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The history of Mensa Serbia

Mensa Yugoslavia was officially founded on 16th December 1989 in Zagreb, although the first tests were held in Belgrade in September 1988. In 1989 and 1990 tests were administered in the bigger cities of the Former Yugoslavia (Sarajevo, Ljubljana, Zagreb, Novi Sad and again Belgrade). At that time Mensa Yugoslavia had around 1100 members and was Europe`s fourth in the number of members.

Very soon, due to unstable political situation, Mensa Yugoslavia ceased its activities. However, at the same time in Novi Sad, the regional Mensa of Vojvodina was formed, as Novi Sad itself encompassed almost 350 members.

Shortly after that, due to the severe political and economic situation in the country, a period of stagnation came about and it lasted from 1992 to 1996. In February 1996, to the initiative of Ranko Rajovic and Ljubomir Kustudic, actions were taken to revive Mensa Yugoslavia. Soon there were continuous presentations of Mensa in the media, stimulating former Mensans and the public to show interest in re-activating the organisation.

In April 1997, the possibility of organising a testing in Yugoslavia was negotiated with Mensa Slovakia. Soon after that, members of the previous Mensa Yugoslavia (Goran Lukic and Nebojsa Vidic) from the Serbia Proper, joined the activities to set up Mensa Yugoslavia again. As a result of that, on the 7th November 1997 the Initiative Board of Mensa Yugoslavia was formed, with the aim to organise a testing and satisfy the requirements for the revival of Mensa Yugoslavia.

With the approval of Ed Vincent (the executive director of Mensa International), a testing was conducted on the 22nd November 1997 in Novi Sad. After six years, this was the first testing in Yugoslavia, and it was held under the supervision of Mensa Slovakia.

After the testing, the Board focused on organising the Founding Assembly. The first Assembly was held on 7th March 1998 in Novi Sad, and back then the governing body was elected and the proposed statute was endorsed. Ranko Rajovic, the chief initiator and the co-ordinator of activities that brought about the second establishment of Mensa Yugoslavia, was elected to be the first chairman. To his initiative, the first worthwhile projects of the Mensa Yugoslavia were launched.

After the Founding Assembly, there were two more testings supervised by Mensa Slovakia and Mensa Bulgaria, one in Novi Sad and the other one in Belgrade, along with one independent testing in Novi Sad. As the result of this, in the first half of 1998 Mensa Yugoslavia had almost 300 members.

In 2004 the organisation was renamed into Mensa Serbia & Montenegro. The year 2005 brough a great success to Mensa Serbia & Montenegro. During that year the number of members increased from 700 to over 1000, which brought us the right to have two votes in the Board of Directors of Mensa International. Ever since than the number of members and of activities is increasing premanently. By the end of 2006, Mensa SCG had over 1300 members. Its name has changed into Mensa Serbia in 2007.

Mensa Serbia ID

Legal status:
Mensa Serbia is a registered society. It is non-profit organisation that is financed primarily by membership fees, or through other sources, such as income from testings, donations, gifts, etc.

International membership:
Mensa Serbia is a part of Mensa International (with headquarters in London), and has the right to use the name and the logo of this international organisation. There are also certain obligations towards Mensa International, such as to co-ordinate statutes and internal organisation with those of Mensa International, to regularly pay membership fee, to regularly publish bulletins, etc.

Statute:
The work of Mensa Serbia is regulated by Statute, which is the supreme collection of laws in the society. Statute of Mensa Serbia is written and changed in accordance with votes of all members of the society, and Mensa International must approve the proposed text.

Members` rights and duties:
The conditions for the full membership in Mensa Serbia are to successfully pass the test and to regularly pay the annual membership fee. All members are equal in their rights and duties: therefore, they have the right to choose and to be chosen inside any body of the organisation, and their duty is to work in accordance with the Statute.

Assembly:
The work of the society is administered by Assembly, which is the supreme body of the society. It consists of all regular members, and it is held at least once a year or more frequently if necessary.

Presidency:
Between two Assembly meetings, the Presidency is the body that administers the work of the society. The Presidency is the executive body of the Assembly, and it consists of nine persons, who are elected by direct and secret ballot for a period of two years. The Presidency is directly responsible to the Assembly, and must regularly report about its work. The chairman co-ordinates the work of the Presidency, and he has the right to represent Mensa in domestic and foreign affairs.

Territorial organisation:
Mensa Serbia is the unique organisation for the whole territory of Serbia, and it appears as unique organisation in contacts with other national Mensas or with its home organisation, Mensa International. In order to be better organised, the work of Mensa Serbia is divided into sub-organisations, according to the territorial principle and the number of members. For the time being, we have the registered regional sub-organizations for Serbia, Montenegro and Vojvodina, with these active local Mensas within them (by the number of members): Belgrade, Novi Sad, Niš, Subotica, Kragujevac, Kraljevo, Vranje, Šabac, Sombor, Kikinda.