Action for ME in membership row

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From: Suzy Chapman

May be reposted

Third Sector, 7 May 08

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Website version

http://www.thirdsector.co.uk/Channels/Management/Article/807171/Action-membershi

p-row/

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Action for ME in membership row

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By Jump, Third Sector, 7 May 2008

Action for ME has defended itself after a public

protest from a group of disgruntled members who

believe they are being denied full membership

rights.

The charity, which supports people with ME - also

known as chronic fatigue syndrome - said that its

7,673 fee-paying members were not entitled to vote

at AGMs because they were not members in a legal

sense.

A Charity Commission spokeswoman said it had

dismissed a number of complaints on the issue

between 2003 and 2005. " We were satisfied that

there had been a misunderstanding, " she said.

The dissident members claim that the charitable

company, which broke away from the ME Association

in 1994, is acting unconstitutionally because it does

not hold AGMs or represent members' views.

A group of about 16 demonstrated last week outside

a conference at the Royal Society of Medicine, where

the charity's chief executive, Sir Spencer, was

due to give a speech. They claimed the board of

AfME had become dominated by people who

believed ME was a psychological condition. Most ME

sufferers, they said, believed it was physical.

" Only by re-establishing the democratic link between

AfME and its membership will AfME gain a mandate

to speak and act on behalf of us, " said Ciaran

Farrell, a member of AfME. " Filling in a questionnaire

is not the same as being able to vote on policy or

elect trustees who see things your way. "

, trustee and company secretary of

AfME, said the charity's website made it clear that

" being a member of AfME, the organisation, is not

the same as being a member of Action for ME, the

company limited by guarantee, as a company law

matter " .

He said the charity's latest AGM had been held in

February and that trustees, who are the only legal

members, had been invited.

A spokeswoman added that AfME required the

majority of its trustees to have had ME, and that all

but two of the current 10 board members were either

sufferers or carers. She said the disgruntled group

had been campaigning against AfME for many

years.

Governance expert Judith Rich said charities should

hold regular meetings with their memberships

regardless of whether it was legally required. " That

is the only way charities can be sure they are truly

representing the views of their members, " she

said.