I. Personal and Professional Integrity

All board members, members and volunteers of The Rocky Mountain Inventors Association (RMIA) act with honesty, integrity and openness in all their dealings as representatives of the RMIA. The RMIA promotes a working environment that values respect, fairness and integrity.

II. Mission

The RMIA has a clearly stated mission and purpose, approved by the board of directors, in pursuit of the public good of inventors.
The mission of The Rocky Mountain Inventors Association (RMIA) is to promote successful product commercialization and protection by offering information, education, and guidance including business contacts and networking opportunities.
All of its programs support that mission and all who work for or on behalf of the RMIA understand and are loyal to that mission and purpose. The mission is responsive to the constituency and communities served by the RMIA and of value to the society at large.

III. Governance

The RMIA has an active board of directors that is responsible for setting the mission and strategic direction of the RMIA and oversight of the finances, operations, and policies of the RMIA. The board of directors:

Ensures that its board members have the requisite skills and experience to carry out their duties and that all members understand and fulfill their governance duties acting for the benefit of the RMIA and its public purpose;

Is responsible for the electing and regular review of the performance of the president,

Ensures that the president provide the board of directors with timely and comprehensive information so that the board of directors can effectively carry out its duties;

Ensures that the RMIA conducts all transactions and dealings with integrity and honesty;

Ensures that the RMIA promotes working relationships with the president, board members, service providers, and members that are based on mutual respect, fairness and openness;

Ensures that the RMIA is fair and inclusive in its electing and promotion policies and practices for all board, service providers and volunteer positions;

Ensures that policies of the RMIA are in writing, clearly articulated and officially adopted;

Ensures that the resources of the RMIA are responsibly and prudently managed; and,

Ensures that the RMIA has the capacity to carry out its programs effectively.

IV. Legal Compliance

The RMIA is knowledgeable of and complies with all laws, regulations and applicable international inventor associations.

V. Responsible Stewardship

The RMIA and its volunteers manage their funds responsibly and prudently. This should include the following considerations:

It spends a reasonable percentage of its annual budget on programs in pursuance of its mission;

It spends an adequate amount on administrative expenses to ensure effective accounting systems, internal controls, competent staff, and other expenditures critical to professional management;

Organizations, volunteers and members with endowments prudently draw from endowment funds consistent with donor intent and to support the public purpose of the RMIA;

The RMIA ensures that all spending practices and policies are fair, reasonable and appropriate to fulfill the mission of the RMIA; and,

All financial reports are factually accurate and complete in all material respects.

VI. Openness and Disclosure

The RMIA provides comprehensive and timely information to the public, the media, and all members and is responsive in a timely manner to reasonable requests for information. All information about the RMIA will fully and honestly reflect the policies and practices of the RMIA. Basic informational data about the RMIA will be posted on the RMIA's website or otherwise available to the public. All solicitation materials accurately represent the RMIA's policies and practices and will reflect the dignity of inventors.

VII. Program Evaluation

The RMIA regularly reviews program effectiveness and has mechanisms to incorporate lessons learned into future programs. The RMIA is committed to improving program and organizational effectiveness and develops mechanisms to promote learning from its activities and the field. The RMIA is responsive to changes in the inventor field of activity and is responsive to the needs of its constituencies.

VIII. Inclusiveness and Diversity

The RMIA has a policy of promoting inclusiveness and its staff, board and volunteers reflect diversity in order to enrich its programmatic effectiveness. The RMIA takes meaningful steps to promote inclusiveness in its hiring, retention, promotion, board recruitment and constituencies served.

IX. Fundraising

The RMIA will respect the privacy concerns of individual donors and RMIA members. The RMIA will disclose important and relevant information to potential donors and members. In raising funds from its members, the RMIA will respect the rights of the members, as follows:

To be informed of the mission of the RMIA, the way the resources will be used and their capacity to use donations effectively for their intended purposes;

To be informed of the identity of those serving on the RMIA's board of directors and to expect the president to exercise prudent judgment in its stewardship responsibilities;

To have access to the RMIA's most recent financial reports;

To receive appropriate acknowledgement and recognition;

To be assured that information about their member fees are handled with respect and with confidentiality;

To expect that all relationships with individuals representing the RMIA will be professional in nature;

To have the opportunity for their names to be deleted from mailing lists that an RMIA member may intend to share; and,

To feel free to ask questions when making a member fee payment and to receive prompt, truthful and forthright answers.

X. Service Providers

The RMIA has a policy of supporting service providers, including those with competitive services, who agree to abide by the list of ethical standards as described below. The goal is to encourage RMIA's service providers to offer their expertise in an educational environment and expand the knowledge base of inventors and the choices available to them. Not to abide by any standard as described, shall be grounds for membership revocation, renewal denial or other disciplinary action as deemed necessary by two-thirds of RMIA's Board of Directors. Member Service Providers must agree to:

Treat other service providers with respect and dignity.

Honor non-disclosure agreements they have signed when dealing with RMIA inventors.

Actively support the mission of RMIA and keep the best interests of the organization and its members in mind when networking and doing business with RMIA members and inventors in general.

Disclose lawsuits or other legal actions that have been taken against the service provider by inventors or the court system for actions that could be considered not in the best interests of an inventor or in violation of an inventor's rights. Depending upon the severity of the issue as determined by the Board of Directors, this may be grounds for membership denial or revocation.

Represent their capabilities and services truthfully, without misrepresentation.

Disclose any possible conflicts of interest in writing to the RMIA board of directors. If conflicts of interest exist, RMIA has the right to make those conflicts known to its members.

Refrain from using, modifying, copying or otherwise taking advantage of a member's product concept or patent for personal gain.