August 2009 Seminar – Making decisions: running meetings, AGMs and changing your constitution

Do you shiver at the thought of organising your group’s AGM?  Do you quail at how to handle those tricky questions from the floor of the meeting, or how to deal with the persistent interjector?  Are your Rules out of date but no one on the Committee knows how to go about changing them?
 
This interactive seminar will include how to run an AGM and what you should know about your Rules.  Come along and feel prepared when your next AGM rolls around! 

Date:               Thursday 6 August 2024
Time:               9.30am-12.30pm 
Presenters:       Alice Macdougall, Anna Lyons & Sarah Shnider (Freehills)
Venue:             Freehills, Level 42, 101 Collins Street, Melbourne
Cost:               $30 (including GST) administration fee per person
Refreshments:  Light refreshments will be provided.
Registration:     FULLY BOOKED - WAITING LIST ONLY
                        PilchConnect August Seminar Information

Geelong Seminar - legal governance training for not-for-profit community organistions

Board Members: Roles, Responsibilities, Liabilities and Protections
What are the roles, responsibilities and proper activities of the board of directors of a Not-for-Profit organisation? What are the potential liabilities of board members? What role should the board play in the day-to-day operations of the organisation? What legal protections exist for board members? This workshop will address these and other topics relating to the legal and fiduciary obligations of boards and committees of management.

This training is made available by PilchConnect. The details of the seminar are as follows:

Date:              Tuesday 1 September 2024
Time:              10:00am – 12:30pm
Presenters:      PilchConnect Lawyers
Venue:            City Hall, Council Chambers, 30 Gheringhap Street, GEELONG
Cost:               $30 (including GST) administration fee per person
Refreshments:  Light refreshments will be provided for morning tea
Registration:     This seminar series is only for not-for-profit organisations: 
                        Registration Form for PilchConnect regional training in Geelong 2009

Questions:        Please ring Belinda La Rocca on (03) 8636 4423 or email connect@pilch.org.au

Are your not-for-profit (NFP) organisation's Rules up-to-date?

Are you sure that your incorporated association is using the correct version of its Rules and has a current Statement of Purpose? 

Quite often incorporated associations believe they have successfully changed their Rules (or Statement of Purpose) by passing a special resolution, only to discover later that the changes were never lodged with, or approved by, the Registrar of Incorporated Associations at Consumer Affairs Victoria (CAV).

Victorian law allows incorporated associations to change their Rules by special resolution, but the changes do not take effect until they have been sent to, and approved by, CAV (see section 22 of the Victorian Associations Incorporation Act 1981). Rule changes need to be sent to CAV with a form and a fee (currently $70.10). Rule changes which have not been approved by CAV are not effective.

If you want to be certain that your association has the most current version of its Rules and Statement of Purpose (as approved by CAV) you can request a copy by contacting CAV in writing or in person.  Fees as at 1 August 2024 are $11.70 for the first page and $2 for each additional page (up to a maximum charge of $58.50). 

New PilchConnect guides
The PilchConnect web portal has recently launched two new guides for Victorian community organisations.  The guides focus on occupational health and safety (OHS) requirements for not-for-profits, as well as intellectual property (IP) issues that community organisations regularly face.

► The OHS guide can be downloaded at:  PilchConnect OHS Guide
► The IP guide can be downloaded at:  PilchConnect IP Guide

New record keeping resources
The Australian Taxation Office (ATO) has released a resource for small business that may also be of use to not-for-proft community organisations.  The ATO guide, ‘Record keeping for small business’ contains information for charities and gift-deductible entities, and provides guidance on record keeping standards expected from the ATO.

The ATO guide can be downloaded at  ATO Record Keeping for Small Business

Guidance Note to protect NFPs from terrorism financing
On 7 July 2009, the Commonwealth Government released guidelines for NFPs to protect themselves from the risk of being misused to finance or support terrorist activity. 

The guidelines are available from the Australia Government's National Security website:  Terrorism Financing Guidance Note

The Fair Work Act and new unfair dismissal laws
The Rudd Government’s Fair Work Act is beginning to take effect, with new application of unfair dismissal laws commencing on 1 July 2009. In Victoria, incorporated organisations which have employees will be bound by the new Act, as will some other not-for-profits around Australia.  Of significance to many community groups is a change which sees unfair dismissal laws now applying to smaller organisations.

For further information on the changes, see the PilchConnect website :  Update on Fair Work Act

National Compact between Australian Government and the NFP sector - have your say!
A new national compact, or agreement, is currently being developed between the Australian Government and the Australian not-for-profit (NFP) sector.  The compact aims to document how the Australian Government and the NFP sector will work effectively together, to be able to pursue their joint mission to create inclusive and resilient Australian communities.

On 3 August 2009, the Government launched an online forum which allows organisations and individuals to contribute to the consultation process about the compact.  For further details about the Government's online forum, see:  www.socialinclusion.gov.au/forums. 

PilchConnect is a specialist legal service which has been set up to provide legal help to Victorian, not-for-profit community organisations.  The service provides free and low cost legal information, training, advice and legal referrals for Victorian not-for-profit community organisations. We also undertake law reform and advocacy work about the wide range of legal issues that affect the not-for-profit sector.  

To find out more about the legal services we provide, go to  How PilchConnect can help your community organisation on our website.

If you would like to subscribe or unsubscribe to this e-bulletin please email:  connect@pilch.org.au.  

If you would like to contribute to, or provide feedback about, this e-bulletin, please email:  connect@pilch.org.au.