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Extraordinary general meeting

At the time of the EGM, Northampton Fencing Club (NFC) had 40 voting members. According to the constitution the meeting would need more than 50% of the voting members present to be quorate, hence a minimum of 21 would need to present. There were 19 voting members present, so the meeting was considered non-quorate. It was agreed that although no voting could proceed, it would be useful to discuss the proposals so that the reconvened EGM would be much shorter.

Steve Rowntree (Club Treasurer) handed out a short paper which outlined the reasons and benefits of applying for Charitable status & Gift Aid. He then talked through the paper. The President (Chris Holt) then asked if there were any questions.
Q. Sharon Levett - is there a minimum length of time you can be a charity for?
A. Steve Rowntree (SR) - There is no indication of a minimum time, and we are not bound in.

Q. Fay Carpenter - If we become a charity, is it difficult to back out?
A. SR - We could cease the club then start a new one without Charity status.
Paul Drake pointed out that if we wanted to stop being a charity we would only need to change something so that we were no longer eligible for charity status.

Q. Nick Partridge - Is Gift Aid mandatory?
A. SR - No, not at all, but why would anyone not agree to gift aid as it costs them nothing but a signature.

Q. Fay Carpenter - Is there a limit to the total amount an individual can Gift Aid (between several charities)?
A. SR - Yes, but it is very large (4 figure sum), so it is unlikely any of our members will exceed it.

Q. Avril Hart - Why haven't lots of Fencing Clubs applied for Charity status and claimed Gift Aid?
A. SR - 2 other clubs have, but they are more specialised than normal fencing clubs. Unless a club has someone who I, they would probably not consider it. NFC are fortunate to have Nick Partridge who highlighted the opportunity and started the ball rolling. There appear to be many benefits of being a charity & no drawbacks. Many clubs have paid coaches so would not consider themselves for charity status. NFC does not distribute any profit it makes to members or shareholders, so making a profit is not an issue.

Q. Nick Partridge - Is the main crux of the issue today the Constitution?
A. SR - Yes. The Charity Commission template constitution contains 5 or 6 key points. Our old constitution covered about 4½ of these.

Q. Nick Partridge stated that he thought Gift Aid was the right thing to do as we can reclaim tax and put it to good use - why let the Inland Revenue keep it.

Q. Fay Carpenter - Do we have to send copies of NFC accounts to the Charity Commission each year?
A. SR - Yes, but an independent account who specialises in Charities has looked at them and said they will be fine. We will need to put them in a suitable forma, but the contents are OK.

Q. Fay Carpenter - Do we need an external auditor?
A. SR - Any lay person can act as auditor if the club's turnover is below £15,000 p.a.

Q. Steve Scholes - Does being a charity impose any limits on our subscriptions or how we go about our business?
A. SR - No, no limits are imposed. Subscriptions basically just allow you to fence at the club. We cannot Gift Aid beginner's course fees, as they get something in return for their money (i.e. tuition and a glove).

Q. Mark Bampkin - If we make a profit on the beginner's course what impact will it have?
A. SR - We don't make a profit, just a surplus or deficit. We don't give money to our shareholders, so it is not an issue.

Q. Mark Bampkin - Looking at the Gift Aid figures, will £1000 make that much difference to the club?
A. SR - Given that we have not found a disadvantage of Gift Aid, this is 'free money' and £1000 will buy a lot of equipment.

Q. Mark Bampkin - So why haven't lots of other clubs done this?
A. SR - Quite a few other sporting clubs have charity status, just not Fencing clubs. We are already a charity by definition (run by volunteers, do not pay shareholders, etc.). This is just formal acknowledgement of what we do already.
Nick Partridge - Gift Aid is relatively new (April 2000), so it is poorly understood.

Q. Mark Bampkin - What is the personal liability of Trustees?
A. SR - Same as at present for Committee members, but formalised. There is nothing contentious in the new Constitution. It is basically just putting a legal framework on it.

Q. Sharon Levett - Is it a legal requirement that Trustees serve a 3-year term?
A. SR - No. It is just a suggestion put forward by an accountant that it would provide increased stability for the club.

Q. Sharon Levett - Suggested that 3 years was too long.
A. SR - stated that this was a point on the agenda to be voted for, so it can be changed.

Q. Fay Carpenter - In Sept 2004 we had only 37 members. 19 of these no longer attend, so isn't 3 years a long time?
A. SR - A 3 year term doesn't tie the Trustee in for 3 years - they can resign at any time, and a replacement voted on.

Q. Avril Hart - What if the Club membership drops and the ratio of tax payers to non-tax payers drops?
A. SR - Parents of junior members will be eligible to Gift Aid the child's subscriptions. If the membership drops, Charity status does not cost us anything, so at worst we are back to the position we are in now.

Q. Mark Bampkin - What is the situation for the unemployed? How do we define 'Kit must be affordable'?
A. SR - There is no further definition given. However, we would take each case and consider it. We need to try to find a way to help these sort of people.

Q. Mark Bampkin - What is the impact on funds if we have to start supplying people with kit to allow them to fence electric?
A. SR - There is no requirement to provide electric kit. We need to be able to provide basic kit, which we do already. That delivers on our obligation.
Chris Holt - On the question of affordability, many Universities are Charities, but their tuition fees are high, so the definition is clearly vague.
SR - If you look at the sporting world, e.g. Sailing we would not be obliged to give away free boats! The cost of hiring the kit is cheaper than buying it.
PD - Current constitution covers underprivileged as it specifically mentions the unemployed. Also, we do provide kit at reduced rates as we have negotiated discounts with many of the equipment suppliers. This is a benefit of membership.
Steve Scholes - This is all about attitude really. We could offer reduced rates for unemployed.

Q. Chris Holt - The Club has a long way to go to raise our profile.

Q. John Rigby - Steve Rowntree has clearly done his homework & taken the advise of other clubs and specialists. Has there been any legal input to the new Constitution?
A. SR - The Charities Commission provides a template constitution. I have used this as the basis and just included any extra important things that we needed to keep from our existing constitution.

Q. Nick Partridge - Could we increase our profile with other fencing clubs by raising the awareness of Charity status (assuming we are granted it)?
A. SR - Yes.

Q. Steve Scholes - Should we lower the age limit?
A. SR - We have a standard minimum age of 11. We do allow 9 year olds to join if their Parent or Guardian also fences at the club, although this is at the discretion of the committee.
There were no more questions regarding Charity Status.
It was agreed that discussion of the proposed changes to the constitution should be postponed until the next EGM.

SR asked if there were any other issues to be raised regarding the constitution.

Q. Fay Carpenter - The legal voting age is 18. Anyone under this age cannot vote. Does this affect our quorum?
A. CH - The constitution says all paid-up Club members are eligible to vote, regardless of age. Maybe we should consider allowing parents a proxy vote for matters relating to finance. This could be raised as an AGM item in the future.

Q. Mark Bampkin - Mark raised a Data Protection concern about the proposal that any member should be allowed to ask for the home addresses of all other members.
A. SR - Agreed to add this as a discussion topic to the Agenda of the next EGM.

Q. Fay Carpenter - Is the new Constitution contradictory? It says if there is a 2nd Special Meeting held (due to the first being non-quorate) and there are not enough members it can proceed without being quorate anyway.
A. SR - It is not contradictory. If the second meeting is not quorate, the quorum is then redefined as being whomever is present.

Q. Fay Carpenter - Should the draft Child Protection Policy be adopted?
A. SR - Proposal to adopt the draft to be added to the Agenda of the next EGM.

The next EGM was scheduled for Thursday 20th July 2006.

The President closed the meeting at 21:30.