A lot of Club Boards have Strategic Planning meetings but often nothing changes. How long since your Board asked this question: “what does the future look like for our club?”
Surveys have found that the biggest worry today for Directors of public companies in Australia is cyber security. That is the risk that someone could hack into your databases of your staff or club members details or your financial records and use that information against your club.
So often Club Managers say to us that “the Board of Directors just leave everything up to me and I wish they would not”.
While the Manager is the Public Officer as far as the regulators are concerned, it does not mean they are responsible for everything. The law is very clear about the accountability of Club Directors or Committee members, you are all responsible too.
All Club Directors or Committee members must avoid any conflict of interest in their decisions for the Club. What does this mean? It means you can take part in any Board/Committee decision that you might benefit from. The hardest part is recognizing you actually have a conflict of interest.
All Club Committee members should read their Club Constitution, preferably as part of their induction on to the Board. As the document is the set of rules that apply to how your Club entity itself operates.
In our experience a lot of Club Boards or Management Committees do not take risk management seriously enough, yet it is one of their key functions in looking after the Club for its members.
Not-for-profits all over Qld and indeed Australia are often faced with the question as to whether the entity should be a company limited by guarantee or an incorporated association. The best entity for your organisation can’t be answered with any degree of certainty.
Clubs should consider getting an internal audit review done every few years. An internal audit looks at the controls you have in place to minimise the risk of such things as fraud. Audit reports offer suggestions to gain more efficiency in your Club operations.
An effective Club Board will always review its own performance regularly to see if it can improve how it operates. The members deserve this as the governing body for their Club and it is best practice for all Boards or Committees.
There has been an interesting law case recently with implications for State governing bodies of any sport and their clubs. You may want to read the case and understand how it may impact on you.
We’ve read and drafted many constitutions over the years but here are the features that every not-for-profit might consider:
1. Size of the Board: We still see governance bodies (board ad management committees) that extend to as many as 13 positions.
Whether your Club is a company limited by guarantee or an Incorporated Association and you are a member of the Board or Committee, you have serious legal duties you must fulfill. It makes no difference whether you are paid for the role or you are a volunteer, the law