Constitution

I. THE NAME, SEAT AND PURPOSE OF THE SOCIETY.

§ 1 THE NAME

The "International Erich Fromm Society e.V." has its seat in Tübingen, where it is officially registered as an association. It does not necessarily seek profit, but rather pursues scholarly purposes exclusively and directly as required in the section of West German tax legislation headed "Purposes Justifying Tax Privileges".

 § 2 THE PURPOSE

SEC. 1: The International Erich Fromm Society, hereinafter referred to as the Society, is being founded to maintain, to research, to develop further and to pass on the scholarly findings and ideas of Erich Fromm as the fitting continuation of his international work and in recognition of his worldwide significance.

1. The Society shall establish, expand and maintain the ERICH FROMM ARCHIVES. The archives consist of Fromm's literary and the collection of articles Fromm used, the collection of his own published writings and the international secondary literature on Fromm, both published and unpublished.

The International Erich Fromm Society shall maintain and supervice utilization of the Archives together with the Literary Executor appointed by Erich Fromm. This person is expected to advance the Society's goals for those purposes laid down in its Constitution; no exceptions to this are to be made for the Literary Executor.

The Archives shall be made accessible to interested parties of scholarly purposes as deemed fit by the Executive Directors of the International Erich Fromm Society.

2. The International Erich Fromm Society advances INTERNATIONAL scholarly RESEARCH into Erich Fromm's thought in the fields of social sciences, psychoanalysis, philosophy and religion including the relevance it may have to other scholarly disciplines or to issues concerning its economic, social, political or intellectual/cultural interpretation or application.

3. It promotes the INTERNATIONAL EXCHANGE of discoveries and research findings, providing support für international PROJECTS set up to further Erich Fromm's scholarly thinking.

SEC. 2: The International Erich Fromm Society does not pursue any commercial gain as an end in itself, but rather pursues scholarly goals exclusively and directly. Its assets shall be used solely for its expressed purpose. Members shall not receive any allowances from the Society's funds. Remuneration may only be granted to the usual extend and for work performed and documented. No one may be privileged in receiving expenditures foreign to the Society's purpose, of fees that are unreasonably high.

II. MEMBERSHIP

§ 3 MEMBERS

Both natural persons and legal entities may become members regardless of their nationality, as long as they are prepared and willing to promote the Society's goals.

§ 4 JOINING

Membership can be obtained by means of a declaration of membership. It goes into effect when acknowledged by the Executive Directors. In the event that a declaration of membership is not acknowledged, the Executive Directors are not required to give a reason.

 § 5 DUES

SEC. 1: Members shall pay annual dues so that the Society can cover the costs incurred in fulfilling its expressed purpose.

SEC. 2: The General Assembly can set dues with a simple majority.

SEC. 3: Donations amounting to at least 1/2 of the annual dues can be deducted from annual payments.

Donations amounting to 10 annual dues shall relieve a member of his duty to pay dues regularly.

 § 6 HONORARY MEMBERSHIP

The Executive Directors may unanimously grant honorary membership in appreciation of extraordinary accomplishments serving the purpose set forth under § 2 above.

 § 7 TERMINATION OF MEMBERSHIP

SEC. 1: Membership shall end with resignation, expulsion,, or death of a natural person, or the dissolution of al legal entity.

SEC. 2: A resignation may only become effective at the end of a calendar year and must be submited in writing to the Executive Directors.

SEC. 3: A member can be expelled by the General Assembly for having damaged the Society if 2/3 of those present support the motion or, in the case of unpaid dues, if the dept goes back 3 years.

SEC. 4: Members who resign or are expelled have no claim on the Society's assets.

III. ORGANIZATION

§ 8 BODIES OF THE SOCIETY

The bodies are:

A) The General Assembly

B) The Executive Directors

C) The Advisory Directors

D) The Auditors

A) THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY

§ 9 SPHERES OF RESPONSIBILITY OF THE ENERAL ASSEMBLY

The General Assembly has the following spheres of responsibility:

• 1. Election and voting out the Executive Directors
• 2. Election of the Advisory Directors and Auditors
• 3. Election of substitute members for the Executive Directors (period of office three years) and for the Advisory Directors (period of office four years)
• 4. Relieving Executive Directors of their duties by approving the Annual Report
• 5. Approving the Annual Accounts
• 6. Approving the proposed budget
• 7. Setting dues
• 8. Passing resolutions on the basis of motions made by the Executive Directors of members to further the work of the Society.
• 9. Passing resolutions and amendments to the Constitution or dissolution of the Society.
• 10. Expulsion of members

§ 10 CALLING A GENERAL ASSEMBLY

SEC. 1: The Executive Directors shall call a regular General Assembly by June 30 of each year.

SEC. 2: The Executive Directors may call a special General Assembly at any time. A General Assembly must be called whenever 1/5 of the members demand it specifying the matters to be discussed.

SEC. 3: The notice must be made in writing. It must be mailed out specifying the matters to be discussed at least 30 days before the day of assembly.

SEC. 4: Motions by members to include certain items in the agenda that had not been anticipated by the Executive Directors must be submitted in writing to the Executive Directors 7 days before the day of assembly at the latest. The decision as to whether such motions are to be accepted onto the agenda lies with the Executive Directors.

SEC. 5: Otherwise, once an Assembly has begun, any items not yet on the agenda must be brought forth in writing an approved by a 2/3 majority before the Assembly has begun unless they are motions to amend the Constitution.

 § 11 PROCEDURES DURING A GENERAL ASSEMBLY

SEC. 1: The Chairperson, or his/her representative as laid down in the Constitution, shall open and preside over the meeting.

SEC. 2: The General Assembly may elect to use certain rules of procedure.

SEC. 3: If, in his/her role as leader of the Assembly, the Chairperson makes a decision that is challenged, the will of the General Assembly shall prevail.

 § 12 SUFFRAGE

Each member in attendance has one vote. Each legal entity holding a membership has one vote to be exercised by its legal representative. If the representative of a legal entity is also a personal member, he has a total of two votes. No one can claim more than two votes for himself. Accumulation of the votes of natural persons is not allowed.

 § 13 RESOLUTIONS

SEC. 1: The General Assembly passes resolutions with a majority of the votes of the members present. In cases of a tie, the Chairperson decides.

SEC. 2: Resolutions to amend the Constitution require a majority of 3/4 of the members present.

SEC. 3: Resolutions corncerning rules of procedure require a majority of 2/3 of the members present.

SEC. 4: Abstentions and invalid votes are not included in calculation of majorities.

§ 14 MINUTES

Minutes are to be kept on elections and resolutions of the General Assembly, and signed by the Chairperson and Secretary. Any changes in the Executive Directors or the Constitution are to be submitted for inclusion into the Official Register of Associations (§§ 67 and 71 of Federal German Law "BGB").

B) THE EXECUTIVE DIRECTORS 

§ 15 DUTIES

SEC. 1: The Executive directors comprise the managing body of the Society. They represent the society both internally and externally. Each Executive Director can represent the entire body. The Executive directors are to make the Society's purpose described under § 2 above a reality and to advance it.

SEC. 2: The Executive directors have the duty of managing current business and carrying out the resolutions passed by the General Assembly

SEC. 3: Special duties of the Executive Directors are the follows:

• 1. Accepting new members.
• 2. Approving extraordinary expenditures of not more than € 1 000.-- which could not be included in the projected budget.
• 3. Calling and preparing for General Assamblies.
• 4. Presiding over General Assemblies
• 5. Conferring honorary membership.

§ 16. INDIVIDUAL FUNCTIONS

The Executive Directors perform individual functions as:

1. the Chairperson

2. The Vice-Chairperson

3. the Treasurer

§ 17 THE WORK OF THE EXECUTIVE DIRECTORS

SEC. 1: The Executive Directors are capable of passing resolutions only when a majority of the members called in as prescribed is present.

SEC. 2: A Simple majority suffices to pass resolutions and to decide elections. In cases of a tie, the Chairperson has a right to decide. However, it is his/her duty to maintain harmony in decision-making.

SEC. 3: Minutes have to kept of the proceedings and signed by the Chairperson and the Secretary.

SEC. 4: Members of the Executive Board shall elect a chairperson, a vice-chairperson and an treasurer from among themselves.

§ 18 THE LITERARY EXECUTOR

Resolutions concerning the use, including how use is to be made, of the Erich Fromm Archives require the approval of the Literary Executor appointed by Erich Fromm.

 § 19 THE TERM OF OFFICE FOR EXECUTIVE DIRECTORS

SEC. 1: The term of office for Executive Directors is three years. They may be re-elected.

SEC. 2: Executive Directors can be voted out of office by election of new Executive Directors.

SEC. 3: Whenever an Executive Director resigns prematurely, a successor for him/her has to be elected at the next General Assembly.

C) THE ADVISORY DIRECTORS 

§ 20 DUTIES

The Advisory Directors are responsible for the scholarly level of the Society's work. They advice the Executive Directors in matters including especially the communication with other scholarly institutions and individual scholars and in setting up international contacts.

§ 21 WORK OF THE ADVISORY DIRECTORS

The Advisory Directors shall meet at least once each year. the Chairperson of the Executive Directors shall preside over their meetings, of which minutes shall be kept.

§ 22 CONSTITUENCY AND TERM OF OFFICE

The Executive Directors are automatically concidered members of this body along with the four members elected by the General Assembly for four years. They may be re-elected. Whenever a member resigns from the office of Advisory Director prematurely, a successor is to be elected at the next General Assembly.

D) THE AUDITORS

§ 23 AUDITORS

Two representatives of the General Assembly shall check over the accounts and the annual closing of the books, submitting their findings in writing to the Executive Directors and the General Assembly; when the Executive Directors' term expires, the Auditors shall make a motion to relieve them of their duties, giving reasons orally whenever appropriate.

Auditors are elected by the General Assembly for terms of three years each and may be re-elected.

IV. FINAL ACTS

§ 24 Any and all liabilities taken on by the society shall be limited to the Society's assets.

§ 25 Should the Society be dissolved or suspended, or its founding purpose be considered no longer maintainable, the Society's assets shall be transferred to the society of the Friends of the University of Tuebingen to be used to advance research concerning Erich Fromm

§ 26 EFFECTIVE DATE

This Constitution shall go into effect on the day that it is approved by the General Assembly.

Application is to be made promptly thereafter to be entered into the Official Register of Associations and to be recognized as a not-for-profit organization.

D-72076 Tuebingen, October 12, 1985