How to run a sports club AGM, with free templates

What’s in the template

• Notice of AGM. Date, venue, who can vote, the business of the meeting and the deadline for nominations and proposals.
• Nomination and proposal forms. With proposer, seconder and the nominee’s agreement to stand.
• Agenda. The 15 usual items, from quorum and apologies to elections and any other business.
• Minutes template. Attendance, quorum, a row for each item with the decision and votes, and an actions table.

Start with your constitution

For an unincorporated club, the constitution sets the rules for the AGM: when it must be held, how much notice members get, who can vote, the quorum, and how officers are elected. No general law fixes these for a members’ club, so read your constitution first and follow it exactly. Sport England’s club support service has a short guide too (Buddle: holding an AGM).

If the club is a company or a charitable incorporated organisation, company or charity law adds its own requirements, so check those as well.

How to run a sports club AGM, step by step

1. Six to eight weeks before: set the date and book the room

   Pick a date within the period your constitution allows after the year end, and a venue people can get to. Online or hybrid meetings are fine unless your constitution rules them out.

2. Close the accounts

   The treasurer finishes the year’s books and gets them examined, so the accounts can go out with the notice.

3. Send the notice in time

   Send the notice to every member by the deadline in your constitution (often 14 or 21 days). Include the agenda, the nomination form, the deadline for nominations and proposals, and the exact wording of any change to the constitution.

4. Collect nominations and proposals

   Each needs a proposer and a seconder. Ask nominees to confirm they agree to stand, and talk to anyone stepping down early, so you aren’t left looking for a treasurer on the night.

5. Send the reports

   Circulate the chair’s, secretary’s and treasurer’s reports and the accounts a week or so before the meeting.

6. On the night: check the quorum

   Use a sign-in sheet so you can show who attended and that the meeting was quorate. If it isn’t, your constitution should say what happens next.

7. Follow the agenda, and take minutes

   Record each decision in exact words, with the votes where there was a vote. Any other business is for matters that need no decision; anything that needs notice has to wait.

8. After the AGM

   Circulate draft minutes, change the bank mandate if the signatories have changed, update your governing body and any league with the new contacts, and hand over records to new officers.

Common mistakes

• Giving less notice than the constitution requires, which can leave decisions open to challenge.
• Changing the constitution under any other business without giving notice of the exact wording.
• Not checking who is entitled to vote before a contested election.
• Forgetting to update the bank mandate after a new treasurer is elected, so nobody can sign payments.
• Minutes that record the discussion but not the decision.

Questions

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