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I. Personal
and Professional Integrity
All board
members, members and volunteers of The Rocky Mountain Inventors Association
(RMIA) act with honesty, integrity and openness in all their dealings
as representatives of the RMIA. The RMIA promotes a working environment
that values respect, fairness and integrity.
II. Mission
The RMIA
has a clearly stated mission and purpose, approved by the board of
directors, in pursuit of the public good of inventors.
The mission of The Rocky Mountain Inventors Association (RMIA) is
to promote successful product commercialization and protection by
offering information, education, and guidance including business contacts
and networking opportunities.
All of its programs support that mission and all who work for or on
behalf of the RMIA understand and are loyal to that mission and purpose.
The mission is responsive to the constituency and communities served
by the RMIA and of value to the society at large.
III. Governance
The RMIA
has an active board of directors that is responsible for setting the
mission and strategic direction of the RMIA and oversight of the finances,
operations, and policies of the RMIA. The board of directors:
Ensures
that its board members have the requisite skills and experience
to carry out their duties and that all members understand and fulfill
their governance duties acting for the benefit of the RMIA and its
public purpose;
Is
responsible for the electing and regular review of the performance
of the president,
Ensures
that the president provide the board of directors with timely and
comprehensive information so that the board of directors can effectively
carry out its duties;
Ensures
that the RMIA conducts all transactions and dealings with integrity
and honesty;
Ensures
that the RMIA promotes working relationships with the president,
board members, service providers, and members that are based on
mutual respect, fairness and openness;
Ensures
that the RMIA is fair and inclusive in its electing and promotion
policies and practices for all board, service providers and volunteer
positions;
Ensures
that policies of the RMIA are in writing, clearly articulated and
officially adopted;
Ensures
that the resources of the RMIA are responsibly and prudently managed;
and,
Ensures
that the RMIA has the capacity to carry out its programs effectively.
IV. Legal
Compliance
The RMIA
is knowledgeable of and complies with all laws, regulations and applicable
international inventor associations.
V. Responsible
Stewardship
The RMIA
and its volunteers manage their funds responsibly and prudently. This
should include the following considerations:
It
spends a reasonable percentage of its annual budget on programs
in pursuance of its mission;
It
spends an adequate amount on administrative expenses to ensure effective
accounting systems, internal controls, competent staff, and other
expenditures critical to professional management;
Organizations,
volunteers and members with endowments prudently draw from endowment
funds consistent with donor intent and to support the public purpose
of the RMIA;
The
RMIA ensures that all spending practices and policies are fair,
reasonable and appropriate to fulfill the mission of the RMIA; and,
All
financial reports are factually accurate and complete in all material
respects.
VI. Openness
and Disclosure
The RMIA
provides comprehensive and timely information to the public, the media,
and all members and is responsive in a timely manner to reasonable
requests for information. All information about the RMIA will fully
and honestly reflect the policies and practices of the RMIA. Basic
informational data about the RMIA will be posted on the RMIA's website
or otherwise available to the public. All solicitation materials accurately
represent the RMIA's policies and practices and will reflect the dignity
of inventors.
VII. Program
Evaluation
The RMIA
regularly reviews program effectiveness and has mechanisms to incorporate
lessons learned into future programs. The RMIA is committed to improving
program and organizational effectiveness and develops mechanisms to
promote learning from its activities and the field. The RMIA is responsive
to changes in the inventor field of activity and is responsive to
the needs of its constituencies.
VIII. Inclusiveness
and Diversity
The RMIA
has a policy of promoting inclusiveness and its staff, board and volunteers
reflect diversity in order to enrich its programmatic effectiveness.
The RMIA takes meaningful steps to promote inclusiveness in its hiring,
retention, promotion, board recruitment and constituencies served.
IX. Fundraising
The RMIA
will respect the privacy concerns of individual donors and RMIA members.
The RMIA will disclose important and relevant information to potential
donors and members. In raising funds from its members, the RMIA will
respect the rights of the members, as follows:
To
be informed of the mission of the RMIA, the way the resources will
be used and their capacity to use donations effectively for their
intended purposes;
To
be informed of the identity of those serving on the RMIA's board
of directors and to expect the president to exercise prudent judgment
in its stewardship responsibilities;
To
have access to the RMIA's most recent financial reports;
To
receive appropriate acknowledgement and recognition;
To
be assured that information about their member fees are handled
with respect and with confidentiality;
To
expect that all relationships with individuals representing the
RMIA will be professional in nature;
To have the opportunity for their names to be deleted from mailing
lists that an RMIA member may intend to share; and,
To
feel free to ask questions when making a member fee payment and
to receive prompt, truthful and forthright answers.
X. Service
Providers
The
RMIA has a policy of supporting service providers, including those
with competitive services, who agree to abide by the list of ethical
standards as described below. The goal is to encourage RMIA's service
providers to offer their expertise in an educational environment and
expand the knowledge base of inventors and the choices available to
them. Not to abide by any standard as described, shall be grounds
for membership revocation, renewal denial or other disciplinary action
as deemed necessary by two-thirds of RMIA's Board of Directors. Member
Service Providers must agree to:
Treat
other service providers with respect and dignity.
Honor
non-disclosure agreements they have signed when dealing with RMIA
inventors.
Actively
support the mission of RMIA and keep the best interests of the organization
and its members in mind when networking and doing business with
RMIA members and inventors in general.
Disclose
lawsuits or other legal actions that have been taken against the
service provider by inventors or the court system for actions that
could be considered not in the best interests of an inventor or
in violation of an inventor's rights. Depending upon the severity
of the issue as determined by the Board of Directors, this may be
grounds for membership denial or revocation.
Represent
their capabilities and services truthfully, without misrepresentation.
Disclose
any possible conflicts of interest in writing to the RMIA board
of directors. If conflicts of interest exist, RMIA has the right
to make those conflicts known to its members.
Refrain
from using, modifying, copying or otherwise taking advantage of
a member's product concept or patent for personal gain.
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