Association of Jersey Charities
38th Annual General Meeting
25th June 2009 held in the Main Hall,
St Paul's Centre, St Helier.

Present:
Christopher Renouf (Chairman)
Liz Le Poidevin (Deputy Chair)
Phillip Callow (Honorary Treasurer)
Helen Davies (Publicity Officer)
Jenny Hollywood (Honorary Secretary)
David  Newman ( Training and Events Officer)
In attendance:
Lyn Roach (Administrator)

Welcome and Apologies:
The Chairman welcomed Members to the meeting.
Apologies had been received from 19 Members. (See attached list for details). 

Minutes of the Previous Meeting:
The minutes of the 37th AGM held on 26th June 2008 were proposed and seconded and signed by the Chairman as a true record of the meeting.

To Approve the Proposed Amended Constitution:
The Chairman advised the Meeting that in addition to the proposed new draft Constitution being sent out with the Notice for the AGM two other documents, one comparing it against the previous Constitution and another itemising each proposal in the Working Party's Report which was approved at the previous EGM and indicating precisely in which paragraph of the new Constitution that the relevant principle had been adopted.  In view of the degree of explanation in the supporting documentation sent out it was not proposed to go through the revised Constitution in detail.

The Chairman then offered the floor of the meeting to Members to comment on the proposed changes.  One Member suggested that the heading for Item 7 should be amended to read “Committee and Officers”.  Another Member felt that co-opted members of the Committee should not have a vote. The Chair pointed out that co-opting members onto the Committee was not new as there had always been a co-opting option.  A question was raised about how the proposed Sub-Committees would work. The Chairman said that this is the foundation document and more meeting will be held when members will be asked for their thoughts on the Sub-Committees.  

The Chairman then asked Members to vote on the changes and the vote was unanimously in favour of the proposed changes to the Constitution.

To Receive an Additional  Item :
The Deputy Chair advised the meeting that through her business connections she had secured an anonymous donation for the benefit of Members of AJC totalling £2,625,736. This is to be made available on the basis of the income earned each year plus a maximum of 5 % of the capital. The generous donor wishes to be kept informed of how the money is being spent. Members received this news with grateful thanks.

To Receive the Annual Report from the Chairman:
The Chairman read his report to Members which covered the period from April 2008 to March 2009. The Committee, on behalf of the Association had an extremely busy and fruitful year with many new and important issues being successfully undertaken. The key issues are highlighted below and are fully discussed in the attached report.
•    Membership – 22 new members were accepted bringing the total membership to 235.
•    Grants awarded – 50 Members received grants during this period compared with 33 during the previous period. The amount awarded totalled £567,892.16 compared with the 2007/2008 period when £477,821.75 was distributed.
•    Constitutional changes – were unanimously approved by Members. The changes agreed will enable the Association to evolve and become more proactive in its role of supporting Members and in its dealings with other external bodies. In due course the Committee will be seeking volunteers to sit on the proposed Sub – Committees that will be needed to ensure the Constitutional changes are fully implemented.
•    New Website- is to be launched on 1st July 2009. This will enable Members to keep abreast of matters taking place and a secure section will allow Members to view applications for membership and grants.
•    Goods and Services Tax has been introduced successfully and a good rapport has been established between Members and Steve Lowthorpe of the GST Department of the Income Tax Department.
•    Non Profit Organisations (Jersey) Law 2008 appears not to have caused Members any problems judging from the lack of complaints received.
•    Jersey Law of Charities is being reviewed by a working party of which PC, our Treasurer ,is a member.
•    National Lottery – talks about this lottery coming to Jersey have been put on hold while further negotiations take place between the UK authorities and Jersey.
•    Volunteering Week was held from 1st – 7th June and was regarded as a great success. This will replace the Volunteering Fair which had been held alongside the book fair at the RJA & HS for the last two years.
•    Anonymous Donation of £250,000 which had been received in December 2007 and which we had expected to be an annual donation had been withdrawn. The donor has decided to make his own private arrangements for the distribution of these funds as he wished private individuals as well as charities to benefit.
•    A further anonymous donation of £2,625,000 was secured through LLP’s efforts for the benefit of Members. This news was received with great surprise and much appreciation.
Francis Le Gresley proposed a vote of thanks to the Committee for the excellent work which had been carried out during the course of the last year and members responded with applause.

To Receive the Annual  Report and Accounts from the Treasurer for Year Ending 31.03.09:
The Treasurer explained that the audit of the Accounts had not yet been completed however the accounts as presented to the meeting will stand. The Treasurer confirmed that the Association’s finances are in a healthy position. The accounts showed an opening balance £498,362 plus income for year of £498,865 less expenditure to date of £500,994 leaving a closing balance of £496,233 as at 31st March 09. A copy of the full report and accounts is attached.
One Member queried the amount spent on advertising which seemed excessive. This was opposed by another Member who explained the advertising was for the benefit of Members especially those without large budgets who could not otherwise advertise their fund raising events.
The Treasurer asked for the accounts to be adopted and they were unanimously accepted by the meeting subject to the auditor’s approval.

Election of Officers:
As no other nominations had been received by 12th June deadline for Committee membership, and all current officers  had indicated their willingness to continue, the following were re-elected by unanimous vote:
Christopher Renouf – Chairman
Liz Le Poidevin – Deputy Chair
Phillip Callow – Honorary Treasurer
Helen Davies – Publicity Officer
David Newman – Training and Events Officer
Jenny Hollywood – Honorary Secretary
Honorary Auditors:
Baker Homyard were voted by Members to continue as the Association’s auditors.

Any Other Business:
There were two questions from Members. One suggested that prisoners at Jersey Prison were often looking for work in preparation for their release and would carry out work which charities are required to pay for, for free.  It was suggested that one of the new sub-committees would be tasked with the job of looking at this type of issue.
The second question was a query about the new anonymous donation and it was confirmed that the Committee will seek advice as to the best means of investing it to gain the maximum benefit from the capital sum whilst not putting the capital at risk.

The meeting ended at 8.35 pm .