club committee problems

vvconfused

I am treasurer of thriving sports club but it seems likely that at next AGM there will be no volunteers for posts of chairman or secertary and obviously committee cannot function with just treasurer alone. In that scenario what would be our options or the consequences of this. Original constitution (set up 100+ years ago!) states club to be run by committee. Would like to be clear on this in order to put forward to club members in advance.

Wywth

vvconfused wrote: »

I am treasurer of thriving sports club but it seems likely that at next AGM there will be no volunteers for posts of chairman or secertary and obviously committee cannot function with just treasurer alone. In that scenario what would be our options or the consequences of this. Original constitution (set up 100+ years ago!) states club to be run by committee. Would like to be clear on this in order to put forward to club members in advance.

No interest? Sounds like it might have to close then.

Tell the members that, and if it's as thriving as you say, I'm sure someone will come forward

paddyrg

In an extreme case, you could look at the existing committee signing everything over to some kind of trust which you could administer as you see fit, but its hardly ideal or in the spirit of the original constitution. If the option is closing it down though, may have some mileage?

RuthnJasper

It's sad, but so often the way these days. Plenty of people wanting to take part, but no volunteers willing to put in the odd hour now and then to run the bones of the organisation. I've been in this position myself when on the committee of a local Am Dram society.

Announce that this will be the final AGM as the club is closing, due to a lack of volunteers for the posts you need. Spell out in your letter/statement what the exact committee requirement is (e.g. "It is sad that The Ottery St. Catchpole Cricket Club is having to close its doors after 115 continuous years, all for the want of a Chairman - particularly as the commitment only amounts to an average of 1½ hours' input per month...").

Also get the local newspaper involved and release something along the lines of "Ottery St. Catchpole Cricket Club Finally Bowled Out for Want of a Chairman after 115 Years" and get them to plead your case. That can often be very helpful.

Good luck. As I say, I've been in this situation myself and can well-understand your concern and frustration. x

Brassedoff

I worked on many football clubs constitution when I was on our county FA. I am also a club president having been chairman for the past 11 years.

You need to go to your parent organisation. As you have not told us what type of sport etc you are in, you restrict the advise I can give.

vvconfused

Many thanks for all replies. I am trying to clarify in advance exactly where club would stand - and would then plan to send letter to all members with the clear facts and thus hopefully galvanise a few into volunteering.
Brassedoff: It is a tennis club, originally a church club but now only connection is that church own the land. Not sure what or if would be parent organisation. Affiliated to LTA but that is optional anyway.

Savvy_Sue

Best way is to identify successors / potential successors and approach them on a 1:1 basis. If they can be reassured that the workload isn't too onerous then that's a help.

If it IS likely to be too onerous, then look at introducing additional roles, or a different split. For example, atm I'm treasurer of a walking group, and we need to find a new Walks Organiser to replace someone who's been doing it for a long time. What we're planning to do is find another 3 people, one for each length of walk we offer. One of them will pull the whole programme together.

I also keep 'the list' of members names and addresses up to date, and produce the labels for our mailings. This could be seen as the secretary's job, it used to be someone who wasn't on committee doing it, it just works well for me to do it.

Uxb

Snag is that is can end up rather more work and aggro than you wanted....especially when someone either in or out of the club has a "problem" with your activities.

I ended up defending a court case brought against the committee - we won.
The work involved was astronomical.
Next time people ask me to be on any commitee I tell them where to stick it.

I would strongly advise against anything which in effect ends up as the OP in sole charge. In the event of a "happening" the OP will be soley responsible and the events leading up to the "problem" can no longer be passed off as a "democratic decision by a properely elected and formed committee" and will become the responsibility of one person acting on their own.

[Deleted User]

Hi,

sounds as though you've been there a few years, but there must be some younger members wanting the club to survive and willing to put a bit of time in.

Good luck.

Wywth

I've not been involved in a tennis club, but when I was a director of a flat management company, we used to invite those who 'had a problem' with how we managed it to become a director too!

In fact I think that's how I became a director

We generally found those 'who had a problem' with the way things were managed either came on board and were a real asset or declined our invitation which meant we had a quick, ready-made answer to any further 'problem' they had with us

Charityworker

We were in the same situation a couple of years ago. The chairperson we had was around 90 years old and had been doing the role for 3 years. She didn't want to carry on. The Vice Chair was also getting on and was also ill so didn't want to take on the role. We were getting closer and closer to the AGM when we knew if a chairman didn't come along we would have to close. The ex chairperson was about to make her leaving speech and in walked one of the members. He said he wanted to take over the role of chairman. In our desperation (I'm not on the committee by the way - I'm a paid administrator) they all voted him in. Looking back it was all so wrong. He wasn't nominated by anyone and none of the members knew who we were voting in. But like I say it was him or nobody.

He turned out to be the worst chairperson ever and we lost about 60 members because people just didn't like him. He was horrible to me as a boss. His CRB check was 6 pages long. I got advice from the CAB who said as long as he hasn't been done for sexual offences or kiddy fiddling there was nothing we cold do about it. He offended so many people with what he used to say and his ways. He came across as a bit violent.

After about 9 months of him being chair the other committee members decided to have an extraordinary general meeting without him and gave him a vote of no confidence. I had the pleasure of giving him a letter from the rest of the committee telling him he was no longer chair. The organisation ran for about 3 months without a chair and then someone else much more suited to the job joined the committee.