Association of Jersey Charities 37th Annual General Meeting 26th June 2008 Don Theatre at Fort Regent, St Helier
Present: Committee: Liz Le Poidevin (Deputy Chair) Phil Le Vesconte (Honorary Treasurer) Helen Davies ( Publicity Officer) Jenny Hollywood (Honorary Secretary) In attendance: Lyn Roach (Administrative Officer) Members: As OGM
1. Welcome and Absences: The Deputy Chair welcomed Members to the meeting. Apologies were received from Christopher Renouf (Chairman) and David Newman (Training and Events Officer). Apologies were received from 11 Members named on the attached list.
2. Minutes of the Previous Meeting: The minutes of the meeting held on 21st June 2007 were proposed and seconded and signed by the DC as a true record of the meeting. Matters Arising from these minutes: All items were carried forward to this agenda LR
3. Chairman’s Annual Report: The Deputy Chair presented the Annual Report prepared by the Chairman Christopher Renouf. The key highlights in the report were: • Introduction of GST and its impact on Charities
• The Introduction of Anti Terrorism and Money Laundering Legislation for Non- Profit Organisations and the consequential resurrection of the Law Commission’s recommendation to have a Charities Law and Charities Commission in Jersey
• Anonymous donation of £250,000 from a private donor which may be made annually whilst this person is resident in Jersey
• The Jersey Association of Voluntary Organisations (JAVO). This Group produced a report on the Health and Social Care Sector highlighting certain needs. It has been proposed by JAVO that a sub sector of the Association is formed dedicated to Health and Social Care charities. This is currently under review.
• New Members. The Association had 228 members registered and had awarded a record number of grants totalling £477,821.75 for the year ended March 08.
• Committee members were praised for their dedication and commitment in what has been a very busy year with special thanks going to David Newman for his work as training and events organiser and Phil Le Vesconte who retires forthwith after 6 years as Honorary Treasurer. The report was agreed by Members.
4. Treasurer’s Annual Report and Audited Accounts for Year Ended 31 March 2008: The Treasurer reported that:- • Grant receipts had fallen because the Economic Development Department had, with States approval, retained £80,000 of lottery profits to ensure a continuous flow of funds when the transition takes place from local to national lottery funding. This is to be an annual amount. • Donations have increased to £263,000 largely because of anonymous donation of £250,000 • Grants to Members had doubled over the previous year’s payments Members queried whether the funds held on deposit were in a high interest account (confirmed) and whether the States retention of lottery profits is recorded in writing so that the funds will definitely be available to the AJC should they be needed in the future (confirmed but further confirmation to be sought). One Member made the point that the definition of “charity “is to be expanded/amended in the future under the Trust legislation which, they said, would allow a greater number of organisations access to these funds.
As there were no further questions, the accounts were approved and adopted by Members. PC
5. Election of Officers: Honorary Treasurer Phillip Callow, a chartered accountant with Moore Stephens, was proposed and seconded for the position of Honorary Treasurer to replace Phil le Vesconte who is retiring. He was voted into the position by unanimous vote. Phil Le Vesconte will now be removed as a signatory from the bank accounts and Phillip Callow will now be added as a signatory to the bank accounts. As no other nominations had been received by 12th June for Committee membership, all other officers were re-elected by unanimous vote as follows: Christopher Renouf – Chairman Liz Le Poidevin – Deputy Chair Helen Davies – Publicity Officer David Newman – Training and Events Officer Jenny Hollywood – Honorary Secretary Honorary Auditors: Baker Homyard was voted by Members to continue as the Association’s auditors. The DC took this opportunity to thank PLV for his sterling work over a long period of time looking after the Association’s finances. Thanks were also extended to Baker Homyard for their excellent work in auditing the Association’s accounts. LR
6. Any Other Business: Members expressed some concerns about the proposed changes to the Constitution which had been discussed in the Members meeting earlier that evening and which would give the Executive Committee authority to award grants up to a certain level (£10,000) without reference to Members. It was agreed that a working group would be set up to agree changes to the Constitution which would be acceptable to Members and at the same time achieve the flexibility needed to support the work of the Committee in the changing environment within which it and its Members are working. It was agreed to set a date of December 08 to achieve this goal. ALL
