement for appointment, it would be helpful if members of the committee brought some previous experience working with business, nonprofit, or public-sector audits, as well as some familiarity with the Yearly Meeting's management and fiscal operations.

The Audit Committee will appoint its own clerk, as well as name a representative to the General Services Coordinating Committee.

Meeting Times & Places

The committee should expect to meet not more than two to three times per year, as needed to plan, oversee, and review the results of audit activities affecting the Yearly Meeting. Whenever practical, these times should coincide with the times of Yearly Meeting sessions or of Representative Meeting.

Except as face to face meetings are needed to weigh and make decisions, much of the committee's work can and should be carried out by consultation and delegation among the members. Some of this work will include meeting with the auditor, as well as with the various trustees, officers and committee representatives responsible for the financial management and operations of the Yearly Meeting. As far as possible, the number of such meetings required each year should be kept to a minimum.

No special budget provision has been made for the work of audit committee. The expected costs of proposed professional services should be budgeted annually as "audit expense" under General Services. Out of pocket expenses incurred by Yearly Meeting officers and committees during the course of a review or audit should be charged to their own expense lines. To the extent that may be agreed upon in advance, out of pocket expenses for travel by Audit Committee members in connection with committee business may be presented for reimbursement to the clerk of General Services from coordinating committee expense.

GSCC 03/02/02

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Purposes & Objectives

To serve the Yearly Meeting in matters relating to financial needs and resources.

Functions & Activities

1. To prepare annually a budget based upon the recommendation of the coordinating committees and to propose methods for collecting the necessary funds.
2. To determine the part of the overall budget that covers the administrative costs of the Yearly Meeting and its committees and contributions to other Friends' bodies, together known as the Operating Budget, and to recommend the proportional assessment of this Operating Budget to be assigned to each regional meeting. The committee is charged with the responsibility for a continual review of these allocations, making such adjustments from year to year as are appropriate and desirable.
3. To aid in programs of education and information that communicate to Friends the requirements and opportunities provided by the Yearly Meeting, its outreach projects, and the larger Friends' bodies with which it is associated.
4. To review regularly the financial position of New York Yearly Meeting with the Yearly Meeting Treasurer and determine any actions required to keep expenses and income in balance.
5. To serve in an advisory capacity to the Yearly Meeting, its committees, and regional and monthly meetings on all matters involving financial needs and resources, other than those assigned to the Trustees. Specifically, to inform clerks and treasurers of meetings and regions of the proposed budget and Proportional Shares prior to Representative Meeting in December.

Organization & Method of Appointment

The committee comprises twenty-four appointed members serving three-year terms, one-third appointed each year, plus all regional treasurers, ex officio. Appointments are made by the Yearly Meeting on the recommendation of the Nominating Committee. The Treasurer and assistant treasurers of the Yearly Meeting are members ex officio.

The committee appoints its own clerk, assistant clerk, and recording clerk, and names a representative to the General Services Coordinating Committee.

Meeting Times & Places

All meetings are held at the call of the clerk, and there are no stated times thereof. The committee has been meeting during Yearly Meeting sessions to prepare reports for presentation, review the financial state of the Yearly Meeting, and discuss those matters that have arisen since Representative Meeting. At the final meeting the committee will make appointments for the following year for clerk, assistant clerk, and recording clerk.

Finances

Expenses incurred by the committee are provided for by an allocation in the General Services Coordinating Committee operating budget.

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History

The Mosher Fund derives from a bequest of $13,100 received by New York Yearly Meeting in 1875 from the estate of a New York Friend, Henry H. Mosher. The Yearly Meeting assigned the execution of this bequest to the Committee on the Expenditure of the H. H. Mosher Fund, which was to disburse the income received from the trustees, who hold the principal, according to their best judgment of the spirit and intent of the gift.

Around the year 1937, the Yearly Meeting asked this committee to take over the additional function of maintaining a book table at Yearly Meeting sessions. About $300 was transferred to the Mosher Fund Committee at that time, and it has continued to be used as a revolving fund for this purpose.

Purposes & Objectives

The committee's purpose is to use the income of the fund guided by the directive of Henry Mosher for "circulating books and tracts inculcating and developing the principles of the Christian religion as preached and promulgated by the early Friends. "

Functions & Activities

The committee distributes books and pamphlets written by and about Friends and concerning Friends' principles. Lately, the selections have been broadened to include books on religion and related subjects and on other topics pertinent to Friends. Literature is distributed mostly to Friends' Meetings in New York Yearly Meeting and to affiliated Friends' institutions, but also to individuals who make their books available to others in the course of their work on behalf of Friends. Books are also given to visiting Friends at Yearly Meeting.

The book table at Yearly Meeting sessions is operated by the committee with a view to promoting sales of literature of the same general type as that of the Mosher Fund distribution. Committees and individuals are asked to recommend suitable publications for the book table.

Organization & Method of Appointment

The Yearly Meeting appoints two members each year for five-year terms. The committee chooses a clerk and a treasurer and appoints a member to serve on the Nurture Coordinating Committee.

Meeting Times & Places

The committee usually meets twice a year at the times of Representative Meeting, and occasionally at other times and at Yearly Meeting. Most of the activity of the committee is concentrated in the period before and after Yearly Meeting sessions.

Finances

The committee receives no funds from the Operating Budget. The income of the Mosher Fund pays for the distribution of literature. The income and profit from sales of books are used as an operating fund for the book table.

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Purposes & Objectives

To search for and to propose, for the approval of the Yearly Meeting, the names of Friends to serve as officers and on the committees of the Yearly Meeting.

Functions & Activities

The Nominating Committee ordinarily proposes all nominations for Yearly Meeting officers and committees for approval to the Yearly meeting, as follows:

1. Yearly Meeting Clerks, treasurer and assistant treasurer of the Yearly Meeting, Trustees of the Yearly Meeting and of the Lindley Murray Fund
2. members of all other standing committees of the Yearly Meeting and such special nominations as the Yearly Meeting may direct, with the exception of appointments to the Nominating Committee itself

When resignations or other vacancies in any of the appointments normally made by the Yearly Meeting require replacement before the next session of Yearly Meeting, or if membership is needed for a new committee established by the Yearly Meeting or Representative Meeting, nominations are proposed to Representative Meeting.

Organization & Method of Appointment

Each regional meeting is entitled to name one member to the Yearly Meeting Nominating Committee for each 200 members of the regional meeting or fraction thereof, with at least one member for each regional meeting. The terms are adjusted so that approximately one-third of the total appointments are made each year for three-year terms. Appointments should be made by the regional meetings before Yearly Meeting sessions each year, and the Yearly Meeting office should be notified. Members should not be named for a second three-year term without an intervening year.

The committee appoints its own clerk and secretary at an organizational meeting at the end of Yearly Meeting sessions after the new appointments are known. It also names its own representatives to the General Services Coordinating Committee and to the Sessions Committee.

Meeting Times & Places

The committee meets at the time of December Representative Meeting to begin the work of the year. To establish a pool of willing potential nominees, individual members are then assigned committees for which they are responsible. A full weekend meeting is held at Powell House in May or June to bring together all nominations and to set up committee slates. The committee meets daily during Yearly Meeting sessions to finalize nominations.

Finances

The Nominating Committee has an appropriation in the Operating Budget to cover clerical costs, telephone charges, some committee travel, and other miscellaneous expenses.

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History

The Yearly Meeting established the Personnel Committee in 1975 to undertake many of the functions of the previous Executive Committee having to do with office and field staff. Before the existence of the Executive Committee, the Secretaries Committee concerned itself with many of these tasks.

Purposes & Objectives

The Personnel Committee annually recommends staff appointments to the Yearly Meeting. In response to Yearly Meeting directives, it gives general guidance and support to the staff and helps in the Yearly Meeting's relationships with the staff. The committee is asked to attend to working conditions, to performance, and to needs of the Yearly Meeting staff.

Functions & Activities

The Personnel Committee provides guidance and support by listening, encouraging, and recommending changes. As it is able, it nurtures staff's relationships with Friends in the Yearly Meeting with a view to helping create an atmosphere in which people will wish to work, perhaps for a number of years. A major function is to listen to staff concerning any difficulties they have on their jobs, and possibly to help resolve these difficulties.

The committee writes, reviews, and amends the personnel policy and the various job descriptions. It makes and revises a salary guide and an annual salary schedule. It attempts to understand the needs of the employees and, when appropriate, to express these to the Yearly Meeting; and to balance these needs with the needs of the Yearly Meeting. It helps secure and supervise medical, disability, and retirement benefits for employees. The committee annually evaluates the work of the Yearly Meeting staff.

The Personnel Committee proposes a budget to cover the personnel expenses of the Yearly Meeting

Organization & Method of Appointment

The committee consists of ten to twelve members, appointed for three-year terms, approximately one-third appointed each year. All appointments are made by the Yearly Meeting upon the recommendation of the Nominating Committee. The committee selects its own clerk and recording clerk and names a representative to the General Services Coordinating Committee.

Meeting Times & Places

The Personnel Committee meets at Yearly Meeting sessions and at least three additional times each year, generally in New York City, at the call of its clerk.

Finances

The Personnel Committee proposes a budget to cover the personnel expenses of the Yearly Meeting (salaries, benefits, etc.). The committee may authorize unusual expenses necessary in the operation of the office and may authorize the Treasurer to pay such expenses up to the amount provided in the budgeted contingency reserve without prior approval of the yearly or representative meeting. The committee itself has no budget.

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Purposes and Objectives

The committee serves the Yearly Meeting in matters relating to communication of New York Yearly Meeting business and activities of other Friends' bodies that would be of general interest to New York Yearly Meeting members. Such communication includes gathering and sharing regional and monthly meeting news and concerns and distributing information pertaining to wider Quaker groups (e.g., FGC, FWCC, FUM, AFSC) as appropriate. The functions and activities required for communications are carried out in the main by the staff; the committee sets policies, provides guidance and advice, and helps out as way opens.

Functions and Activities: Staff

1. The staff edits and produces Spark, the online newsletter InfoShare, this Handbook, and the Yearbook, including the Advance Reports. Staff makes sure these are issued in a timely manner and makes them available to Friends in various media as required (including Internet versions). Spark, the Yearly Meeting newsletter, is published five times a year (in January, March, May, September, and November). InfoShare is issued six times a year (in February, April, June, Summer, October, and December) to provide a vehicle for "late- breaking" news and additional material.
2. The staff maintains and updates Faith and Practice on the Web site and takes care of typesetting and printing of new editions.
3. The staff is responsible for the Yearly Meeting membership database and maintains distribution lists for communications it sends out. The database includes e-mail addresses.
4. The staff sends out global messages in accordance with guidelines approved by the General Services Coordinating Committee. The staff interprets their application as necessary so that all widespread communications are coordinated by a single committee (staff may consult with the Communications Committee if they wish).
5. The staff updates the electronic version of the Handbook and sends printed change pages to Handbook owners as soon as changes are received from the coordinating committee for the section. The Handbook is a living document distributed to Monthly Meeting clerks, Yearly Meeting officers, and clerks of all Yearly Meeting committees. Committees change their entries with some frequency, and changes need to be made promptly. The Handbook exists in print and in electronic form on the Web site.
6. The staff cooperates with other Yearly Meeting committees to improve communications and, upon request, consults with them in such areas as editing, production, and distribution (including posting on the Web site).

Functions and Activities: Committee

1. Committee members are asked to help find material from their local meetings and to encourage people to submit material for the Web site and the newsletters.
2. The committee reviews the information for Spark and consults with staff about submitted material where there is a question of suitability or considerations of space. The committee reviews and approves printing of Letters to the Editor. The committee members also consult with staff on suggestions for improvements and additions to Spark and other documents. When needed, committee members sometimes do proofreading or copyediting.
3. The committee suggests material for InfoShare and advises on distribution questions. It promotes knowledge and use of InfoShare within the members' local meetings.
4. The committee advises staff on editorial needs, production, and possible methods of distribution of new manuscripts submitted, and in determining the potential value of such manuscripts to the Yearly Meeting.
5. The committee advises staff on content and use of the membership database and receives and reviews requests for it. Final authority lies with the General Services Coordinating Committee.
6. The committee regularly reviews the number of changes to the Handbook and when necessary approves printing a new edition.
7. Faith and Practice is updated whenever the Faith and Practice Committee directs staff to do so, and the Communications Committee decides when to issue new editions or reprints.
8. Requests for staff consultation with NYYM groups or requests for printing or reprinting materials are reviewed by the committee, which recommends priorities and approves guidelines and deadlines.

Organization and Method of Appointment

The committee is composed of six people plus, ex officio, the Spark editor and Web site coordinator. Members are appointed by the Yearly Meeting for three-year terms upon the recommendation of the Nominating Committee, two being appointed each year. Members of the committee are expected to be familiar with some aspect of communication: electronic, print, or other media.

The committee appoints its own clerk and recording clerk and a representative to the General Services Coordinating Committee. It may create subcommittees for special projects and may coopt members as needed.

Meeting Times and Places

The full committee meets at the call of the clerk of the committee, usually about four times a year. It meets at Yearly Meeting sessions, at Representative Meetings if required, and from time to time at the NYYM office.

Finances

The committee receives an appropriation in the Operating Budget for printing and distributing the Yearbook, a separate appropriation for printing and distributing Spark and the Handbook, and an appropriation for the Web site and support of electronic mail. Special appropriations may be requested for other projects and requirements.

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Purposes & Objectives

To assure that minutes, membership records, manuscripts, and other suitable documents of New York Yearly Meeting, its constituent regional and local meetings, and the predecessor meetings (now laid down) are preserved.

To make these records accessible to the meetings and to individuals or groups doing historical and genealogical research.

Custody of the Records

At New York Representative Meeting Fourth Month 8, 1995, Friends approved transfer of the minutes and other archives then preserved in the Haviland Records Room, 15 Rutherford Place, New York NY 10003, to the Friends Historical Library at Swarthmore College, 500 College Avenue, Swarthmore, PA 19081, contingent on microfilming the documents and making the microfilms accessible in libraries located within the confines of New York Yearly Meeting. During 1997, transfer of the records was accomplished. As of Twelfth Month 31, 1997, the Haviland Records Room was closed and the part-time services of the Keeper of the Records were discontinued.

Beginning in 1998, all permanent records of the Yearly Meeting and its constituent meetings are to be maintained by Friends Historical Library at Swarthmore College. Friends Historical Library agrees that ownership of the documents is retained by the originating meeting or its successor and that such documents will be released to the owners upon proper authorization. (See Access to Records, page 82 [of previous version].)

Functions & Activities

The Records Committee is responsible for establishing guidelines for recordkeeping in all meetings and for facilitating timely deposit of minutes, membership registers, and other selected documents in Friends Historical Library.

The committee monitors transmission of records to Friends Historical Library and the microfilming of the records. It maintains up-to-date information about access to the records in the custody of Friends Historical Library and of microfilms at depository libraries within the confines of theYearly Meeting. (See Access to Records.)

The committee provides Membership Sheets and makes them available to monthly meetings for registration of individual members.

The committee is responsible for seeing that copies of the Yearbook, containing the printed minutes of Yearly Meeting and Respresentative Meeting sessions, are signed by the concurrent clerks, bound in hard covers, and made part of the permanent records deposited in Friends Historical Library.

The committee encourages meetings to preserve significant documents, such as memorial minutes, tape recordings of addresses, talks about local Quaker history, and transcripts of oral history interviews. Meetings may appoint historians to do research on the local history of Friends and develop collections of documents, and to record voice tapes of interviews with members and videotapes of events.

Organization & Method of Appointment

The Yearly Meeting appoints nine to twelve members for a term of three years upon recommendation of the Nominating Committee, about one-third of them being appointed each year.

The committee names its own clerk, recorder, and treasurer.

Meeting Times & Places

Meetings are convened at Yearly Meeting sessions and sometimes at Representative Meeting sessions. An all-day meeting is usually held in the fall. Other meetings may be convened at the call of the clerk.

Finances

The activities of the committee are supported by a line item in the Operating Budget of the Yearly Meeting. The amount of the budget and justification for it is subject to approval by the General Services Coordinating Committee.

The Yearly Meeting Operating Budget also includes an item for annual support of Friends Historical Library, to be used toward maintenance of the Yearly Meeting archives.

Income from the Irving B. Rymph Fund and the John Cox, Jr. , Memorial Fund held by the Yearly Meeting Trustees is contributed to the Friends Historical Library.

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History

The current Sessions Committee evolved from the former Administrative Committee.

Purposes & Objectives

The Sessions Committee has general responsibility for the sessions of Yearly Meeting and Representative Meeting.

Functions & Activities

For Yearly Meeting sessions and for the two Representative Meeting sessions held each year, the committee

1. arranges suitable locations
2. sets up programs (speakers, topics, etc.) and schedules
3. handles such operational details as
4. 1. negotiating contracts, fees, and other services to best accommodate those attending
   2. providing suitable living arrangements for Yearly Meeting sessions attenders and working with local host meetings to provide suitable arrangements for Representative Meeting
   3. arranging for printing and distributing advance publicity
   4. taking responsibility for inviting guest speakers and arranging for their hospitality and other needs
   5. overseeing the appropriate use of funds from registration fees and the Operating Budget

The Program Subcommittee has five or more members, including the Yearly Meeting Clerk. It develops, under the guidance of the whole committee, the overall program for Yearly Meeting sessions, reviews the schedule, and invites speakers.

The Silver Bay Arrangements Subcommittee, which has four or more members, works with Silver Bay Association regarding food, space, and equipment requirements; checks registration forms in cooperation with the Spark editor and Junior Yearly Meeting coordinators; assists, when needed, the Liaison Committee (see page 6), food liaison persons, and the audiovisual coordinator. (This subcommittee would have similar tasks wherever the Yearly Meeting sessions were held.)

Organization & Method of Appointment

The membership of the Sessions Committee includes the Clerk and assistant clerk of Yearly Meeting; reading clerks and recording clerks; one or two Yearly Meeting staff; the Junior Yearly Meeting coordinator(s); the Junior Yearly Meeting high school clerk(s) and coordinator; the clerk of, or a representative from, the Nominating Committee of Yearly Meeting; representatives from an organized young adult group whenever such exists; one representative each from General Services, Ministry and Counsel, Nurture, and Witness Coordinating committees; and seven at-large members. The latter are appointed by the Yearly Meeting for three-year terms, approximately one-third named each year, upon the recommendation of the Yearly Meeting Nominating Committee.

All members of the committee, both those serving by reason of their office and those appointed as at-large members, are expected not only to attend meetings of the entire Sessions Committee but to serve on one or more subcommittees as well. It is a large committee of thirty to thirty-five members.

The Nominating Subcommittee has two or more members and should be named at the first meeting at Yearly Meeting sessions. It recommends Sessions Committee clerk, treasurer, other officers as desired, and appointees to General Services Coordinating Committee and Junior Yearly Meeting Committee.

For service during the July residential Yearly Meeting sessions, the committee appoints an editor for the NYYM Minute, an office assistant, an off-campus liaison person, a medical coordinator, a display coordinator, a questionnaire committee, an audiovisual coordinator, a music coordinator, a food service liaison, and two or three reporters to Quaker periodicals. These need not be members of Sessions Committee.

Meeting Times & Places

The committee meets in early fall to appoint its subcommittees, to evaluate the past Yearly Meeting sessions and begin planning for the next one, and to plan for the December Representative Meeting. In mid-January, it may meet at Powell House for a weekend to review and coordinate all plans for the upcoming Yearly Meeting sessions and to plan for the spring Representative Meeting. The committee meets at both Representative Meeting sessions, and may hold an additional meeting in early June. At Yearly Meeting sessions, the committee meets at least three times, usually at noon, to attend to details and questions as they arise.

Finances

The committee is funded from the Operating Budget.

Expenses covered include: fees; room, board, and travel for invited guests to Yearly Meeting sessions; room and board for staff members at Yearly Meeting; office expenses relating directly to Yearly Meeting sessions; expenses for Representative Meeting sessions; and committee travel.

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History

In 1836, the original principal of the Lindley Murray Fund was established with the residue of the estate of Lindley Murray, who died in 1826. Six trustees were named in the will to hold this principal in trust and to apply the income thereof yearly in perpetuity for all or any of a variety of purposes, including:

1. to liberate Black people from slavery and give them, their descendants, and other Black persons suitable education
2. to promote the civilization and instruction of the Indians of North America
3. to purchase and distribute books tending to promote piety and virtue and the truth of Christianity
4. to assist and relieve the poor in any description and in any manner that may be judged proper

The description of purposes is a considerable abbreviation of the will's exact terms. The will also specified that the trustees should have the advice and direction of the New York Yearly Meeting of the Religious Society of Friends, which was given the power to reappoint the trustees and to establish such regulations and limitations as should seem proper and most likely to promote the ends the legator had in view.

When the $42,700 fund came into possession of the trustees in 1836, two of the originally named trustees were deceased, so the Yearly Meeting appointed successors and also named a seventh trustee. The Yearly Meeting currently names seven trustees.

Over a period of nearly a century and a half, ten Friends made additional contributions to the Murray Fund, either through bequests or through direct donation. These donors usually placed special emphasis upon one or more Murray goals. Prominent among their objectives were needs of Indians and Blacks, relief of the poor and needy, promotion of Christianity, and the peace principles of the Society of Friends. One found "religious, educational and charitable objects" suitable language. As a result, the original Murray Fund more than doubled, reaching $91,577 by 1975, in direct gifts and bequests. In 1915, Murray Fund trustees accepted the responsibility of managing the $7,500 principal fund of the New York Female Association and forwarding the income to the association for distribution. Known for initiating free education in New York City in 1800, the Association is an independent organization ministering to "benevolent needs."

Functions & Activities

The historical account makes clear that the trustees of the Lindley Murray Fund are responsible for:

1. the care and proper investment of the trust funds in their possession
2. the collection of income from these investments
3. the disbursement of the income in accordance with their best interpretation of the terms of the bequests

Organization & Method of Appointment

The seven trustees are appointed by the Yearly Meeting upon the recommendation of the Nominating Committee for five-year terms, one or two being appointed each year. The trustees name their own officers and a representative to the General Services Coordinating Committee.

Meeting Times & Places

Trustees determine number, time, and place of meetings needed to properly fulfill the responsibilities laid on them.

Finances

The trustees report annually on their care of the capital funds, the income received, and the disbursement thereof. This report is usually given to the spring Representative Meeting.

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Purposes & Objectives

New York Yearly Meeting of the Religious Society of Friends is organized and conducts its business affairs under the guidance of the book of Faith and Practice of New York Yearly Meeting. It is incorporated under Section 15 of the New York State Religious Corporation Law for the purpose of holding title and administering properties, both real and personal, belonging to the Yearly Meeting or subject to its direction and disposition. All members of the Yearly Meeting are members of the corporation, and any business meeting of the Yearly Meeting or of its Representative Meeting constitutes a meeting of the corporation.

Functions & Activities

The Yearly Meeting assigns to a Board of Trustees all business matters relating to property transactions, including specific management of bequests and deeds of trusts received by the Yearly Meeting in a fiduciary capacity. It has adopted By-laws for Trustees (see Faith and Practice, page 105), which prescribe the duties of trustees and general regulations for conduct of their business. These include appointment of their own officers, consisting of a clerk/president,* a secretary, and a treasurer of trustees, and the appointment within their number of an investment committee for interim supervision and decisions concerning the investment of funds.

Organization & Method of Appointment

The Board of Trustees is composed of a minimum of five and a maximum of seven trustees with individual terms of five years, and rotating dates of termination, so that one or two trustees are appointed each year. Recommendations for these appointments are made by the Yearly Meeting Nominating Committee, and they are approved by the Yearly Meeting. Any meeting of Representative Meeting or Yearly Meeting may fill vacancies as they occur. Trustees are eligible for two successive appointments of five years each. Officers are appointed as described above. The trustees name a representative to the General Services Coordinating Committee.

Meeting Times & Places

The Trustees meet annually, usually on the first Saturday in April, and they frequently hold one or more additional meetings during the year, according to need. They report annually, usually to the summer session of Yearly Meeting, concerning the status of funds under their care and the disbursements of income to the several beneficiaries of the trust funds. They may be asked to make interim reports to any session of the Representative Meeting or Yearly Meeting.

Finances

Custodial fees, bookkeeping, and other expenses, except costs of securities transactions, are paid out of the income from the pooled trust funds.

*It is believed that the title "President" must be retained for the presiding officer of the Trustees for legal reasons.

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As noted in the section on the New York Yearly Meeting Corporation, various trust funds are administered by a Board of Trustees appointed by the Yearly Meeting. These trust funds, for the most part, consist of a number of bequests or donations made to the Yearly Meeting to be used for particular purposes which were specified by the testator or donor. Also included are similar funds which have been entrusted to the Yearly Meeting for investment by constituent meetings or committees. In some cases, trusts have been created by the Yearly Meeting or the Representative Meeting out of otherwise unrestricted funds according to circumstances surrounding acquisition of the funds or particular needs prevailing at the time of receipt.

The funds held by the trustees are primarily those in which the conditions of trust require that the principal be invested and only the income from these be distributed for the purposes named. Where no restriction is made concerning use of principal, funds are usually distributed as soon as practicable to the designated beneficiaries. The trustees are responsible for interpretation of the conditions of trust and for administration according to their best judgment of the purposes and intent of the original creator of the trust.

All the trust funds held for investment are administered as a common fund with proportionate distribution of income. In earlier years, distributions were made in direct proportion to the original principal amount of each trust fund. More recently, due to a broadening of the investment policy to include some equity securities in addition to those of fixed income, it became necessary to recognize capital appreciation in determining the basis of distribution. This led to adoption of a unit plan in which each new fund is assigned a number of "shares" in the common fund proportionate to the amount of new principal added versus the current asset value of shares in the existing common fund at the time of the addition. Distributions of income are now made on the basis of the number of shares assigned to each fund.

For convenience in administration and reference, the trust funds have been grouped into four general categories, and they are so grouped in the descriptions which follow.

1. Educational funds relating primarily to educational uses at secondary school levels but including a few broader uses of an educational nature.
2. Evangelistic funds concerned primarily with activities designed to extend knowledge of Friends' principles generally within the geographic limits of the Yearly Meeting. This group includes some funds designated for support of persons engaged in ministry or other services on behalf of Friends, and for support of particular meetings or weaker meetings in general.
3. Missionary funds relating to religious and benevolent concerns of Friends, generally beyond the limits of the Yearly Meeting in home or foreign lands.
4. Other funds concerned with work and interests of Friends but not directly assignable to the foregoing categories.

The following descriptions of funds indicate the sources of the several funds and the purposes for which each is intended to be used. Personal names associated with the titles are the names of testators or donors unless otherwise indicated in the text. The headings include notation of the year of receipt of funds by the trustees, the amount of the principal, and the number of shares assigned under the unit plan. With minor exceptions, the sequence of fund descriptions is based on order of first receipt within each group. Of necessity, these descriptions are condensations of more complete information maintained in the files of the trustees.

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*For principal amount, contact Trustees.

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