Has Anyone Seen or Ever Obtained our AARP Tennessee Bylaws?

[WoodsonM93430]

Hello everyone,

I’m an AARP member in Tennessee and I’m hoping someone here may be able to help or share their experience.

I have been trying for some time to obtain a copy of AARP Tennessee’s bylaws or any Tennessee‑specific AARP governance document. I’ve made multiple requests directly to AARP Tennessee, but so far those attempts have not resulted in receiving a copy, nor a clear explanation of whether such bylaws exist or whether Tennessee operates solely under national AARP bylaws.

I’ve also searched publicly available sources and have not been able to find any Tennessee‑specific AARP bylaws posted online.

I’m not looking for anything sensitive — just the basic governing rules that explain how AARP Tennessee is structured, how decisions are made at the state level, and how members fit into that structure. For a membership organization that does important advocacy work, this seems like reasonable information for AARP members to understand.

So I wanted to ask this community:

• Has anyone here ever seen or received a copy of AARP Tennessee bylaws?
• If you have, were they Tennessee‑specific, or were you referred to national AARP bylaws instead?
• If you successfully obtained them, how did you go about it?

If AARP Tennessee does not have its own bylaws, clarity on that point would also be helpful. Right now, the lack of transparency has been troubling, and I’m hoping fellow members may have insight or documentation that I’ve missed.

Thanks in advance to anyone willing to share their experience or information.

[SereneSeagull]

I Also found that your Tennessee Secretary of State offers a resource online where you can research charities.  Maybe too, you can contact them for non-profit organizations as well.?

[WoodsonM93430]

Thanks  you, but the TN Secretary of State says they don't have it 😞

[SereneSeagull]

Firstly, not sure why?  

 But if you check this out, the Tennessee AARP is governed by it from what I can see.

Policybook.aarp.org

2ndly — Have you written to AARP’s HQ in DC?

[WoodsonM93430]

Yes. I’ve pursued all of those options. Our Tennessee AARP (in Franklin, TN) office has declined to share our bylaws, and I have not found an AARP headquarters email address that responds. Phone contacts have likewise been unable or unwilling to provide our Bylaws :(. 

[SereneSeagull]

Hi @WoodsonM93430 — No luck with the DC HQ, I saw you were asking again this morning. Called?