General Assembly
All members. Approves the accounts, elects the bodies and amends the statutes. It is the sovereign body — and it is why members own the association rather than being its customers.
Governance
Who decides what, and who they answer to.
The governance of an association is not an org chart for the wall. It is what determines what happens when someone leaves, when there is a conflict of interest, or when a member disagrees.
What this guarantees you
Four things governance protects.
If a representative leaves, your relationship stays
The domain, the brand, the platform and the data belong to the Alliance — never to the Country Chair. If they leave, your contacts, your history and your listing in the directory remain. The relationship you built does not depend on one person staying.
Nobody decides alone about your money
The accounts are approved by the General Assembly and audited by a Supervisory Board independent of the Board. Dues are your money entrusted to others — and you have a right to know where it goes.
Chapters cannot promise what the Alliance does not do
A national chapter has operational autonomy, not normative autonomy. It cannot create services outside the catalogue, promise outcomes, or provide regulated services. The Council of Chapters exists precisely for this.
Conflicts of interest must be declared
Anyone with an interest in a decision does not vote on it. This applies to the Board, the chapters and the committees. It is a tiresome rule and it is meant to be.
Bodies
Who does what.
Board
Runs the activity, executes the approved plan and answers to the Assembly. It cannot amend the statutes or approve its own accounts.
Supervisory Board
Audits the accounts and the management. Independent of the Board — were it not, it would be auditing nothing.
Council of Chapters
Brings together the representatives of the national chapters. Coordinates the network, ensures the services stay coherent, and is the channel through which a chapter takes a problem to the Board.
Boundaries
What the Alliance cannot do, even if it wanted to.
- Provide legal, tax, financial or other services requiring a licence.
- Guarantee commercial outcomes to a member or a client.
- Take a commission from an accredited partner for a referral.
- Sell or pass member data to third parties.
- Allow a chapter to use the brand outside the contracted scope.
These boundaries are not here out of modesty. They are here because an association that crosses them stops being useful to its members — and starts being a risk to them.
Would you like to see the institutional documents?
Statutes, internal regulations and code of conduct, available on request.
Request the documents