Purpose

In addition to specific leadership and administrative responsibilities, the Clerk of the Yearly Meeting seeks leadings to nourish the presence of the Spirit in the Yearly Meeting community of Friends and helps the corporate body discern the leading of the Spirit in Yearly Meeting matters.

Appointment

The Clerk of Yearly Meeting is appointed for a three year term beginning at the rise of an annual session. Current practice is to provide either a single Clerk or a shared or teamed effort of two Clerks when appropriate.

Responsibilities of the Clerk include:

Serve the Yearly Meeting as its Clerk, particularly of its meetings for business and of such other plenary sessions as may be called, and arrange for the right holding of its meetings for worship.
See that a full and correct record is kept of all proceedings.
Along with the Recording Clerk, update the index of Minutes of Concern at the end of Annual Gathering
Attend to the annual details of being a non-profit corporation: making sure the list of corporate officers is current on imym.org and that all paperwork is in order with the Colorado’s Secretary of State.
Assure that instructions of the Yearly Meeting are carried out.
Activate clerks’ support committee—with regular communication, mutual support and problem-solving as needed.
Work with the Clerk of the Representatives Committee on matters of business and other concerns of the Yearly Meeting.
Work with the Clerk of Arrangements Committee on matters of program arrangements, including providing by late February a “Call to Yearly Meeting” and information about the guest speaker to the editor of Western Friend and to the Registrar for including in the program packet. During the summer, work with the Clerk of Arrangements to determine best distribution and use of evaluation results.
Appoint by October a designee Host with fluency in Spanish and interest in Mexico City Friends to assist with arranging the visitation of the Heberto Sein Memorial Visitor for the next annual session. The host will assist with associated travel and participation in the annual session, acting as a buddy during the annual gather. The Host should have the capacity to either assist with travel and assistance or arrange for that support. (Note 1.)
Communicate with the Regional, Monthly, and Preparative Meetings and Worship Groups and other Friends organizations and individuals as needed for the right conduct of Yearly Meeting. Regular communication with meetings through updates and members of Representatives Committee is very helpful. Disseminate fall Queries, compile and summarize responses from meetings in preparation for the winter Representatives Committee meeting. Along with Representative Committee clerk, urge meeting representatives to carry out regular communication with their meetings about IMYM.
Encourage communications between the Yearly Meeting and other Friends organizations, delegating the activity as appropriate to Yearly Meeting committees and officers, such as Watching Committee, Peace and Social Concerns Committee, and Delegates clerk.
Work with the Delegates Committee Clerk to inform all those organizations to which the Yearly Meeting sends appointed delegates who those current appointments are. These organizations include at least the following: Friends General Conference (FGC), Friends World Committee for Consultation (FWCC), Friends Committee on National Legislation (FCNL), American Friends Service Committee (AFSC) Corporation, Corporation Board of Western Friend, and Friends Peace Teams.
Serve on the Program Committee (ex officio) and attend its meetings (at the annual gathering and year-round), and working with the Clerk of that committee, extend invitations to speakers, write an MOU, oversee arrangements for the speakers’ presence and participation at the yearly meeting.
Attend Arrangements Committee Meeting, presenting reports and information as needed.
Present minutes, concerns, and other business to Representatives Committee as needed. Prepare summary of fall Query Responses to present at Representatives Committee.
Entertain, at the Clerk’s discretion, proposed minutes or concerns directly from the floor of a plenary session for the Yearly Meeting’s deliberation.
Mentor the successor clerk during his/her first year. Transferring records and information to the successor Clerk by late summer. If appointed, work with successor clerk as shadow during last year of clerkship.
Work with the Arrangements Committee Clerk as needed to assure that all the appropriate program and logistical information relevant to the annual gathering is provided to the Registrar and to the Coordinator of Operations for scheduling logistics in a timely fashion prior to annual gathering.
Call for State of the Meeting reports and any Memorial Minutes from Monthly Meetings. When received these are assembled as part of the Documents-in-Advance that are posted on imym.org, sent to any Friend who requests them, and put in a binder kept in IMYM book store.
Prepare State of Society report, based on State of Meeting reports.
Request reports from certain officers and committees to be collected and distributed as the Documents-in-Advance of the annual session. These Documents-in-Advance are conveyed to the Web Clerk for posting on imym.org, sent to any Friend who requests them, and put in a binder kept in IMYM book store.
Along with the Watching Committee Clerk, collect epistles from other Friends organizations, FWCC website and the websites of other Yearly Meetings. The Watching Committee will select some epistles to be part of Documents-In-Advance. The Watching Committee will also select appropriate epistles to read at meetings for business.
Respond to any epistle that is sensitive due to either content or action required, in consultation with the Clerk of the Watching Committee. Such action should be reported to the annual session if appropriate.
Prepare two binders each for the epistles (with table of contents), the State of the Meeting Reports, Memorial Minutes, Reports from IMYM Committees, and Reports from Other Quaker Organizations. These binders are to be housed in the IMYM book store as announced during the annual session.

Financial Arrangements

The Yearly Meeting pays the expenses of the Yearly Meeting Clerk to meetings of the Representatives and Arrangements Committees, and to the annual session as needed. (See the Guide page Who Pays IMYM Travel.) Incidental operating expenditures for clerical supplies, communications, etc., may be submitted to the Treasurer for reimbursement. The Treasurer should be consulted before incurring unusual expenses.

Notes and Concerns

Also see the Guide page for Heberto Sein Memorial Visitor Host. Arranging for the Visitor has been accomplished in several ways in recent years. The Clerk has asked someone to be a host by getting a list of people who attend the Spanish language worship sharing group and by asking around. Perhaps the host to be determined by Nominating or the PWG. The HS visitor will surely need a buddy at IMYM and interpretation as needed.
Also see description for Watching Committee.
Participate as you wish in online video conferences for yearly meeting clerks hosted by Friends General Conference and also a group of YM clerks across North America which meets quarterly. Pamela Boyce Simms (pbs9@georgetown.edu) is the communication person. Western Friend also hosts video conferences for western yearly meeting clerks on specific topics.
The next evaluation of the structure of IMYM has been set for 2024. The clerk is responsible to see that this occurs and that the recommendations are considered.

Timeline for the Work of the Clerk of Yearly Meeting

(03/14/20)

JULY

Review the Record of the yearly meeting’s proceedings with the Recording Clerk and finalize for release. Note – The Record of a yearly meeting’s proceedings includes minutes of the annual session, attached reports presented to the annual session, epistles approved by the annual session, memorial minutes, and state of the meeting reports from Monthly Meetings and Worship Groups.
Convey the Record and any other supporting materials to the Web Clerk for posting on imym.org.
Prepare summary of IMYM Proceedings to send to all Monthly Meetings. Send with an newsletter in August?
Update the list of corporate officers on imym.org, if necessary.
Check with clerk of Watching Committee to see how distribution of IMYM epistles is proceeding. Assure epistles are posted to imym.org and sent to FWCC.
Assist PWG to contact choices for plenary speaker, as needed.
With the other clerks, set dates and locations for winter Arrangements Committee Meeting and Representatives Committee Meeting

AUGUST

Send Update to meetings
Convene Clerks’ Support Committee, work with Arrangements Clerk to review evaluation results, and share if needed.
Circulate any public minutes to newspapers and legislators in the four states.

SEPTEMBER

Work closely with PWG to keep in touch with plenary speaker discussing possible theme (this is ongoing until done).
Work with Program Working Group, Peace & Social Concerns, Finance Committee and other groups to propose Queries for consideration in the fall.

OCTOBER

Identify who will assist with the Heberto Sein Memorial Visitor arrangements.
After Queries have been prioritized and approved by Representatives Committee, circulate them to meetings.
Communicate theme and program to meetings

NOVEMBER

Keep up with all e-mail communication – this is ongoing from the beginning and is one of the most time consuming parts of the job.
Attend FGC Clerks Consultation Meeting in even numbered years

DECEMBER

Work with Arrangements Committee Clerk to prepare for January meeting.

JANUARY

Work with Arrangements Committee Clerk to prepare proposed schedule for IMYM gathering to present at AC.
Work with Program Working Group Clerk to prepare information on theme and plenary speaker (such as bio) for AC.
Report any other concern to Arrangements Committee. Make sure the theme of the annual gathering is brought to AC.
Prepare Call for State of Meeting Reports & Memorial Minutes and send out.
Assure that contact is made with Mexico City Meeting to invite Heberto Sein Visitor.

FEBRUARY

Prepare Call to IMYM gathering and send to registrar by appointed date. By mid-February send call to Western Friend for publication.
Work with PWG clerk to get biography information of plenary speaker and abstract of address (if available) to Registrar.
Confer with Clerk of Representatives Committee in preparation for their meeting and attend meeting. Provide Clerk’s Report if necessary.

MARCH

Send out Call for reports for Documents In Advance. Ask Delegates Committee Clerk to help get reports from delegates.
Work with Clerk of Watching Committee to compile current epistles.
Ask the Delegates Committee Clerk to invite representatives of FGC, FCNL, FWCC, and AFSC to attend June gathering (Could get our representatives of these organizations to do it).
With Program Working Group Clerk, assure that registration information is available to plenary speaker.
Send reminder to monthly meetings about State of Meeting Reports & Memorial Minutes.

APRIL

Start working on business agenda for IMYM after reviewing the Representatives Committee’s Minutes and the Arrangement Committee’s Minutes, conferring with the Representatives and Arrangements Committee Clerks.

MAY

Around May 1^st start to assemble the Documents In Advance.
Mail welcome letters to first time attenders of IMYM
By middle of May have Documents ready to post on imym.org.
Contact all presenters (delegates, committee chairs etc.) at plenary sessions telling them what is expected of them. Identify readers for Memorial Minutes.
Write State of the Society Report to read at opening plenary.
Prepare draft agenda for business.

JUNE

Assemble two identical copies of five binders to be in bookstore for Friends to read to include:
1. Memorial Minutes
2. State of the Meeting Reports
3. Documents in Advance – Part I, IMYM Committee Reports
4. Documents in Advance – Part II, Reports from Other Quaker Organizations
5. Epistles from Yearly Meetings Around the World. Get list of guests from Registrar for Introduction at Welcome.
Prepare agenda for Welcome.

AT ANNUAL SESSION:

Attend Program Working Group Committee meeting.
Make sure Recording Clerk has all information for Record of proceedings, electronic copy of all epistles, copy of reports given, etc.
Meet with new clerk if appropriate.
Clerk Welcoming Session, Plenary Speaker presentation, all Meetings for Business, Meetings for Worship, and any threshing sessions.
Meet with Ministry and Counsel at least one time—usually Friday afternoon.