Risk Management and Insurance - May Seminar

**Final call for registrations**

Understanding risk management, and the benefits and limits to insurance is an important part of managing and protecting your organisation's people and assets.

What are the kinds of incidents that commonly occur in not-for-profit community organisations and how can you best manage your risks? Would you like to understand the main types of insurance that are relevant to not-for-profit community organisations - what they cover and, just as importantly, what they don't? Do your board or committee members need insurance? What is volunteer insurance and when is it necessary? When do you need to notify your insurers about an incident?

This interactive and practical seminar will provide participants with an understanding of risk management processes and when they might want to consider insurance, as well as tips about what to look for in a policy.

Details of the seminar are:

Date: Wednesday 16 May 2024
Time: 9.30am - 12.30pm (registrations open 9:15am)
Venue: Middletons Lawyers, Level 25, Rialto South Tower
525 Collins Street, Melbourne 3000
Fee (incl GST):
$50 per person for small organisations (up to 10 EFT employees)
$100 per person for large organisations (over 10 EFT employees)

To register, click on the link below:

The New Model Work Health and Safety Act and your community organisation 

In 2008, the Commonwealth Government, together with all States and Territories, committed to nationalise the work health and safety laws. In Victoria, the original commencement date has been deferred and the Work Health and Safety Bill is expected to be introduced by the Victorian Government by 1 January 2013.

To help organisations prepare for the introduction of Model Work Health and Safety laws, PilchConnect is offering a comprehensive seminar with leading OHS expert, Barry Sherrif of Norton Rose lawyers, in August 2012. 

Places for this seminar are sure to go quickly - so register your attendance now to avoid disapointment. 

Details are as follows: 

Date: Thursday 23 August 2024
Time: 9.30am - 12.30pm (registrations from 9.15am)
Venue: NAB, Docklands, 800 Bourke St, Melbourne
Fee (incl GST):
 $50 per person for small organisations (up to 10 EFT employees)
$100 per person for large organisations (over 10 EFT employees)

For further information, and to register, click on the link below:

Win a free registration to the PilchConnect Seminar of your choice!

We want to know how easy (or difficult) you find it to understand and comply with Victorian laws and regulations for incorporated associations and fundraisers. What could be done to make things easier, simpler and better for Victorian community groups?

PilchConnect will analyse the survey data and share the results with the Victorian Government, for the purposes of identifying key compliance challenges and suggested improvements to relieve regulatory compliance burdens for the Victorian community sector. 

It will only take a couple of minutes and everyone who completes the survey can go in a draw to win a free registration to the PilchConnect NFP Seminar of your choice (valid for 12 months).

Please help us by completing this survey - simply click on the link below.

Charitable Fundraising Regulation Reform Discussion Paper

In January 2012, the Parliamentary Secretary to the Treasurer released a Discussion Paper regarding reforms to fundraising regulation. The aim of the Discussion Paper was to seek guidance from the sector on a range of regulatory arrangements for charitable fundraising that would aim to reduce the compliance burden faced by charities.

PilchConnect supports national reform of fundraising regulation. In our view, the ultimate goal of fundraising reform should be the removal of existing state-based fundraising regulation in favour of registration and reporting via the Australian Charities and Not-for-Profits Commission (ACNC), and reliance on the Australian Consumer Law and other consumer-focused laws to regulate fundraisers' conduct in soliciting funds.

To read PilchConnect's submission, follow the link below:

Changes for Incorporated Associations - Reform Act passed

The Associations Incorporation Reform Act 2012 (Vic) received Royal Assent on 1 May 2012. The Act incorporates reforms to the Associations Incorporation Act 1981 passed in 2009 and 2010 and consolidates them in a re-write of the Act.

We are currently reviewing the Act and considering its impact on your community organisation. We are also awaiting the release of draft Regulations, which will contain revised Model Rules. Readers of this e-bulletin will be updated as our review progresses and more information comes to light, including about the commencement date of the new Act.

Further information is available on our webportal, below, or by calling our telephone advice service.

When things go wrong

Over the past few months, PilchConnect has been busy completing the new section of our webportal designed to assist your community organisation deal with some of the things that can go wrong.

New and updated information sheets are now available on the following areas:

• Handling conflict in your organisation 
• Using mediation to resolve conflict and dispute
• Being taken to court
• Financial problems and insolvency 
• Incidents and accidents, and
• Criminal conduct. 

These resources are available by following the link below:

Does your organisation need more help?

Sometimes, it's hard to know where to go if your organisation needs more help. How do you find a ‘primary source' of legal information? For that matter, how do you find out what a ‘primary source' means? Where can you find out what laws have been passed? And how do you look up a case?

PilchConnect's new "More Help" section of the webportal is designed to help you understand what this all means, including:

• How to find legislation 
• How to find a case
• How to find legal help

The new information is available by following the link below: 

A new Act for Victorian incorporated associations has recently been passed and is set to come in to force later in 2012. We will use our e-bulletin and webportal to provide tips and resources that highlight the practical impact  of the changes for your community organisation.

This month, we focus on the new definition of "office holder".

The new Act spells out legal duties applying to office holders (including former office holders), in addition to clarifying their current obligations. Under the new Act, an ‘office holder' is defined as:

• a member of the committee; 
• the secretary; or 
• a person, including an employee of the association, who is involved in key decisions that affect the operations of an association or who is influential in the affairs (financial or otherwise) of the association.

The practical effect of defining an ‘office holder' will be minimal, as the common law (judge-made law) already imposes duties on those governing an incorporated association. However the new Act will clarify the exact nature of the duty as it applies to incorporated associations, including:

• Clarifying the existing duty to not make improper use of information or position; 
• Introducing a legislative duty to exercise powers and discharge duties with reasonable care and diligence. 
• Introducing a legislative duty to exercise powers and discharge duties in good faith and for a proper purpose; and 
• Introducing a legislative duty to prevent the association from trading while it is insolvent. (An association is ‘insolvent' when it cannot pay its debts when they are due.)  

Further information on the definition of office holder and other changes can be found on the PilchConnect webportal, below:

Announcing PilchConnect's new Director - Juanita Pope

This month, we are delighted to announce that Juanita Pope has accepted the position of Director of PilchConnect.

Many of you may be familiar with Juanita and her work here at PilchConnect. You may have spoken with her during a telephone advice, or attended a training session she's delivered. You may have read one of the many law reform submissions prepared by Juanita, or used one of the countless information and fact sheets on legal issues that she's prepared.

Since joining the team in June 2010, Juanita has impressed us all with her mastery of all things NFP, her passion for PILCH and PilchConnect and her infectious enthusiasm for living a creative life.

We congratulate Juanita on her new role!

Welcome Stephanie Tonkin

This month, we welcome Stephanie Tonkin as the newest member of the PilchConnect team.
Stephanie will be focusing on expanding and delivering our fee-for-service training program. Stephanie previously worked in a corporate law firm for 5 years, mainly with government clients. In this time, Stephanie also undertook a significant amount of pro bono work through which she developed a passion for improving access to justice. Her legal expertise includes governance, statutory interpretation, privacy and administrative law, and she particularly enjoys the opportunity to leave the office and meet people when delivering training. In her spare time Stephanie is an enthusiastic yoga teacher.

Welcome Stephanie!

Are you planning a community training program? Arranging a capacity-building conference for volunteer-based organisations? Getting local not-for-profits together to learn about legal issues?

If so, consider PilchConnect as your legal training provider. Our highly skilled community lawyers are available to assist with practical, plain-language training sessions to help NFPs understand their legal and compliance obligations. Our training sessions include:

• Getting Started: Legal Issues for New Not-For-Profits
• Legal Duties for Board and Committee Members
• Legal Issues in Managing Volunteers

Please contact us for information or a quote or to discuss you specific training needs - we can customise our training to suit your organisation or local network.

Hundreds of people got out of bed early last year to Walk for Justice and raised over $9000 to help disadvantaged clients access free legal services.

The Walk for Justice, now in its fifth year, celebrates National Pro Bono Day and raises much needed funds for the Public Interest Law Clearing House Vic (PILCH).

We are an independent, not-for-profit organisation which provides free legal assistance for the most vulnerable. We also seek to address the systemic causes of injustice. We work with asylum seekers, seniors, community organisations, people experiencing homelessness, and other areas of unmet legal need.

The Walk for Justice raises much needed funds which help with this work. You can support this walk either by registering to walk, sponsoring a walker or donating.

Details of the 2012 Walk for Justice are as follows:

Date: Tuesday, 15 May 2024
Start Time: 7.30am - meet at the steps of Parliament House. 
Cost: $20 for individual walkers, $10 for students and $180 per team of 10.

For more information visit the website below, or call Toni Hynes on 03 8636 4400.

PilchConnect is a specialist legal service which provides legal help to 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 our legal services, visit our website below:

 PilchConnect - Legal help for community groups. 

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.

 PilchConnect e-bulletin

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