Martha's Rules is a simple parliamentary procedure which originated in the 1970s at a housing cooperative in Madison, Wisconsin. Martha's was at the time the name of a house for students and low-income people in the Madison Community Cooperative.
The initial version was a paper titled "Suggestions for Harmonious Meetings". The Madison Community Cooperative also has a more complicated recent published version for its own use.Madison Community Cooperative: Articles of Incorporation, Bylaws, and Policy Manual (see policies 1 and 2)
Generally the process is:Martha’s Rules: Advancing collective-decision making in nonprofits Proposals are drafted before the meeting in a standard format, distributed to participants and read before the meeting. Proponents introduce the proposal. A sense of the group is taken with thumbs up as "like", thumbs down representing "uncomfortable", and thumbs to the side representing "could live with". The sense determines whether a formal vote happens immediately (mostly likes), the proposal is sent back to be reworked (uncomfortable), or if it's discussed for 10 minutes (some uncomfortable). The majority can decide to overrule the objections of the minority.
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