An annual general meeting (AGM) is a meeting of members or shareholders, and its usual function is to elect the board, hear the reports on the activities and plans of the organisation, and view the annual financial statements (AFS).
A non-profit which has members:
The AGM is a fundamental part of the governance routine allowing the members a regular opportunity to receive information, and to exercise their basic function of holding the board to account and electing board members.
A non-profit which has no members:
(a trust or a no-members non-profit company (NPC)), an AGM is not required, as the board has no-one to report to. For no members NPCs and trusts, the annual functions of approving the AFS and selecting new board members to replace those whose terms of office have come to an end will take place at a board meeting. (When lodging NPO reports for these organisations, you can say ‘no AGM required as no members’).
A voluntary association:
A voluntary association has to have members in order to exist as a legal structure. An AGM is certainly required.
A with-members NPC:
The provisions of new Companies Act are somewhat confusing as:
- Section 61(7) makes an AGM mandatory only for public companies, and NPCs are not public companies under the new Act.
- However, with-members NPCs are required, in terms of sections 30(1) and 30(3) of the Companies Act to present the AFS to an annual general meeting.
Our view is that the requirement that the AFS be presented at an AGM effectively does make the AGM mandatory for all companies with members or shareholders.
Also, for NPCs with members, the members should be gathered together (in a room or virtually) at least once a year to play their basic role of holding the directors to account. If this annual routine is not followed, then the board is in danger of forgetting who the members are, and the members themselves might think that their services are no longer required. If it is worth having members, then one needs to keep them up to date and engaged. We too often see organisations which have neglected to follow the membership routines and the members fall into disarray and cannot play their role when they are needed.
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Nicole Copley | NGO Law

Nicole has consulted to the NGO sector since 1993. She is an admitted attorney (non-practising), has her Masters in the tax exemption laws and is a Master Tax Practitioner. Nicole developed her drafting skills while working as a business lawyer, and she has a pragmatic problem-solving approach to all the work she does. Her depth and breadth of experience over many years and her work with government and a wide range of clients, give her useful perspective and insight. Nicole also lectures and trains on various topics of importance to the NGO sector. She is author of ‘NGO Matters: A practical legal guide to starting up’, and publisher of the series of NGO Matters handbooks.
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