Al,
Does your local chapter of the Red Cross or United Way allow non-board members to listen in on board meetings? I can't think of a single private organization that does allow others to listen in to board meetings on a regular basis. I've served on several such boards and don't recall a single one that was as open as the AAW's board is trying to be.
I don't have any problem with your suggestion that the board find a way to allow questions. I have a problem with your tone, which seems to imply that the board is being unusually secretive when the board is not only being more open than any other board in AAW history, it is also more open than the boards of most other similar organizations.
Please forgive the typos. I'm posting from my cell phone.
David, in answer to your question, the short answer is simply yes.
I'm not being critical nor sarcastic at all, simply stating a fact that yes, indeed, our local chapter of the Red Cross and our local United Way not only allow non-Board Members to listen in on Board Meetings; that is actually a requirement of non-profit organizations that utilize grants, tax dollars, do fundraising, public service or human services entities with that status. And it doesn't matter what the organizations' purpose is: if the organization is a non-profit under 501(c)3, then yes, that's a requirement. Our Kite Association is a non-profit (national) and our local Dog Park people have established a non-profit. So very diverse groups, but as a non-profit then yep, anybody can attend any Board Meeting they would like to attend, except personnel/closed session.
Unless the IRS has absolutely drastically changed their criteria in the past five years, then yes, that is actually a statutory requirement. Every Board I've ever served on ~ and there have been quite a few over the past 25-30 years ~ we made it a point to adhere to every IRS regulation required and so we made certain to publish a public announcement of date, time, meeting location, and agenda so that anybody, didn't matter, any person (general public, organization member or not) could attend our meetings. And I truly did serve on well quite a few different Boards with diverse purposes from human services to legislative, to law enforcement advisory committees, to well, two state organization Boards that were non-profit and so on. Again, that's a very standard, basic practice: required.
If an organization carries a 501(c)3 IRS classification, then those meeting agendas are made available to the general public ahead of time, and yes, any non-member may attend in person if they so desire, and listen to any business that is conducted ~ with the exception of closed session personnel issues.
Some organizations choose to have input from anyone in attendance (including listeners or non-members) and some Boards do not put that on the agenda under "Additional Business" at the end of the meeting prior to adjournment. Generally your Board Chair will ask? Any other business and/or announcements? If nobody says anything, then they move to adjourn, second the motion and adjourn.
You are not required to allow people in the audience to say anything, so that's optional. But yep, the IRS ~ for at least the 25 years I was involved in multiple non-profit organizations ~ clearly mandates that any of the public can attend and listen to business, other than personnel/closed session.
Oh kind of a quick ps - the key is basically non-profits with that IRS classification are not "private" organizations at all. They are public entities, hence the regulation requirement of "public" meetings.
One other quick addendum is that if a 501(c)3 organization does not adhere to these regulations, an organization can lose their non-profit status in a hurry: that means no tax exemption status, etc. So it truly does pay to follow the rules and do it right.