What’s the state of your AGM?
28 July 2020 at 5:02 pm
A new app is launching to help charities check the rules around their annual general meetings
Coronavirus restrictions have meant running a charity annual general meeting is a little different and more confusing than in previous years, but the launch of a new app could help answer questions about the new rules.
The free interactive app, developed by Gilbert + Tobin’s charities and social sector team, leads charities through the requirements of holding an annual general meeting (AGM), and covers what a charity can do if the requirements of a meeting have been affected by COVID-19 restrictions.
The app helps organisations answer whether they need to hold an AGM, if it’s possible to postpone the meeting, or if they are allowed to hold their AGM using remote technology.
Depending on the requirements of an organisation’s constitution, this can differ. If an incorporated charity’s constitution says explicitly that an AGM must be held in person and by a certain date, and those rules aren’t abided by, the meeting can be ruled invalid.
Craig Gibson, a principal lawyer at Macpherson Kelley, told Pro Bono News that over the past 12 months, he’d seen numerous cases where disgruntled members of charities had taken their boards or the heads of their organisations to court, claiming that changes to the constitution, meetings, or election processes were invalid.
Gilbert + Tobin said that even though restrictions were starting to ease in some parts of the country, it was important charities thought carefully about whether an AGM should be held face-to-face for safety reasons.
Find out more about the app here.
