The EASY AGM

When you think of your organisation's upcoming AGM, do you think 'Yay! This is going to be so. much. fun!'?

No, I didn't think so.  Frankly, I'm a bit relieved to know that too.  An AGM for an NFP association is a must-have activity in the annual calendar, but it excites very few people - members included. 

Well, if they can't be exciting, then at least we can help you make them EASY.

This week's episode of The Service Game podcast is all about planning and running your AGM with ease.  It's choc full of how-to guidance that will make your job so much more straightforward.  Here are some of the things I cover in this episode:

Why are AGMs important?

Well, firstly there's legislation that dictates that you must have one. Whether your organisation is nationally incorporated under ASIC or the ACNC, for example,  of via your state-based authority, you will be governed by the Corporations Act of other legislation. And that will have requirements regarding the running of your AGM. Penalties can apply if you don't adhere. The, you have your constitutional requirements, and they will very specifically cover what is required of you in terms of hosting your AGM, what it means to your members, how you should hold AGMs, when you should hold them, and what should be involved.

Finally, your AGM is actually a really great opportunity to be accountable to your members, to give your members visibility of what the people who are in charge of the organisation are doing,  and what you're doing with the dollars that they are investing into your association.

What's involved?

For the large part, the agenda will be dictated by the contents of your Constitution and the clauses that it contains related to your AGM.  Typically, an AGM will include items such as: approval of the minutes from the previous AGM; reports on key activity that's been undertaken in the preceding year; financial and audit reports; election of directors; and, any proposed resolutions such as changes to the Constitution.

Some definitions and explanations

• What exactly is the difference between a  special resolution and an ordinary resolution? What when should you use each type?
• How to engage members in robust and engaged discussion when the AGM's agenda is pretty structured and rigid?
• The various platforms and systems you can use to manage your online AGM.
• Effective planning so that you don't miss key compliance deadlines, and you can begin preparations well ahead of time.
• Proxies and voting processes.

Post AGM work 

It's so important to follow through with processes once the AGM has been and gone. These processes include communicating with your members, first and foremost. You're going to need to prepare something to go out to members post the AGM that fills them in on what happened, the results of all of the votes, details on any new board directors and an outline of who the board is now made up of.  And for compliance, should you have voted in any changes to your constitution, you will need to submit that constitution with your governing body. Likewise, if you have had any changes to your board, you will need to update those. And these processes come with deadlines, after which penalties apply. So definitely worth following up those elements after the event.

There's a lot to planning and running a smooth and compliant AGM.  But the good news is the steps are replicable year on year. So, if you do the leg work this year and you set it up well and you keep records well, and you have great templates and structure around what you're doing, the process year on year will become more and more straightforward.

And in even better news, onsomble has your back in all of this work.  We have created for you a free downloadable Easy AGM Checklist. It allows you to add in the dates for each of the elements that you need to undertake. And then tick those boxes.  How satisfying!

If you like that and you want some more help, we also have an Easy AGM Kit, which contains a whole heap of instructions as well as 8 templated documents that you will need to run an effective AGM. 

And of course, if you need more personalised help, guidance, Board advice or consultation of any other kind, you can contact me via [email protected]. 

Julie.