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Mensa was formed in England in 1946. In the 56 years since, Mensa has spread throughout the world until now there are chapters on six of the seven continents and more than 100,000 members worldwide. The highest governing document in all of Mensa is the Constitution of Mensa, which was adopted by a vote of the worldwide membership in 1982. The Constitution of Mensa has been amended only once, in 1985, also by a vote of the worldwide membership.
The Constitution of Mensa provides for both international and national structures within Mensa. Two international structures exist: the International Board of Directors (IBD) and the International Governing Council (IGC). The IBD consists of four officers elected by the membership worldwide (Chairman, Directors of Administration and Development, and Treasurer), the heads of each national Mensa meeting certain requirements, and additional representatives of any national Mensa exceeding a certain size. The IBD meets once annually to adopt a budget and conduct other business. The IGC also includes the heads of the smaller national Mensas, meets annually the day before the IBD meeting, and is advisory to the IBD.
The Constitution of Mensa also provides for national chapters, called "national Mensas." The one we are most familiar with here in the U.S. is American Mensa, Ltd. (AML), but there are also national Mensas of varying sizes in more than 40 other countries around the world. The Constitution of Mensa requires that each national Mensa have a governing body, which in American Mensa is called the American Mensa Committee (AMC), and a governing document, which in American Mensa is called the Bylaws of American Mensa. The governing document of each national Mensa must meet certain requirements adopted by the IBD. All amendments to the governing document of any national Mensa must also be reviewed by the IBD to make sure the amendments don't throw the document out of compliance. No governing document of a national Mensa may violate the Constitution of Mensa or the IBD's requirements.
As mentioned above, the Constitution of Mensa requires a governing body for each national Mensa, and the AMC performs that role here in American Mensa. The AMC meets quarterly to adopt a budget and conduct other business. As American Mensa, Ltd. is a corporation, the AMC is also the corporate board of directors, with all the duties and responsibilities, legal and otherwise, that this status implies. The membership of American Mensa elects most of the AMC. The AMC currently consists of five nationally elected members (Chairman, First and Second Vice-Chairmen, Secretary, Treasurer), 10 regionally elected members (Regional Vice-Chairmen), two former national Chairmen, and four appointed members (Communications, Development, and Membership Officers and Director of Science and Education).
The AMC must act within the requirements of the Constitution of Mensa and the Bylaws of American Mensa. Within those requirements, the AMC takes various actions, which are compiled into a list known as Actions Still in Effect (ASIEs). The list of ASIEs is maintained to keep it current after each AMC meeting by adding newly adopted actions and removing ASIEs that have been superseded or rendered obsolete.
Miscellaneous:
— The Bylaws provide for geographical groupings within American Mensa, known as Regions. AML currently has 10 Regions, numbered 1 through 10. (How original!) The membership of each Region elects a representative, known as a Regional Vice-Chairman, to the AMC.
— The Bylaws provide for an annual meeting "for the purpose of reporting to the members the state of the society and the activities of the society's committees during the previous year." The Annual Business Meeting is therefore advisory in nature, though amendments to the Bylaws may be proposed there for later voting by the full membership.
— The Constitution of Mensa requires that each member of Mensa worldwide "abide by the Constitution of Mensa and the constitution or bylaws and the resolutions of any national Mensa of which they are members." So, here in American Mensa, members are required to abide by the Constitution of Mensa, the Bylaws and the ASIEs. A few years ago American Mensa started reprinting this constitutional requirement on membership forms for informational purposes.
— American Mensa, Ltd. has a wholly owned subsidiary known as the Mensa Education and Research Foundation (MERF). MERF publishes a scholarly journal on the subjects of giftedness and intelligence, provides scholarships to students, makes awards for excellent academic research on giftedness and intelligence, and promotes giftedness and intelligence in various other ways. MERF also owns the building that houses AML's national office, for which AML pays MERF rent each month. Donations to MERF are tax-deductible under section 501(c)(3) of the IRS code.
Dan Burg, currently AMC Second Vice Chairman, has been involved with Mensa's structure and documents over a long period of service at the local, regional, national and international levels, including the International Board of Directors and American Mensa's Bylaws Committee.
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There
are many ideas out there to change Mensa in one way or another, but
seemingly less knowledge about how to make change happen. This article
is intended to give a good grounding in the basics of Mensa's governing
documents and structure. (Several of the areas discussed are actually
more complicated than what is here, but I didn't think all the fine
details were appropriate to an overview article such as this. Please
do not hesitate to contact me if you want further information.) 
Just
as the Constitution of Mensa is voted on by the membership worldwide,
the Bylaws of American Mensa are voted on by the membership of AML.
The Bylaws provide that amendments may be proposed in any of four ways
— by the AMC, by an Annual Business Meeting, by local chapters,
and by petition — but, regardless of the manner of proposal, adoption
requires an affirmative vote of at least two-thirds of those voting
on the question in a general referendum.
Analogously
to the way national Mensas are formally allowed in the Constitution
of Mensa, local groups within American Mensa are formally allowed in
the Bylaws of American Mensa. Also analogously to the way bylaws of
national Mensas are required to meet certain international requirements,
bylaws of local groups within American Mensa are required to meet certain
national requirements. The AMC adopts these national requirements (known
as the Minimum Standard Bylaws for Local Groups), and delegates review
of local groups' bylaws to a subset of the AMC known as the Bylaws Committee.
Each
of the documents discussed in this article—the Constitution of
Mensa, the Bylaws of American Mensa, the Actions Still in Effect, and
the Minimum Standard Bylaws for Local Groups—is available on