Forming and maintaining an Issue Committee

1. A national WILPF issue committee works on specific issues of concern to our members and consistent with international priorities. Issue committees should:

• Have a minimum of 5 members, with geographic diversity
• Set measurable, outcome- oriented goals
• Develop its own projects to achieve the issue committee goals
• Welcome any WILPF member who wishes to participate.
• Encourage Branches with an interest in the committee's issue to have a representative on the committee. This will facilitate sharing of resources as well as cooperation and coordination among Branches.

2. An issue committee in good standing:

• Submits annual reports in time for fall budgeting cycle to the Program Committee, which will be shared with Board and staff. Reports should include number of members and names; contact person; and evaluation and financial report for year ended and next year's goals, plan and proposed budget.
• Receives $400 annually in funding from the national budget and is eligible for mini-grant funding.
• Is listed/linked on www.wilpfus.org homepage
• Maintains and updates committee web pages
• Has regular presence in WILPF eNews
• Has space in hard copy publications such as Peace and Freedom.
• Has one member participating in the National Program Committee and serving as liaison between that committee and the issue committee.
• Receives at least minimal support from staff including processing of invoices, quarterly budget reports, web management and list serve management.
• Prepares semi-annual progress reports for the Board.
• Processes all income and expenses through the national office including funds raised by the committee outside of the national budget. Good financial procedures should be followed with staff help as necessary.

3. Staff, Program Chair(s) and the Program Committee will offer supports to all Issue Committees and help resolve problems insofar as they are able.

4. Issue Committees in turn will seek to involve interested Branches and members-at-large and share resources with them.

5. An Issue Committee that becomes inactive or fails to fulfill its responsibilities should be offered supports and help in solving problems by the Program Chair(s), Program Committee and/or Staff. However, if inactivity or failure to meet obligations persists, an Issue Committee can become ineligible for funding and official recognition at the recommendation of the Program Committee and with approval of the Board.

6. To create a new Issue Committee (or re-start a previously disbanded Committee):

A group of at least five members, with geographic diversity, will file an application with the program committee.

• The group will be interviewed by the Program Committee
• If the issue of concern is consistent with national and international vision, goals and priorities the group will be asked to prepare a report similar to the annual report described above
• If accepted the Program Chair(s) will send a recommendation to the Board for approval.

We invite WILPF Issue Committees to write policy and position statements that may be released under the Issue Committee’s name so long as they are consistent with WILPF’s stated policies, and we encourage that they be issued in US WILPF’s name after approval by the president is received. All bodies in WILPF are advised to seek consultation with other bodies and knowledgeable people within WILPF when writing statements.

For approval, please send statement to president@wilpfus.org, cc’ing our Program Co-chairs Odile Hugonot Haber, odilehh@gmail.com and Deborah Garretson, gorba336@gmail.com using a clear subject line such as:
“ACT: Statement (or Sign-on) Approval Requested”. Please indicate deadline, if there is one.

Approval will be given within 7 days, or if approval cannot be given, the president will communicate with the authors within 7 days, detailing the problematic points, and offering alternative language if possible. A dialogue between the Issue Committee and Co-Presidents and Program Co-chairs will be pursued in a timely manner until a resolution is reached. While the vast majority of statements can be easily approved, from time to time such serious disagreement may occur that a broader WILPF dialogue may have to be sought, including input from International WILPF.