Annual Monthly Meeting Checklist

Friends have found that the regular consideration of these inquiries is helpful for maintaining good order as the Meeting community fulfills its responsibilities.

State of the Meeting

• Is the Meeting in a reasonable state of health, its problems manageable with its own resources?
• If not, has it considered calling on the quarterly or yearly meeting for assistance?

Committees

• Do committees have clear responsibilities assigned by the Meeting?
• Are they functioning in ways that meet the needs of the Meeting, and do they report regularly to the Meeting?

Economic Resources

• Are endowments and working capital invested in a socially responsible way?
• Does the Meeting employ the services of the Friends Fiduciary Corporation?
• Is the income of restricted endowments put to the uses specified or the concerns indicated by the donor?
• Is title to real property:
  • Held by the Meeting as a permanent corporate body, as recommended by the yearly meeting?
  • Held by the Friends Fiduciary Corporation? If so, is the Meeting aware of the potential inconveniences?
  • Held by trustees? If so, are the trustees all living and competent to serve?
• Are fire and liability insurance in good order?
• Is real property managed with care for nature’s integrity?
• Are burial grounds simple in style and carefully maintained, with accurate records in the hands of a responsible committee?
• Are patterns of spending and consumption socially and environmentally responsible?

Finance

• Does the monthly meeting have a long-term financial plan?
• Does it establish clear policies, through an annual budgetary process, for the raising, custody and spending of money?
• Are routine operating budgets financed by the living?
• Are the accounts of custodians of Meeting funds regularly audited, and reports made to the monthly meeting?
• Does the Meeting require bodies under its care to undergo regular audits and to send the auditors' reports to the Meeting?
• Have the Meeting’s treasurer and Finance Committee observed all state and federal regulations governing the handling of their finances?
• Where there is doubt, has the yearly meeting or legal counsel been consulted?
• Is the burden for financial support spread equitably within the Meeting?
• Does the Meeting have a process for extending financial aid to members suffering as a result of a witness to Friends testimonies, or experiencing hard circumstances?
• What activities or programs strengthen the Meeting’s ability to devote financial resources to good works?

Records

• Are official membership records in the hands of a competent recorder?
• Are they reviewed at least annually by overseers?
• Are informal records of members and attenders kept in a computer data base or data bases, from which can be drawn useful information for building the Meeting community, such as newsletter mailing labels, lists of children by age group, and telephone numbers?
• If the Meeting is incorporated, are its records maintained and its corporate procedures conducted in accordance with good practice and legal requirements?
• Are minutes of the monthly meeting and of significant committees accurately and neatly kept on acid-free paper and retired from time to time to a designated depository?

[This edited list of queries is taken from Friends Journal website.]