MISSION STATEMENT

DEMOCRATIC WOMEN OF MECKLENBURG COUNTY (“DWMC”) POLICIES AND PROCEDURES
(as of January 4, 2022)

Section 1. Electronic and Social Media Policy

A. Electronic and social media applications have become increasingly important arenas for the kind of engagement and communication that are vital to the mission of the Democratic Women of Mecklenburg County (“DWMC”). Each media tool and medium has proper and improper uses. While the DWMC encourages all members to join a global conversation, it is important for members to understand what is recommended, expected, and required when representing the DWMC in media applications.
B. Our members provide the DWMC organization with their personal contact information including name, address, phone numbers, and electronic mail (“email”) addresses with the expectation that this information will be used by the DWMC to communicate timely information about the organization’s activities. The Democratic Women of Mecklenburg County respects the right to privacy of its members.
C. As a membership organization, the DWMC recognizes that our purpose is to further the goals of the Democratic Party. While our members may differ in their views on any particular subject, it is the duty of the organization to provide a unified message.
D. Guidelines
a. All email transmissions from the DWMC will clearly indicate that they are official communications from the Democratic Women of Mecklenburg County.
b. Only those Board members specifically authorized by the DWMC Constitution and Bylaws may approve the issuance of mass email messages and may use the DWMC membership list to distribute information on behalf of the organization.
c. All DWMC email transmissions will include an “unsubscribe” option.
d. Examples of the inappropriate use of email and other social media communications such as the DWMC website, the DWMC Facebook page, Twitter, and other emerging social media applications, include, but are not limited to:
i. Forwarding electronic mail (“email”) from other organizations to DWMC members.
ii. Use of the membership list for promotion of a candidate in a primary.
iii. Hateful or discriminatory purposes, or anything that constitutes a personal attack or harassment.
iv. Transmitting material with sexual, profane or discriminatory content or any form of obscenity.
v. Transmission of any form of advertising without the approval of the DWMC Board.
vi. Solicitation for personal or business gain.
vii. Any use that presents a risk of corruption or destruction of electronic data.
viii. Violation of federal, state, or local law or government regulation, including, but not limited
to, the use of copyrighted material without legal right.

Section 2. “PAINT THE TOWN BLUE GALA CANDIDATE FUNDRAISER”
A. Purpose: the purpose of the annual Paint the Town Blue Gala Candidate Fundraiser (“Fundraiser”) is to
raise money for local, state, and federal Democratic candidates who reside in Mecklenburg County.
B. TheDWMCExecutiveBoard(“Board”)Treasurer
a. shall maintain a separate checking account for the Fundraiser.
b. shall be responsible for making the necessary deposits, reimbursements, and approved
donations, as well as all campaign finance reporting as required by the North Carolina Board of Elections. All financial activity, including contributions received and disbursements to candidates must follow North Carolina Campaign Finance laws.
c. shall, as soon as possible after the net profits from the Fundraiser are ascertained and in consultation with the Ways and Means Chair, report to the Board and to the Membership:
i. a complete accounting of the expenses and revenues of the Fundraiser
ii. the amount required as “seed money” for the following year’s Fundraiser
iii. the total amount available for candidate donations, to then be individually determined by the Disbursement Committee and approved by the Board, as provided in section 3(B).
C. TheEventCommittee
a. The Board Ways and Means Committee Chair will chair the Event Committee and recruit other
DWMC members to volunteer.
b. The Event Committee will make recommendations to the Board for (i) the date of the Fundraiser,
and (ii) the nominee for the Doris Cromartie Democratic Woman of the Year Award. If either recommendation is not approved, it will be referred back to the Event Committee for deliberation and further recommendation to the Executive Board.
c. The Event Committee is responsible for the planning and execution of the Fundraiser, to include location, catering, entertainment, gifts, ordering the Doris Cromartie Award, and all other functional arrangements and logistics.
d. The Event Committee is responsible for making solicitation communications for sponsorships and ticket sales.
e. Sponsorship Levels
i. Grand Blue Patron ($1000 or above)
ii. Blue Champion ($500)
iii. Blue Sponsor ($250)
iv. Blue Contributor ($150)
f. The Event Committee shall review costs on an annual basis and set the price for an individual ticket for entry to the Fundraiser, while giving due consideration as an important priority to attendance by DWMC members of all economic levels.
D. The Disbursement Committee
a. Shall consist of five (5) members to be appointed by the President. Two (2) members shall be from
the DWMC Board, one (1) member shall be from the Event Committee, and the two (2) remaining
members shall be from the General Membership.
b. Members must be in Good Standing and shall not be currently serving in a leadership role on an
active campaign, including as Campaign Manager, Treasurer, GOTV Chair, etc.
c. Shall meet within a reasonable time after appointment by the President, giving priority
consideration to the time remaining before the General Election. 
d. Make recommendations for individual campaign donations for local, state, and federal Democratic candidates who reside in Mecklenburg County.
i. “reside” is defined as maintaining a primary residence in Mecklenburg County.
ii. donations are restricted to Democratic candidates who have (i) filed to run in the next General Election with the Board of Elections, (ii) prevailed in the Primary Election, if
applicable, and (iii) have opposition candidates in the General Election who have also
filed with the Board of Elections.
iii. donations are to be approved and distributed only after the Primary Election or, if
applicable, the second Primary Election.
iv. the DWMC campaign finance committee is registered as a local party committee with the
NC State Board of Elections under Mecklenburg DW (STA-C4010N-C-001). As of
January, 2021, the maximum donation amount to a local or state candidate is $5600.
v. the DWMC is not registered with the Federal Elections Commission. As such, the
DWMC is restricted in donations to federal candidates to: 1. a maximum of $1000 combined
2. among all federal candidates
3. in a 12-month period
4. For example, the DWMC gives U.S. Congressional candidate Smith $400 and U.S. Senate candidate Jones $600 in July, 2020. The DWMC is prohibited from any further donations to any federal candidates until July, 2021.
e. Shall research and consider individual campaign filings with the Mecklenburg County Board of Elections and the NC State Board of Elections for (i) Democratic candidates and (ii) their opposition candidates within Mecklenburg County.
f. In non-partisan races, will determine the party affiliation of each candidate as registered with the Board of Elections. Only candidates registered as Democrats will be considered for donations. If there are two or more Democrats running, equitable donations weighing the factors listed below do not imply an endorsement.
g. Donations to all candidates shall include consideration of the following criteria:
i. the campaign’s good standing with the Mecklenburg County Board of Elections and/or
the North Carolina State Board of Elections
ii. the campaign’s need for financial support
iii. the campaign’s likelihood of winning
iv. the impact of a DWMC donation on the outcome of the race
v. the candidate’s gender
vi. the candidate’s membership, good standing, participation, and leadership in the DWMC
vii. the candidate’s support for the platform and values of the Democratic Party
h. The Disbursement Committee will make recommendations to the Board for approval of donation amounts for eligible individual candidates. The Board may approve, amend, or send the recommendations back to the Disbursement Committee for additional review and
recommendation.
i. The Chair of the Disbursement Committee Chair will provide a written report of the work of the
Committee and the final approvals by the Board to the Treasurer and to the Board Secretary. The Chair will also provide a verbal summary of her report to the General Membership at the next Membership Meeting.
Page 3 of 6

Section 3. The Pat Patton Democratic Woman of the Year Award
A. The Pat Patton Democratic Woman of the Year Award was established in 2012 by the DWMC in honor of longtime member and party activist Eoline “Pat” Patton (1918-2012). Loyal, candid, and tireless in her efforts to support the Democratic Party, Pat was renown throughout the State of North Carolina for decades as the heart of the party in Mecklenburg County. Pat earned her reputation through countless hours of grassroots volunteerism - recruiting candidates, organizing precincts, fundraising – and by serving in leadership positions that included Acting Chair of the MCDP, President of the DWMC, and delegate to the Democratic National Conventions of 1996, 2000, 2004, and 2008.
B. A special committee shall be appointed each February to select a recipient for approval by majority vote of the Executive Board. The committee shall consist of a Chair and four (4) committee members appointed by the current DWMC President.
C. Thecriteriaforconsiderationinselectingarecipientareasfollows:
a. Full membership in good standing with the DWMC as provided in the DWMC Constitution, Bylaws, and Standing Rules (which includes, but is not limited to, the requirements that the recipient is a woman who resides in Mecklenburg County as a registered Democrat and who is current in her dues).
b. Leadership positions held within the DWMC and/or its affiliates in Mecklenburg County and the State of North Carolina.
c. An established record of loyal activism and advocacy in support of the Democratic Party in Mecklenburg County.
d. A reputation for integrity and adherence to the highest ideals of the Democratic Party, which include a respect for inclusion and diversity.
D. The Pat Patton Democratic Woman of the Year Award shall be presented each year at the Mecklenburg County Democratic Party Annual Convention.
Past recipients: Mollie Davis (2013), Constance Green-Johnson (2015), Jane Whitley (2016), Ann Wood (2017), Cynthia Wallace (2018), Olma Echeverri (2019), Janice Lewis (2020), Pat Stanford (2021)
E. TheChairshallsendthenameandannouncementofwinnertotheSecretaryforrecords.
Section 4. DWMC STARS AWARD
A. Background. Each year, the Democratic Women of North Carolina sponsors the STARS Banquet at its annual convention to honor the women and men who have done extraordinary things on behalf of Democrats across our state. While the Stars Banquet is chiefly a fundraiser for DWNC, it also gives Democratic Women chapters an opportunity to honor or showcase a volunteer (or more than one) or to remember someone who has passed on.
B. CriteriaforDWMCSTARSnominees
1. Nominees must be approved by a majority of vote of the DWMC Executive Board.
Page 4 of 6

Section 5.
2. Only full or associate members in good standing with the DWMC as provided in the DWMC Constitution, Bylaws, and Policies and Procedures are eligible.
3. Nominees must have a history of dedicated service in the DWMC.
4. The STARS award is a great opportunity to recognize reliable, unsung members who can always
be counted upon to contribute time and effort to the success of the DWMC.
5. Nominations shall include written examples of the nominees’ actions supporting the award.
6. Nominees approved by the DWMC Executive Board will be funded by DWMC.
Audit Committee
A. The Audit Committee shall begin the audit of the Treasurer’s accounts within three (3) months of the election by the General Membership of the Chair of the Audit Committee.
B. The Audit Committee shall spot-check transactions between the manual records kept by the Treasurer (whatever the format – QuickBooks, Excel, handwritten records, etc.) compared to the bank statements, and then do the same to the financial reports from the State Board of Elections, to ensure the transactions selected match up between each record being compared.
C. TheChairoftheAuditCommitteeshalldeterminehowmanytransactionstocompare.
D. UponcompletionoftheAudit,theChairoftheAuditCommitteeshallreportauditfinds,anyweaknessin financial structure, and any recommended improvements to the DWMC Board.
E. TheChairoftheAuditCommitteeshallmeetwiththeDWMCPresidentandTreasurer,alongwithany other officers as deemed appropriate by the DWMC President, to review findings and recommendations.
F. Any audit reports preserved on the computer shall also be printed and placed in notebooks to be passed from Audit Committee to Audit Committee.
Section 6. Grievance Committee
A. AsanauxiliaryoftheNorthCarolinaDemocraticParty,theDemocraticWomenofMecklenburgCounty (DWMC) organization shall provide for the internal resolution of grievances and shall not be subject to adjudications of the North Carolina Democratic Party Council of Review.
B. All grievances from DWMC members must be in writing and submitted to the chair of the DWMC Grievance Committee by mail or email not more than three months subsequent to the alleged cause of the grievance. The chairperson shall notify the DWMC President of the grievance within forty-eight (48) hours of receipt.
C. The Chair of the Grievance Committee shall call a meeting of the Committee within five (5) days of receiving a grievance.
D. The Grievance Committee shall, at a minimum:
a. determine if the aggrieved has standing;
b. in writing, notify all parties named in the grievance;
c. request a written response from the accused;
d. decide upon a course of action which may include meeting separately with both the aggrieved and
the accused, and any witnesses for fact finding purposes;
e. attempt to amiably resolve the issue.
E. TheGrievanceCommitteeshallmeetasnecessaryandmakeeveryefforttoamiablyresolvethegrievance.
F. From the fact-finding process, the Committee shall arrive at a consensus as to the resolution of the complaint and provide its findings, in writing, to the DWMC President, the aggrieved and the accused.