Seminar for August 2010: Annual General Meetings

Do you shiver at the thought of organising your organisation's Annual General Meeting? Do you quail at how to handle those tricky questions from the floor of the meeting, or how to deal with the persistent interjector?

This interactive seminar will address how to plan for and run an AGM, covering the legal requirements for both companies limited by guarantee and Victorian incorporated associations. Come along and feel prepared when your next AGM rolls around!

Date:                   Tuesday, 17 August 2024
Time:                   9.30am-12.00pm (registrations from 9.15am)
Presenters:           Alice Macdougall, Anna Lyons and Sarah Shnider, Freehills
Venue:                 Freehills, Level 42, 101 Collins St, Melbourne
Cost:                   $40 (incl. GST) administration fee per person
Refreshments:      Light refreshments will be provided for morning tea

This seminar is made possible with the generous support of Freehills Lawyers.  

Registrations for this seminar are now open. To register, please visit:

Seminar for September 2010: How to deal with private information 

Does your organisation worry about getting the balance between openness and privacy right? Does privacy legislation apply to not-for-profit organisations? Can you use photos of your clients in your annual report? What records can volunteers and clients access? What purposes can your register of members be used for? Do you need consent to conduct direct marketing?

This seminar will provide participants with a basic understanding of the laws about information privacy, spam and confidentiality, with a focus on how these issues often arise in the context of running a not-for-profit community organisation.

Date:                   Wednesday, 8 September 2010
Time:                   9.30am-12.30pm (registrations from 9.15am)
Presenters:           Kaman Tsoi, Senior Associate at Freehills
Venue:                 Freehills, Level 42, 101 Collins St, Melbourne
Cost:                   $40 (incl. GST) administration fee per person
Refreshments:      Light refreshments will be provided for morning tea

This seminar is made possible with the generous support of Freehills Lawyers.

Registrations for this seminar are now open. To register, please visit:

Throughout 2010, PilchConnect and the VCOSS Clearinghouse are working together to run governance training for people involved in not-for-profit organisations in regional Victoria.  We are running a seminar entitled ‘Board Members: Roles, Responsibilities, Liabilities and Protections', and in August we’ll be heading to Benalla.

This 'back to basics' training is suitable for new not-for-profit board/committee of management members - or existing board or committee members that are seeking a refresher on the roles and legal responsibilities that come with helping to run an effective community organisation in Victoria.  Attendees will work in small groups on practical, hypothetical scenarios which are common to many community organisations. We encourage multiple board members to attend this seminar.

Benalla Option 1
Date:                   25 August 2024
Time:                   6.30pm – 8.30pm
Venue:                The Centre, 50 Barkly St, Benalla
Presenters:          PilchConnect Staff
Cost:                   $40 (incl. GST) admin fee per person ($20 for VCOSS members)
Refreshments:      Light supper will be provided

Benalla Option 2
Date:                   26 August 2024
Time:                   9.30am-12.30pm
Venue:                 The Centre, 50 Barkly St, Benalla
Presenters:           PilchConnect Staff
Cost:                   $40 (incl. GST) admin fee per person ($20 for VCOSS members)
Refreshments:      Light refreshments will be provided for morning tea

To register for either of these sessions, or for further information and details of other community training throughout regional Victoria in 2010, please visit the VCOSS Clearinghouse website below.

Reforms for Victorian incorporated associations take a further step

In our last e-bulletin (July 2010), we discussed proposed legislative reforms, which if enacted, will significantly impact on Victorian incorporated associations.  The reforms, contained in the Associations Incorporation Amendment Bill 2010 were debated and passed by the Legislative Assembly on 29 July 2010.  The next stage is for the Bill to go to the Legislative Council for debate before it becomes law.

The reforms aim to introduce some key changes to the day-to-day operations of Victorian incorporated associations, including:

• clarifying the duties of committee members;
• amending annual reporting requirements and audit thresholds;
• removing the limitations on trading;
• requiring grievance and dispute resolution procedures;
• amending winding up and external administration; and
• introducing new matters that must be addressed in an organisation's Rules.

While the Bill is expected to be approved over the next few weeks, the actual implementation of the changes will not come into force until mid-to-late 2011.

PilchConnect has produced a page on its website to provide further details about these reforms, and how they may affect community organisations if they are passed by Parliament.  For more information, follow the below link to our page dedicated to the proposed reforms:

ALP announces reform agenda for the not-for-profit sector

The Australian Labor Party (ALP) has announced a federal election policy agenda which sets out key reforms for the not-for-profit sector.  The announcement commits a re-elected ALP Government to establishing a new Office for the Non-Profit Sector, a Non-Profit Sector Reform Council, and will initiate a scoping study for a national 'one-stop-shop' regulator.

We at PilchConnect welcome the proposed reform agenda which is in line with our submissions to the Productivity Commission and other reviews such as the Henry Tax Review and 2008 and 2010 Senate Inquiry.  

To view PilchConnect's response to the announcement, follow the below link:

ATO announces priority areas for not-for-profits in 2010/11

The Australian Taxation Office (ATO) has released its compliance program for the new financial year.  This document lists the key compliance issues the ATO will have a particular focus on throughout 2010/11. The areas relevant to not-for-profits that the ATO will focus on over the next 12 months include:

• detecting deliberate misuse of tax concessions;
• identifying incorrect decisions made by organisations on the application of GST concessions;
• monitoring activities by organisations to ensure their purpose remains consistent with legal requirements; and
• reviewing basic tax compliance for clubs and associations.

The ATO publishes guidance papers on how the above areas can be better understood. The full compliance program for the 2010-11 financial year can be viewed on the ATO website below:

In light of the above comments on the ATO's priority compliance areas for the current financial year, we thought it would be timely to remind readers of the various free resources provided by the ATO. For example, did you know that you can receive automatic updates from the ATO about any changes to Commonwealth tax laws and compliance requirements applicable to not-for-profit organisations?

Anyone is able to subscribe to a free 'Non-Profit News Service' published by the ATO, which provides email alerts and updates on tax issues which are relevant to the not-for-profit sector (such as changes to relevant laws, rulings and compliance requirements about GST, fringe benefit tax, deductible gift recipients and many other areas). You can elect to receive the updates daily, weekly or monthly.

For further information about receiving these free email updates from the ATO, visit the ATO's subscription page below:

In June 2010, PilchConnect invited David Locke, Executive Director of Charity Services at the Charity Commission for England and Wales, to Australia.  David's visit aimed to promote and encourage the adoption of smarter regulatory models for charities and other not-for-profit organisations in Australia.

During his visit to Australia, David presented keynote speeches in Sydney and Brisbane, and attended a number of high-level meetings (including one hosted by Senator Ursula Stephens) in Canberra. His busy trip culminated in a breakfast event in Melbourne where he addressed a forum of approximately 150 representatives from the not-for-profit sector with comments provided by Productivity Commissioner Robert Fitzgerald. At this event the Minister for Community Development Lily D'Ambrosio also announced Victorian State Government part funding for the PilchConnect pilot project.

The podcast of David's presentation in Melbourne has now been uploaded on the website of our academic partner, the Australian Centre for Philanthropy and Nonprofit Studies (ACPNS), at the Queensland University of Technology.  To view this presentation, please follow the below link to the website of the ACPNS:

'Raw Law' is a new community legal resource designed to provide accessible legal information for people who are experiencing barriers to participating in the arts, in particular:

• artists with disabilities
• artists who experience mental health issues
• artists from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds
• artists from rural and remote communities
• Indigenous artists
• artists who are disadvantaged

Raw Law has been established within Arts Access Victoria and was officially launched in July 2010.  Raw Law provides easily accessible information on legal issues such as intellectual property and contracts, including answers to frequently asked questions by those that are participating in art-based projects.  To access this information, or for further details about Raw Law, follow the link to its website below.

The Australian Centre for Philanthropy and Nonprofit Studies, at the Queensland University of Technology, has published the Australian Nonprofit Sector Legal Almanac for 2009.

The Almanac has been edited by Professor Myles McGregor-Lowndes, and provides a terrific summary of the key developments in the not-for-profit sector throughout the year, including case notes of significant legal decisions and policy reforms.

The Almanac is available free online from the Queensland University of Technology website below.  We also have a limited number of hard copies, so please contact us at  connect@pilch.org.au if your organisation would like a free hard copy of the Almanac. The Almanac is available online from the Queensland Institute of Technology website:

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.

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.

To find out more about the legal services we provide, see:

Previous e-bulletins

Have you missed an earlier edition of PilchConnect's e-bulletin and want to get up-to-date?  All of our previous newsletters are available on the PilchConnect website at the link below, including this month's edition!