Lyrianne has asked this question:
Who gets a copy of the minutes of a club’s AGM? Is it all fully paid up members or is it just attendees?
This is my first year as secretary and I’m still finding my feet with some things.
Every person who is a member of the organization is entitled to receive a copy of the AGM minutes as quickly as possible after the meeting – certainly no longer than 7 or 14 days after the meeting.. Some people erroneously believe that the AGM minutes are not available until the next AGM which is a year away – this thinking makes no sense at all.
The real issue for most organisations is the administration and/or the expense of getting the minutes out to all members. Well you don’t have to do that unless your rules specifically state that they need to be sent and I have never seen a set of rules that dictate it. The key is the word “available”. Minutes need to be available to all members. That implies that they are available to members who ask – and most don’t ask.
So, what you can do, is simply post or email them to members who ask. Or a more modern way is to put them on your organization’s website. You can password access so only members can see them. By doing this you have made them “available” to all members who choose to go and look. If you get members who say they don’t have internet access, then suggest they a they visit their local library. I believe virtually every library in the world has internet access.
There is absolutely no reason why members should not have access to the minutes. If anyone suggests that they will not release the minutes then that’s the time to immediately start looking deeper as to what is being hidden from the membership. Start asking lots of questions!
Please Note: The author is not a lawyer and accepts no responsibility for anything which occurs directly or indirectly as a result of using any of the suggestions or procedures detailed in this blog. All suggestions and procedures are provided in good faith as general guidelines only and should be used in conjunction with relevant legislation, constitutions, rules, laws, by-laws, and with reasonable judgement.
