The Committee Room

It was a dark and stormy Tuesday night. Item one on the agenda had been there since 2019, the minutes read as if they'd been written at a different meeting, and the car park question — voted down three times — had risen from the grave again. Some committee rooms are haunted.

In this Halloween special, Kate Hartwig and Kate McPhee open their field guide to the creatures that lurk in committee rooms. Every monster is a real governance problem, and every one can be sent packing.

• The decision monsters: zombie, vampire, bogeyman, skeleton, wizard and witchy decisions, and the goblin amendment
• The creatures at the committee table, from the invisible man to the banshee complaint
• Ghost policies, scarecrow policies and the policy register
• Mummy, cursed and Frankenstein constitutions
• Frankenstein and cauldron minutes, and using an AI notetaker safely
• The poltergeist agenda, the graveyard quorum and the full moon meeting
• General business, the time vampire
• Spooky money: the Jack-o'-lantern report and trick or treat funding

Free Governance Monster Spotter's Guide to download.

Full show notes and free download at thecommitteeroom.com.au

The Treasurer opens last year's budget, adds a little CPI to every line, and the committee approves it. It looks sensible. But nobody has actually budgeted for the year ahead — they've given last year's story a pay rise.

In the final episode of the Financial Confidence series (for now), Kate Hartwig and Kate McPhee show how to build a budget that connects to what your organisation is planning to do, see the tight months coming, and plan for the big bills before they arrive.

In this episode:

• The zombie budget, and why CPI is good at increasing numbers but not at planning
• Why budgeting is a job for the whole committee — and the three questions to ask first
• The finance subcommittee, and when the budget conversation needs to start
• Historic and zero-based budgeting, and when to use each
• Estimating expenses high and income low
• Why “we budget to break even” is a slow way to go broke — and how to plan a surplus on purpose
• Cash flow budgeting, because the timing matters as much as the total
• The Assets Register, sinking funds and asset management plans
• Finance leases, operating leases and what belongs on the register
• Comparing budget and actual figures every month

Free Assets Register template from the Committee Companion.

Full show notes and free download at thecommitteeroom.com.au

Once upon a time, there was a committee that thought their finances were fine and dandy. The Treasurer read the numbers aloud. The surplus was healthy. Everyone nodded. Nobody looked at the Balance Sheet. Nobody noticed that current liabilities had been greater than current assets for three months in a row. The story the numbers were telling was right there — written in plain figures on every report. Nobody knew how to read it.

In this Storybook Edition of The Committee Room, Kate H and Kate M take you through the three financial chapters that land on your committee table every month.

In this episode:

• Cash vs accrual accounting — which edition of the book you're reading (with a mnemonic involving spotty dogs)
• Chapter 1: the Balance Sheet — the Foundations of the Kingdom. What the organisation owns, what it owes, and what it's worth on one day
• The four questions to ask every month — and why Question 3 is the one to underline
• The Balance Sheet heroes and villains — including the wolf in grandma's nightclothes
• Chapter 2: the Profit and Loss — the Chronicle of the Year — and the sneakiest villain of all: the poisoned apple
• Chapter 3: the Cash Flow Report — the Royal Coffers — and why a beautiful P&L can still hide a crisis
• What a happy ending actually looks like — and why woolly answers are a red flag in their own right

Free Financial Reports Checklist in the show notes.

Full show notes and free download at thecommitteeroom.com.au

Sam got backed into a corner and reluctantly said yes to being Treasurer, and everyone else at the table breathed a sigh of relief. The finances are in Sam's hands now. Except — that's not quite how it works. Every single committee member shares the same responsibility for the members' money. Nobody needs to be an accountant. But nobody gets to opt out either.

In the first episode of the Financial Confidence series, Kate H and Kate M cover the financial side of governance from the ground up.

In this episode:

• The myth of 'not-for-profit means no surplus' — why it's wrong and what it actually costs organisations
• Why 'we budget to break even' is just budgeting to fail — and why three months of operating costs in reserve is the minimum
• Every committee member is financially responsible — and approving a report you haven't read is not a defence
• The Treasurer's actual job: oversight, not bookkeeping — and the difference between a bookkeeper and an accountant
• The no-one-person rule and what to do when you don't have either a bookkeeper or an accountant
• The best Treasurer Kate 1 ever worked with and why
• The five governance structures that protect the organisation's money — and where to start if you don't have most of them

Free Treasurer's Role Description Card in the show notes.

Full show notes and free download at thecommitteeroom.com.au

Natural justice and procedural fairness sound like they belong in a courtroom. They show up in community clubs and volunteer organisations more often than most committees realise — and the obligation to follow them applies whether your Constitution mentions them or not. Ignorance is not a defence.

In this special episode, Kate H and Kate M welcome their very first guest: recently retired South Australian Magistrate Maria, 23 years on the bench. She joins them for a plain-English conversation about what natural justice actually requires of committees — and what happens when they get it wrong.

In this episode:

• What natural justice is — and why the process, not the outcome, determines whether you've done it right
• The two non-negotiable requirements: the person must know what they're accused of, and they must have a genuine opportunity to respond
• Impartiality in small organisations where everyone knows everyone — and what to do when there's nobody left who isn't conflicted
• When a matter is serious enough to call the police — and why you should never try to investigate criminal conduct yourself
• Record keeping as a natural justice tool — and whether formal hearings should be recorded
• Can you have a do-over? Yes — but the process for getting there must be correct
• When the organisation must get involved in a member dispute — and when it's entitled to say this is a personal matter
• The one thing Maria wishes every committee member understood: you're not there to run your personal fiefdom

Show notes at thecommitteeroom.com.au

It's an ordinary committee meeting. Nothing about compliance on the agenda. Then the secretary goes looking for the public liability certificate of currency — and the policy lapsed four months ago. And then someone remembers Dave, coaching the Under 12s since March, was due for a new Working With Children Check when his expired in April. Nobody followed that up either.

Two essential obligations, quietly unmet for months. The club only found out because someone outside the club happened to ask.

Compliance doesn't have to be complicated. It just has to be tracked.

In this episode of the Documents Done Right series, Kate H and Kate M cover what you have to do, to whom, and by when — and the two tools that make staying on the right side of the law manageable for any volunteer committee.

In this episode:

• What compliance actually is — and why it's a stress reliever, not a burden
• The Compliance Register: your master list of obligations built around what you are and what you do
• The categories most committees overlook — fundraising, screening checks, events, staff, premises, privacy and photographs
• Where to get reliable advice on what applies to your organisation — not a guess, not a google, your peak body
• The Committee Calendar: the 'when' to the Register's 'what' — and why it belongs on every agenda as a standing item
• Paper or online? Not even a close decision
• Annual review: building it into the calendar so it's not something you have to remember to remember

Free Compliance Register and Committee Calendar templates from the Committee Companion in the show notes.

Full show notes and free downloads at thecommitteeroom.com.au

The committee knows the Constitution isn't working anymore. It describes an organisation they no longer are. Changing it feels too hard, too expensive, too complicated and too uncertain — so they work around it, work through it, ignore the bits that don't suit them, and keep going. Until one day they can't ignore it anymore. And by then, the problem they've been avoiding for years has become a constitutional crisis.

The good news is that the process doesn't have to be as hard as people think. And already knowing what needs to change is half the job.

In the second episode of the Documents Done Right series, Kate H and Kate M cover what happens when the Constitution needs to change — and the companion documents that mean it needs to change far less often than most committees think.

In this episode:

• The difference between what the Act requires and what your organisation can choose — and why this changes everything
• The dot point method for working out what you want to change before touching any legal language
• How the amendment process actually works — notice period, approval threshold and registration
• Why 75% is the default but not the only option — and why you get to choose
• The four companion documents: Committee Charter, Code of Conduct, By-laws and Policies
• Document architecture — why getting this right means the committee can update operational detail by resolution, not by general meeting
• Future-proofing: how one sentence can cover video calls, phone-ins and whatever technology comes next
• Five husbands and what they have to do with change management — unlike husbands, constitutions can be improved without dividing up the furniture

Free companion documents overview from the Committee Companion in the show notes.

Full show notes and free download at thecommitteeroom.com.au

Does our Constitution allow us to do that? The room goes quiet. The Secretary looks at the President. The President looks at the Secretary. Eventually they find the Constitution in the shared drive — and there's nothing in it about employees at all.

Your Constitution is binding on every member of your organisation whether they've read it or not. Ignorance is not a defence. And most committees are navigating on much shakier ground than they realise.

In the first episode of the Documents Done Right series, Kate H and Kate M cover everything a committee needs to know about the most important document their organisation has.

In this episode:

• Why incorporation gives members real protection — and what the Constitution has to do with it
• Why ignorance of your own Constitution is not a defence — and what the Duty of Obedience actually requires
• The three layers of what goes in a Constitution: mandatory elements, best practice and your own choices
• Why one size does not fit all — and why the model Constitution is a starting point, not a solution
• The mandatory elements every Constitution must cover — and the traps hiding in plain sight
• Membership and voting rights: why calling someone a Member gives them rights and obligations the Constitution must be clear about
• The amendment threshold: why 75% isn't actually required by law
• The plain English test — and a practical technique for rewriting your Constitution without getting overwhelmed by the legalese

Free Essential Elements Checklist from the Committee Companion in the show notes.

Full show notes and free download at thecommitteeroom.com.au

The questions keep coming — and so do the Kates. In this second Your Questions Answered special, Kate H and Kate M work through eight more real situations from committee members across Australia.

Questions covered in this episode:

• A committee member has been sharing confidential information outside the committee room — what are the committee's options?
• The AGM has only enough nominees to fill the committee positions with no contested election — is that a valid AGM?
• The manager has been signing contracts with suppliers without committee approval, and the chairperson says he's seen them and that's enough — should the rest of the committee be concerned?
• A committee member was elected through a disputed process, hardly ever turns up and contributes nothing — what can the committee do?
• f a vote of no confidence is carried, do committee members have to resign?
• The paid manager wants committee members to sign a non-disclosure agreement — can they refuse?
• Members want to amend a proposed new constitution at the AGM — but the amendment wasn't in the notice of motion
• How do you decide whether a committee role is right for you?

Plus: Kate H and Kate M announce the Constitution Composer — a new tool from Fresh Allsorts for associations that need to review or replace their constitution. Five simple steps, from questionnaire to registration. Find out more at freshallsorts.com.au.

Full show notes at thecommitteeroom.com.au

The AGM was three weeks ago. A requisition arrives on the Secretary's desk — twenty-two financial members requesting a Special General Meeting to discuss financial management, a cancelled program, and the future of the current committee. The President's first instinct is to ignore it. The Secretary's first instinct is to panic. Neither is the right move.

An SGM called by members is uncomfortable. It is not the end of the world. How the committee responds in the next twenty-one days will determine whether it stays uncomfortable or becomes something much worse.

In this episode Kate H and Kate M cover everything committees need to know about Special General Meetings — using the Widget Traders Federation as a case study in exactly what not to do.

In this episode:

• What an SGM actually is — and when a committee should call one itself
• When members can requisition an SGM and what the rules are
• Why you can't ignore a valid requisition — and what happens if you try
• How to respond well when an SGM lands on your desk — tone, process and preparation
• What a motion of no confidence actually means — and what it doesn't
• How to handle the meeting itself with transparency and dignity

Full show notes at thecommitteeroom.com.au