Sample CONSTITUTION 1. You may want to say herein known as the Group or a shorter version such a the club

Transcription

1 Sample CONSTITUTION 1 CONSTITUTION of * Write out the chosen full name of the group The NAME of the group shall be * You may want to say herein known as the Group or a shorter version such a the club The AIMS of the group shall be * The aims should be kept broad and brief. Don t be tempted to list what your club does just an what it intends to achieve. For instance instead of saying, run a monthly lunch club for over 50 s, to organise outings, to circulate a newsletter, you would say for instance, for the benefit of elderly people to reduce loneliness and isolation. Note: If you are intending to become a Charitable organisation this needs more careful wording. Cheshire Community Action can help you with this and refer to for guidance. POWERS In order to achieve it s aims * may: 1. Raise money. 2. Open bank accounts. 3. Take out insurance. 4. Obtain and pay for goods and services necessary to run the group. 5. Hire, rent or lease premises to run the group s activities and manage it s business. 6. Organise activities and events. 7. Work with similar groups and exchange information and advice with them. 8. To help fulfil it s aims, do anything that is lawful This is a standard list form the charity commissions model constitution and is applicable to most groups. Where a group is likely to commit to big project especially where signing of contracts is involved then this constitution is unlikely to be sufficient. You may need a charity commission model. Contact Cheshire Community Action for information and support. Contact: or Melanie.sheward@cheshireaction.org.uk

2 Sample CONSTITUTION 2 MEMBERSHIP This section is where you may have to think through your definitions. Members of the organisation and members of your activities can be different. For example, members of an organisation might be coordinators and include careers and specialist supporters even if the aims of the group are to support and arrange activities for a wider group eg specific interest members such as gardeners or disabled or young people, regardless of them being members of the organisation. Membership of * is open to individuals over the age of 18** who are interested in furthering the work of * and who have paid any annual subscription*** as agreed by the Management Committee. ** note that the age of 18 is used because young people under the age of 18 years are not held accountable when it comes to finances and therefore cannot be given the same voting rights as over 18 members. If under 18 s are to an integral part of the group organisation then this will need to be considered further. *** note that it is useful to have the words relating to a membership fee as it can be difficult to add it in later on. Details of different types of membership may be added here as well but it should also include any variations in voting rights for the AGM ( annual general meeting) or to be on the committee. Every member shall have one vote. The Management Committee may cancel the membership of any member for any good reason, by a majority vote at a committee meeting. That person will have the opportunity to present their case to the committee before an decision is made. It is useful to have this clause in from the beginning to be able to exclude someone who is damaging to the whole group.

3 Sample CONSTITUTION 3 MANAGEMENT COMMITTEE * will be administered by a Management Committee of not less than 3 members and not more than *, elected at the Annual General Meeting. The number of members needs to be decided before the committee members themselves are chosen. In choosing the maximum number eg 6 it needs to be generous enough to be fair but not too large to be unmanageable. This is also the opportunity to decide whether members vote in members for the specific roles/positions or if the new committee will undertake to vote the officers in at the first meeting following the AGM. This is also an opportunity to agree how members will be elected and how long they hold the position. Bear in mind timing of this as if all are to be elected every AGM there would be little continuity and it can be divisive for commitment. However also realise that some members may become too entrenched and block new skilled and enthusiastic members. It is common practice to for instance have, one third of the committee, to stand down each year but they may stand for re-election. MANAGEMENT COMMITTEE OFFICERS The Officers of the Management Committee shall be: 1. Chairperson 2. Secretary 3. Treasurer This is the minimum officer numbers that suit most groups. The titles can vary but the principle roles are defined. How these officers are elected should be set out here They can be elected at the AGM by the members or by the newly elected Committee at it s first meeting. The Officer group can have more defined Officers numbers if there are specific roles needed but the simpler the core Officers the easier it is to maintain. DECISIONS Decisions will be made by a majority of Committee members present and eligible to vote. Sometimes you may want to have this, for example, where there is a tie in voting, the Chairperson will have the casting vote. This isn t something that you can decide during a vote where there is a tie, it needs to be put in place in advance.

4 Sample CONSTITUTION 4 CO-OPTED MEMBERS The Management Committee may appoint not more than * co-opted members. All such members may serve until the next AGM when they must stand for election by the members. It may be useful for your group to be able to co-opt members for specific short term roles for example if a committee member resigns early. Just be careful to limit the number to ensure that co-opted members can never out vote/outnumber the elected members. COMMITTEE MEETINGS The Management Committee will meet at least * times a year. It is best to put in a number rather than monthly and keep the number to a minimum as you can always have more meetings than the minimum. This helps if there are times when it is difficult to arrange to get all the committee members all together especially if there are long periods when holidays occur. MANAGEMENT COMMITTEE ATTENDANCE, QUORATE At least * members of the committee must be present for a Management Committee meeting to take place. This number can be described as a number and/or as a percentage. Whichever is the greater eg 3 members or one third whichever is the greater. As there can be times when important decisions need to be made this should be the smallest number to be reasonable. 3 members should be considered an absolute minimum. See also the section under finances. MANAGEMENT COMMITTEE PAYMENT No member of the Management Committee, or anyone connected to them, shall receive any payment (other than re-imbursement of reasonable expenses incurred) This is necessary wording to avoid any misunderstandings and keeps the Committee, as a whole, objective regarding any financial decisions.

5 Sample CONSTITUTION 5 FINANCES The funds of the * will be paid into an account in the name of * operated by the Management Committee. All cheques and transactions must be approved by the Management Committee and must be signed by at least two members of the Management Committee. It is important that individuals on the committee do not risk criticism or mismanagement with the groups finances therefore the requirement that there must be an account in the name of the group that requires two signatures is vital. You can have more people on the bank mandate who can sign cheques. The Committee decides on the rules and which combinations of people can sign. The funds belonging to * aims of *. shall be used only to further the This is a further protection for the group and ensures that the Management Committee control the finances ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING (AGM) There shall be an AGM to be held * It is suggested that you enter n the month of.. or as soon as possible after or within.weeks of the end of the financial year or whatever suits your group. It may be that you prefer to hold this in a period when the group/ club is less active eg in winter when an outdoor bowls clubs is not playing. Members will be given at least * notice. This period will vary widely depending on who your members are and what is reasonable and practical. For example if you have a lot of members who travel some distance you may need to give them more notice eg 21 days, however if they are small in number and live very locally two weeks may be sufficient. The Management Committee should decide whether an agenda is sent out with the notice of date, time and place. A report and accounts of the preceding year will be presented by the Management Committee at the AGM.

6 Sample CONSTITUTION 6 MANAGEMENT COMMITTEE ELECTIONS Nominations for election to the Management Committee are to be made in writing and submitted to the secretary 2 weeks (14 days) prior to the AGM with voting taking place at the AGM * The Management Committee needs to decide whether to accept nominations at the AGM itself or need to be made in advance. If in advance, how far in advance and if so, they are therefore usually made in writing to the Committee via the Secretary. The AGM is usually the occasion when voting for committee members takes place so enter the details of how this will occur in this section. SPECIAL GENERAL MEETING The Management Committee may call a Special General Meeting at any time with * days notice given to all members. If something cropped up during the year that wasn t covered by your constitution MAKING DECISIONS For any Special General Meeting there will be * members or one tenth of the membership needing to attend the meeting, whichever is the greater, (the Quorum) This minimum number you decide on is important to make decisions valid. The number will include management committee members and ordinary voting members who are present at the meeting. The balance of a number and a proportion enables there to be a balance between making it manageable, fair and representative. For a group of 30 members a quorum would be mean 5 members or one tenth would be 3 members but if the group grows to 50 or more members then it would be still be a quorum of 5 members. It is usually best to have an uneven number so that majority decision making is possible. ALTERATIONS Alterations to the Constitution of * can only be made at a General Meeting. A notification of the proposed change shall be circulated to all members giving the date time and venue when the proposed amendment will be discussed and voted on. Any changes to the constitution must be agreed by a majority vote.* The details of numbers to confirm agreement could be as above or described as two thirds vote. You could enter a time period of say 4 weeks ( 28 days) notice to be given when the notification is sent out and a meeting date arranged. It is usually the secretary who organises this for the Committee.

7 Sample CONSTITUTION 7 DISSOLUTION The group * may be dissolved at a Special General Meeting called for that specific purpose. The proposal to dissolve the group will be advertised an minimum of 14 days prior to the meeting. The decision to dissolve the group will need a majority vote of * The numbers entered here should be consistent with the alterations section above. ASSETS and FUNDS Any remaining funds or assets, after debts have been paid shall be returned to the donor or transferred to a similar group at the discretion of the Management Committee, following a majority vote of members present at the Special General Meeting. SIGNATURES This constitution was adopted by the members of * General Meeting held at * on *. Insert the date of the first Annual general meeting at the Annual Chairperson Name : Treasurer Secretary Committee Member Committee Member Committee Member

8 Sample CONSTITUTION 8 References This sample constitution is presented as a guide. For further reference please consult Cheshire Community Action ; ACRE : National Allotments and Leisure Gardens Association : Charity Commision :