| ACR and its members are involved in
many initiatives and efforts to support
and improve the field of alternative dispute
resolution. ACR Committees and Task Forces
are two means of consolidating the efforts
of our members to help influence and lead
the field. The following descriptions
provide an overview of the important work
being done by ACR’s
Committees and
Task Forces.
ACR COMMITTEES
) The
HUMAN RESOURCES COMMITTEE, which shall be
responsible for working with the Executive
Director to oversee the implementation of
Board policies regarding personnel, as well
as to assist in evaluating the performance
of the Executive Director -- consisting
primarily of conducting an annual
evaluation, goal-setting and compensation
process for the Executive Director, and
advising the Executive Director on issues of
organizational capacity and performance,
including organizational structure, staff
compensation levels and employee benefit
programs. The Treasurer shall be an
ex-officio member of this Committee.
b) The
RESOURCE DEVELOPMENT AND STRATEGIC
PARTNERSHIPS COMMITTEE, which shall be
responsible for working with the Executive
Director and the Treasurer to plan and
oversee the implementation of ACR’s external
and internal fundraising and other resource
development activities to meet both short
and long term needs of the Association,
including developing and helping to
implement a coherent resource development
plan as well as building mutually-beneficial
relationships with appropriate business and
governmental organizations. The Treasurer
shall be an ex-officio member of this
Committee.
c) The
GOVERNANCE COMMITTEE, which shall be
responsible for recommending to the Board
best practices for ACR to use (i) in its
governance, (ii) to maximize organizational
effectiveness and (iii) in on-going
development of new leaders for the
Association and its components; and how
those practices should be documented and
implemented in these Bylaws, the Policy and
Procedure Manual, and elsewhere. The
Governance Committee shall also be
responsible for overseeing the conduct of
elections of Directors and the
President-elect pursuant to Sections 17.4
and 17.6 of the Bylaws, as well as such
other duties as the Board of Directors or
the Executive Committee may assign to it
from time to time. The Sections Director and
the Chapters Director shall be ex-officio
members of this Committee, andeach new
Governance Committee shall include at least
one member carried over from the prior
year’s Governance Committee.
d) The
NOMINATING COMMITTEE, which shall be
responsible for working with the Executive
Director to oversee nominations for member-electedDirectors
and President-Elect, as more fully described
in Sections 17.1, 17.2, 17.3 and 17.5 of the
Bylaws.
e) The
ANNUAL CONFERENCE COMMITTEE, which shall be
responsible for all aspects of the program
content of ACR’s
Annual Conferences
(both educational and social, including
programming targeted to youth), and working
with ACR’s staff in promoting attendance,
making local arrangements and obtaining
financial support (including from sponsors,
exhibitors and advertisers), volunteer
assistance and publicity for the conference.
f) The
AUDIT COMMITTEE, which shall be responsible
for:
(i) Conferring with ACR’s
independent auditor to the extent required
to satisfy the Committee that ACR’s
financial and operational affairs are in
order, for which it shall have direct and
unfettered access;
(ii) Reviewing the annual
audit and related materials and advising the
Board whether to accept the audit;
(iii) Making recommendations
to the Board about hiring, firing and
compensating ACR’s independent auditor;
(iv) Periodically reviewing
with ACR’s legal counsel ACR’s internal
policies that are intended to ensure the
integrity and effectiveness of ACR’s
operations; and
(v) Approving any non-audit
services performed by the independent
auditor, other than tax and other
governmental filings, before they are
performed, as conforming to any applicable
governmental requirements.
The Audit Committee shall be
composed of at least three (3) members,
including the Chair, at least one-third of
whom are not currently members of the Board,
at least one (1) of whom is a “financial
expert” or has access to independent
financial expertise, and none of whom are
employees of ACR or receive any compensation
from ACR.
g) The
AWARDS
COMMITTEE,
which shall be responsible for maintaining
the organization-wide awards (i.e. awards
not administered by others in the
Association) carried over from ACR’s
predecessor organizations, establishing any
new organization-wide awards, overseeing any
restricted funds that apply to such awards,
determining the amount, if any, of any
monetary award, and choosing the recipient
of each organization-wide award on an annual
or bi-annual basis, as the Committee deems
appropriate.
h) The
DIVERSITY
& EQUITY COMMITTEE,
which is responsible for ensuring that all
aspects of ACR reflect its deep commitment
to increasing diversity and strengthening
equity within the Association and the
conflict resolution field, as reflected in
ACR’s Diversity and Equity Policy set forth
in Section 3.4 of the Bylaws.
i) The
FINANCE COMMITTEE, which is responsible for
providing overall guidance and assistance to
the Board and staff on matters relating to
ACR’s budget, insurance and financial
management, as well as providing financial
oversight. The Treasurer shall serve as the
chair or co-chair of this Committee.
j) The
PUBLIC EDUCATION COMMITTEE, which is
responsible for developing plans for, and
leading the implementation of, one or more
comprehensive programs to raise the
awareness and understanding of (i) the
options available to those in conflict for
resolving it, and (ii) when and how to
access high quality conflict resolution
services. Promoting the widespread
observance of Conflict Resolution Day is
also part of this Committee’s role.
k) The
ETHICS
ADVISORY COMMITTEE.
This Committee
is charged with extending ACR's active role
in Quality Assurance to serve members and
the public by issuing member-requested
advisory opinions based on existing ACR
policies and standards including the Model
Standards of Conduct for Mediators, Model
Standards of Practice for Family and Divorce
Mediation, Recommended Standards for
School-based Peer Mediation. The committee
can issue its own opinions, endorse opinions
from others organizations or jointly issue
opinions with other organizations. The
committee will draft a protocol for board
approval.
The LEGAL COMMITTEE.
The Legal
Committee oversees compliance with laws and
rules governing the association, board,
staff, committees, members and programs, and
reviews contracts (it needs to have members
who can practice in DC and NY.)
The
LEGISLATIVE
AND PUBLIC POLICY COMMITTEE.
The
Legislative and Public Policy Committee
shall work with the CEO, as supported by the
Advocacy and Outreach Manager, to maintain
awareness of policy initiatives at all
levels of government that potentially impact
on the field of conflict resolution, to
support ACR's members in addressing such
initiatives in their area of practice or
geographical location, and to take public
positions and educate public officials
regarding any such initiatives, as approved
by the Board of Directors.
The
PUBLIC & INTENSE CONFLICTS
COMMITTEE.
The committee
advises the Board about the appropriate role
of ACR in responding to public conflicts and
the process by which such responses can be
decided upon; advises the Board about how to
respond to specific conflicts in a timely
and meaningful way; and works with ACR staff
on the development of materials that might
be useful to local ACR Chapters and members
in developing a local response to public
conflicts.
ACR TASK FORCES
The MEDIATOR CERTIFICATION
TASK FORCE.
This Task
Force is responsible for designing and
implementing a Mediator Certification
Program according to the recommendations of
the Certification Committee Report passed by
the ACR Board of Directors March 31, 2004.
The SECTIONS RELATIONS TASK
FORCE.
This Task Force is charged
with building upon and completing the work
of the Member Services Task Force around
fostering a mutually supportive relationship
between ACR’s Sections and the organization
as a whole, based on the premises that
“ACR’s Sections are critically to the
vitality of ACR.”
The PEACEMAKER MUSEUM TASK
FORCE.
ACR is the
world's largest organization solely
dedicated to conflict resolution and
prevention in a variety of settings. The
Peacemaker Museum would serve as permanent
tangible venue for the public and would
support efforts to institutionalize
peacemaking and conflict resolution in our
society. The Peacemaker Museum will be a
non-partisan educational institution founded
on the goals and principles established by
UNICEF for Peace Education to
·
Promote the knowledge, skills, attitudes,
and values needed to bring about behavior
changes that will enable children, youth,
and adults to prevent conflict and violence,
both overt and structural;
·
Resolve conflict peacefully;
·
Create the conditions conducive to peace,
whether at an intrapersonal, intergroup,
national, or international level.
The
Peacemaker's Museum Task Force shall issue
recommendations to ACR Board in respect to:
·
Scope of Museum
·
Venue and Site of Museum
·
Museum Partners and Supporters
·
Potential FundingSources
·
Initial Exhibits and Programs
·
Ongoing Operations
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