This is an entirely new proposed article, for inclusion after current 10 (board), and after the proposed article of Amendment 7.

11. Affiliated organisations

1. The association, through its board and general assembly, may grant the status of "affiliate" to another non-profit organisation that shares the same general mission as the association.

2. All relations between the affiliate and the association are governed by a written affiliation agreement signed by both boards and published to all members of both organisations.

3. Unless otherwise specified, the affiliation takes effect from the moment of signing of the affiliation agreement and lasts until the affiliation agreement is terminated, or either of the parties are dissolved.

4. Either party can, by vote of its highest deciding body, terminate the affiliation agreement any time, unless the agreement specifies otherwise.

5. All members of an affiliate are automatically contributing members of the FFII. The two associations should share their member data and membership fees according to rules to be specified in the affiliation agreement.

6. A member of an affiliate may become an active member of the association under the same conditions as any direct member of the association.

7. The affiliate may not be under the authority of any other organisation.

Justification: The regional chapter interface is designed to allow maximal flexibility for regional groups to organise and reach the state where they can apply for affiliate status. It is important to give members who live in a region covered by an affiliate a reason to join the affiliate without losing privilege. Joining an affiliate is equal in all purposes to joining the FFII itself. There is no double membership fee.

The statutes only define enough to ensure that affiliates can't corrupt the association, and affiliates retain enough independence to operate properly. All details such as sharing of membership fees are covered by the agreement itself, which is hand-crafted for each affiliate, and which may be reviewed over time.

Overall, a new affiliate is like a block membership application. We make it a little more formal but not structurally different. The GA has to approve, and can cancel it at any time.

This model works for all the regional chapters we have now, and would also let us treat non-FFII organisations as affiliates.

It's a lot simpler and flexible than the models used by Greenpeace and co.