WA in the fold

[Flamed_FE]

Working on the Life Saving Club's constitution and it got me thinking

I'm assuming all FE FC clubs have there own club constitution and by-laws, but is the an Aust entity that umbrellas over the top of us all with it’s own constitution and by-laws (in lifesaving it's the Royal Life or Surf Lifesaving parent body).  If so do we need to do anything or make any changes to welcome WA into the fold of FE FC clubs?

Side question – do all clubs share the same constitution with minor differences or were then all just written from scratch?

Al
Flamed FE

[customFC]

I believe most are written from scratch. Our club used parts of the CMC constitution in ours to ensure we complied with their rules and regs to ensure we were eligable. Like many things, RET is the one to ask re this matter, he keeps ours up to date. (and does a mighty fine job of it too).
If WA needs an example to help them out, just ask Richard for a copy of NSW.
Regards
Alex

[gp]

Yeah our Club started from scratch back in 1987, with many amendments over the years to suit changing club circumstances. :-/

We tried some stuff that didn't work, so changed to stuff that did work.

Cheers,

Graham

[RET]

When Gary (FE_UTE) and Lorene came to Sydney last year and I met up with them, the WA Club was in its - shall we say - nascent stages.  There seemed to be enough interest to start one, but it wasn't quite started.  One of the things I gave them was a copy of our club's constitution.  WA seem to be a bit more bureaucratic about these things, and required all the ducks to be in a row before the WA Club could be incorporated.  This included a constitution that met the local requirements, so I believe they used bits of it and expanded on it to suit.  This seems to be a by-product of incorporation being a state-based responsibility - every state has a slight variation on what is otherwise a common theme.

The FE-FC Holden Car Clubs of Aust. has a constitution which is all about the Nationals.  It is an umbrella organisation with that sole purpose.  We did look into the possibility of using it to share public liability costs amongst the member clubs and other things, but it didn't work out (not unsurprisingly, because of the different rules in different states about such things).

The WA Club have been (I believe) formally invited to participate in the Nationals, just as the Southern Sydney Early Holden Club, the Holdens of Age etc are invited to participate in the event.  As detailed in the FE-FC HCC Aust constitution, after participation in the Nats as an "invited club", such clubs can subsequently be admitted into full membership of the umbrella organisation, giving them the right to host an event in the future and so on.

Hope all that makes sense and apologies for boring the pants off anyone

cheers
RET

[Martin]

Each state is responsible for administering its own Associations Incorporation Act, so there may be slight variations from state to state.  However, it is quite probable that the respective Attorneys general may have got their heads together to get uniform legislation in all jurisdictions - is that expecting too much of the pollies?

In SA the incorporation of associations is administered by the Department of Business & Consumer Affairs who can provide a model constitution.  Check with your own Government agency.

Is the FE-FC Holden Car Clubs of Australia an incorporated Association?  If not, it ought to be, with the consitution showing the membership as being the respective state clubs and other bodies who are affiliated and allowing for the affiliation of other clubs in the future.  Each state club should have an affiliation clause in its constitution allowing it to be affiliated with the national body (and other organisations with a similar purpose).  Each state would be represented in the management of the national body.

The national body could examine each state's constitution and develop a "model" for the guidance of the state clubs.

As a newish member, I don't know whether this is the situation or not, but there may be something of use here.

Martin

[RET]

Martin,

You raise some interesting points.  Hopefully Kathy is reading this (the current FE-FC HCC A chair-person), and it may be something to be revisited at the next delegates' meeting.  There's a few too many things on the plate right now

As I mentioned before, the FE-FC HCC A exists solely for the Nationals, and is not really an 'umbrella organisation' in the sense that the AAA or CMC etc are.  It doesn't have an executive committee nor do anything other than administer and evolve the rules and constitution of the Nationals.  In other words, resolving issues relating to Judging, Classing, Hosting and other aspects of the event.

FWIW in NSW Association Incorporation is managed (for reasons I have never been quite able to fathom) by the Dept of Fair Trading.

cheers
RET

[Flamed_FE]

We skirted around this topic last night at the meeting.

Vic needs to change there cont as it currently states that is the club disolves, any net asset are to be split between financial members.  This technically makes the club a profit organisation rather than a non profit org (and thus not exempt from numerous company legislation and tax returns etc)

We will be changing this in the upcoming AGM.

however
1) how many other clubs have the same clause?
2) should we not all have a clause if the club disolves all net assets to go to FE-FC HCC A
3) we then need to change the cont of FE-FC HCC A to reflect how to distribute any net assets from a folded club to it other clubs in FE-FC HCC A

This is a situation when it comes important to have in writing that WA is an offical member of FE-FC HCC A

sorry to everyone who is now asleep at the computer due to this exciting topic I've started

[RET]

We have something like this already in our R&C:

18. Dissolution.
The organisation shall be dissolved in the event of the membership being less than six persons.  It may be dissolved upon the vote of a two-thirds majority of the members present at a general meeting convened to consider the question: "Any assets on hand, shall, after payment of all expenses and liabilities be paid to a charitable or non-profit organisation as determined by a majority vote of the members present at the meeting dissolving the organisation."

Should we go belly up this gives us the flexibility at the time it happens to decide where our remaining assets go.  It's none of my business, but I'd be wary of setting in stone who the recipient might be.  What if the FE-FC HCC A folds first, or simultaneously, for that matter?  What if your club has a huge falling out with the FE-FC HCC A?

Just my 2c...

cheers
RET

[Martin]

Flamed_FE,

As you've identified, the various legislations are quite admant that the assets of associations will not be distributed to members.  Benefits can be passed to members (e.g. the club might decide to pay entry fees for members to enter the nationals) but no cash or assets (unless it's wages) can be distributed to members.

As you've correctly identified, this is also a fundamental principle of the not-for-profit status that gives the club tax exemption.

Some suggestions for the winding-up clause could be that:

the assets of the club pass to the national body to be held in trust for 5 years (or some other term), and if the club not be resurrected, then used by the national association or distributed among the other affiliated clubs;    or

The assets be distributed to another club (or clubs) within the state that have similar aims and activities.

My suggestion is that you seek the advice of the Government Department that administers associations in Vic.

In redrafting your constitution, keep in mind that it should contain only high-level stuff.  Administrative rules and regulations (that are likely to change from time to time) ought to be carried in Rules and Regulations that can be changed at an ordinary meeting of the club, without having to go through the rigours of a formal constitutuion amendment.  Therefore, the constitution should carry a clause that describes how Rules or Regulations can be set (e.g., by the committee, or by an ordinary meeting of the club, etc.)

Remember, also, that (in SA anyway) the new constitution has to be lodged with the relevant registrar of associations.

Hope that helps

Martin

[fcfromscratch]

Hi team,

as secretary of the WA club, can I just advise that we did indeed make heavy use of the NSW club constitution and various other pro-formas and documents in setting up our club so as to not re-invent the wheel.

also, we HAVE had correspondence from the ACT club formally inviting our club members to attend....for which we thank them very much!!  So much, in fact, that a few of us are driving or flying over to attend.

.......see you in the snowies!!!......

Brad