Article I. The Association and its Purpose

Section 1: The association shall be known as the International Goat Association, Inc. (IGA).

Section 2: The Association has as its objectives:
a. Fostering the use of goats to provide for the needs of humankind.
b. Encouraging research with and development of goats to increase their productivity and usefulness throughout the world.
c. Enhancing education, training and information transfer in the goat sector.

Section 3: The activities of the Association shall include:
a. Perpetuating the International Conferences on Goats
b. Sponsoring the Journal, Small Ruminant Research
c. Undertaking relevant actions or activities in collaboration with interested international or national goat organization (INGOs and IGOs) to reach IGA purposes

Article II. Membership

Section 1: Any person or institution interested in goats shall be eligible for membership.

Section 2: Membership can only be obtained by application and the payment of dues.

Section 3: Membership may be terminated by resignation in writing or by non-payment of annual dues over two consecutive years.

Article III. Governing body

Section 1: The governing (voting) body of the Association consists of the officers and the directors.
a. The officers (Executive Board) of the Association shall consist of the President, two Vice-Presidents, Immediate Past President, Secretary-Treasurer, Associate Secretary Treasurer and the Editor in Chief.
b.The Board of Directors shall consist of the officers and a maximum of 12 members.
c.The Emeritus president or vice-president do not vote.

Section 2: The terms of office for all officers and directors are as follows:

a. Officers shall serve from the end of the International Conference on Goats, when they are appointed, to the end of the next succeeding International Conference on Goats.
b.The President and Vice-President (s) shall be appointed by the elected directors at the first meeting of the Board.
c.The Secretary-Treasurer and associate Secretary-Treasurer shall be appointed by the officers and directors. Their terms of office shall expire upon the expiration of the terms of office of the officers and directors who appointed them unless they are reappointed by their successors.
d. The Editor-in-Chief shall be appointed by the officers and directors. His or her term of office shall expire upon the expiration of the terms of office of the officers and directors who appointed him/her unless reappointed by the successors.
e. The Directors of the Association shall serve from the end of the International Conference on Goats when they are elected to the end of the next succeeding International Conference on Goats. Two-thirds of the directors shall be elected by a simple majority of the Association membership per correspondence ballot; the remaining shall be appointed thereafter by the elected directors. The outgoing President shall serve as chairman to the elected directors for the purpose of appointing the appointed directors and officers. The term of office of all directors is renewable only twice (3 mandates).
f. The President cannot be appointed to succeed himself or herself.
g. The Vice-Presidents can only once be appointed to succeed themselves in their respective offices by a vote of the directors but can also be reelected and re-nominated as directors once.
h. In the absence of other provisions for succession, all officers and directors shall serve until their successors are duly elected and appointed.
i. An Emeritus President and or Vice-President without voting rights could be nominated to the board of directors for a specific period.
j. The vote regarding the nomination of the directors is organized by the Secretary-Treasurer on the proposal of the outgoing board of directors. It must take place within the last year before the upcoming International Conference on Goats and be finalized three months before the Conference. The Secretary-Treasurer counts the votes, which are validated by two officers appointed by the IGA board, and are disclosed to all IGA governing bodies two months before the Conference beginning.
k. The Board of directors decides how many directors (between 8 and 12 excluding the officers) must be appointed by vote for the future board of directors.
l. After each Conference (ICG), the new board of directors can nominate additional directors, all of the directors excluding officers cannot exceed twelve.

Section 3: Responsibilities
a.An annual reporting of the financial state of the organization should be audited by two directors acting jointly as financial auditors and thereafter circulated to the membership through the newsletter or other mail.
b.The president is responsible to the membership for the Governing Body’s decisions and actions.
c.The president and secretary-treasurer are jointly responsible for the Association’s financial management.

Article IV. Country Representation

Section 1: Any country or region with one or more members can be represented by one or more IGA member as an official representative of that country/region to the IGA. This section shall be certified in writing to the President of the Association demonstrating concurrence of other members from that country. The purpose of such representation is to provide input for that country/region association matters. As such, the representative does not have voting privileges in governance of the Association. The Board of Directors can nominate a country/region and must in all cases, clear all nominations. The representatives must be members of IGA in good standing. The Board of Directors will interact and consult with country/region representatives whenever necessary on relevant matters, such as membership and information.

Article V. Meetings

Section 1: Governing body of IGA will hold at least two meetings at each international conference on goats. Such conference shall occur at intervals of four to five years as appropriate, unless the time is shortened or extended by a two-thirds vote of the Governing Body. Other extraordinary meetings may be called by the President, or upon a request of three of more of the directors or officers. Meeting notices or requests for meetings shall precede proposed meeting dates by not less than 60 days. Excepting where a request for a meeting has been made by three officers or directors, the President shall be responsible for the program and other arrangements for each meeting and unless a meeting has been requested by the officers or directors, shall have authority to cancel a meeting if circumstances make such action necessary or desirable.

A minimum of five officers or directors must be present to conduct a Board of Directors meeting. Motions passed at such a meeting must be approved by mailing ballots to the remaining officers/directors. Balloting must be completed within two months.

Section 2: A responsibility of the Governing Body at its meeting at each international conference on goats will be to establish the sponsoring country where the next international conference on goats will be held, the year it will be held, and to appoint a member of the Governing Body as its representative on the organizing committee for the next international conference, by preference one of the two vice-presidents.

Section 3: A general assembly open to all members in good standing will be held during every conference to inform the members and interact on matters of importance to the Association. The President should give notice of the general assembly not less than 90 days in advance.

Article VI. Changes in Constitution

Section 1: The constitution shall be in effect when it is approved by a majority vote of the members of the International Goat Association. Any changes/amendments can be decided upon by majority ballot vote.

Section 2: Proposals for amendments may originate from the officers and/or directors by petition of three of more of its members or by petition by 20 or more members of the Association. Proposed amendments must be mailed by the President to the membership 90 days prior to balloting. To be counted, the ballot must be received by the Secretary-Treasurer not later than 14 days after the final date. A minimum of 25 % of the total membership must cast ballots for the vote to be valid. A two-thirds majority of the total ballots cast shall be required for the adoption of an amendment to the Constitution.

Article VII. General Policies

Section 1: No part of the net earnings of the Association shall or may under any circumstances inure to the benefit of any private shareholder or individual.

Section 2: The Association shall not participate in, nor intervene in (including the publishing or distributing of statements) any political campaign on behalf of any candidate for public office.

Section 3: The Association shall not be organized nor operated for profit.

Section 4: The Association shall not:
a. Lend any part of its income or corpus without receipt of adequate security and reasonable rate of interest.
b. Pay any compensation, in excess of a reasonable allowance for salaries or other compensation for personal services actually rendered.
c. Make any part of its service available on a preferential basis.
d. Make any payment of securities or any other property for more than adequate consideration in money or moneys worth.
e. Sell any securities or other property for less than adequate consideration in money or moneys worth: nor
f. Engage in any other transactions that result in diversions of its income or corpus to any member or contributor to the Association.

The prohibitions contained in Section 4 do not mean to imply that the Association may make such loans, payments, sales or purposes to anyone else, unless such authority be given or implied by other provisions of the constitution or By-laws.

Article VIII. Properties and Funds of the Association

Section 1: The Association shall hold title to all property and funds contributed to it, and shall have the right to exercise all powers granted to it by the laws of the State or country in which it is incorporated. Funds of the Association shall be invested or deposited by the officers in accordance with the vote or a majority of the governing body.

Article IX. Dissolution

Section 1: The Association may be dissolved in accordance with the following procedure:
a. The officers and directors may adopt, by majority vote, a resolution recommending the dissolution of the Association together with a plan of distribution of assets, and submit the questions of dissolution, and the plan of distribution to the members of the Association.
b. A copy of such resolution shall be mailed to each voting member at his/her last known address not less than 90 days before balloting, and must be received by the Secretary-Treasurer before the ballots are to be counted.
c. The resolution to dissolve the Association and to adopt a plan of distribution will become effective provided a minimum of 25 percent of the membership votes on the proposed resolution, and by an affirmative vote of two-thirds of those voting approves the said resolution.

Section 2: Upon dissolution of the International Goat Association, the Association shall, within 90 days, distribute its assets and accrued income as determined by the approved plan of distribution.

Article I. Membership

Section 1: The right to membership and participation in Association activities will be granted to qualified applicants as defined in Article II. Section 1 and 2 of the Constitution. The Secretary-Treasurer shall receive the dues. The membership list shall be certified annually the Secretary-Treasurer of the Association.

a.Full individual member. Any individual qualifying for membership is eligible for full individual membership upon payment of dues. There are two categories of dues:
1. Including subscription to the Journal of Small Ruminant Research
2. Not including subscription to the Journal.

b.Institutional Membership. An institution may become a member of IGA by paying relevant membership dues set by the Board of Directors. In particular, national or international goat related organizations which include or sponsor work with goats are eligible for this membership category. Benefits and standards for Institutional Membership are set by the Board and distributed by the Secretariat.

c.Annual dues for each class of membership will be determined as appropriate by the officers and directors of the Association. All members will receive the IGA newsletter that will include business, activities and calendars of events in addition to those provided in the Journal.

d.Each member in any class of the Association has one vote.

Section 2: A candidate for membership in the Association shall make written application by letter, or forms provided by the Association, and approved by the Secretary-Treasurer of the Association. Upon receipt of an acceptable application and payment of dues, the Secretary-Treasurer shall enter the applicant on the rolls of the Association and under the appropriate classification as set forth in Article I, Section 1 of the By-laws.

Constitution and By-laws of the International Goat Association Suggested Revisions for IGA Board Meeting Den Hague August 24, 2000
Presented by Jean Boyazoglu, past-president., edited August 01, October 01.