An AGM (annual general meeting) is the once-a-year meeting where a club or charity reports to its members, elects its committee and approves its accounts. For most small clubs the rules come from your own constitution, not from a single law, so the first job is always the same: read your constitution and do what it says. This guide covers the usual steps, with wording you can copy.
This is general information, not legal advice. If your organisation is a company, a CIO or a registered charity, there may be extra rules, so check your governing document and, if in doubt, the Charity Commission or Companies House guidance.
Do you have to hold one?
For an unincorporated club or society there is usually no general law that says you must hold an AGM. The obligation, if there is one, sits in your constitution, and most constitutions require one every year. If yours says so, holding it is a duty you owe your members, and skipping it can cause real trouble later, for example when the bank asks who is authorised to sign.
Other structures differ. A charitable incorporated organisation (CIO) or a company limited by guarantee follows its own constitution or articles plus the rules for that type of body, and companies have filing deadlines for accounts. Check what applies to you rather than assuming. If you do not have a written constitution at all, read our guide to a club constitution template for a small unincorporated association first.
Step 1: Check the rules in your constitution
Find these four things before you do anything else:
- Who may attend and vote. All members, or only full members over a certain age? Do honorary or junior members vote?
- How much notice you must give, and in what form. Common periods are 14, 21 or 28 days, but yours might differ. Count carefully and allow for posting or email time if the constitution mentions it.
- The quorum. The minimum number (or proportion) of voting members who must be present for decisions to count. If you do not reach it, you may need to adjourn.
- What the AGM must do. Typically receive the annual report and accounts, elect officers and committee, and appoint an examiner or auditor if one is required.
Step 2: Set the date and book the venue
Pick a date that gives you the full notice period plus a margin. Choose a venue that is accessible, and say so in the notice. If you want people to be able to join online, check your constitution allows remote or hybrid meetings. Many older constitutions are silent on this, and if so the safest route is to allow in-person attendance and ask the committee to record a decision about remote participation, taking advice if it matters for a close vote.
Step 3: Send the notice
Send the notice to every member who is entitled to receive it, by the method your constitution allows. An AGM notice about club business is an ordinary service message to members. If you also want to add promotion or fundraising to the same email, read PECR and your club newsletter so the line between the two is clear.
Copy-and-paste notice wording:
[Club name] Annual General Meeting Notice is given that the Annual General Meeting of [club name] will be held on [day, date] at [time] at [venue and address]. [Step-free access is available. / Please tell us of any access needs by [date].] All members are welcome. [Only paid-up members aged 18 and over may vote.] The agenda is attached [and below]. The draft accounts and the previous minutes are available [on the club website at address / from the secretary]. If you wish to stand for election to the committee, please send your name, and the name of someone who will propose you, to [secretary email] by [date]. If you wish to put forward a motion, please send it in writing to [secretary email] by [date]. If you cannot attend and your constitution allows proxy voting, please send your proxy form to [secretary email] by [date]. [Name], Secretary, [date of notice]
Delete the proxy paragraph if your constitution does not allow proxies. Keep a copy of the notice and a record of how and when it was sent.
Step 4: Prepare the papers
Gather the agenda, last year's minutes, the annual report, the treasurer's report and accounts (independently examined or audited if your constitution requires it), nomination forms, any motions received, an attendance sheet and spare copies of the constitution.
A simple agenda
Adjust the order to suit your constitution:
- Welcome and apologies for absence.
- Confirm the meeting is quorate.
- Minutes of the last AGM: agree as a true record.
- Matters arising from those minutes.
- Chair's (or secretary's) report on the year.
- Treasurer's report and presentation of the accounts.
- Appointment of the independent examiner or auditor (if required).
- Election of officers (chair, secretary, treasurer) and other committee members.
- Motions and constitutional changes put in advance.
- Membership fees for the coming year (if the AGM sets them; see how much to charge for club membership).
- Any other business (only items the chair agreed beforehand, unless your constitution says otherwise).
- Date of next AGM and close.
Step 5: Run the meeting
The chair opens the meeting, the secretary (or someone else) counts those present and confirms whether there is a quorum. If there is not, check your constitution: many allow the meeting to be adjourned to a later date, sometimes with a lower quorum. Do not carry on and make decisions without a quorum.
Take each agenda item in turn. Motions are proposed, seconded, discussed and then voted on, usually by a show of hands unless the constitution requires a secret ballot. Elections need a clear process: read out the nominations, vote if there are more candidates than places, and have the result confirmed. Someone who is not themselves contesting a position, such as a neutral member, can count the votes.
Keep the tone friendly. Most small AGMs are short, and the main risk is rushing past the formalities. Where a vote is close, record the numbers.
Step 6: Write the minutes
Minutes are a record of decisions, not a transcript. Include:
- Club name, date, time and place.
- Who chaired and took the minutes, who attended, and the apologies.
- Confirmation that notice was properly given and a quorum was present.
- For each item, a short summary and any decision taken, with the numbers for votes where there was a vote.
- The names of those elected.
- The time the meeting closed.
Minutes are normally approved at the next AGM, so label them "draft" until then. The chair signs the approved version and the secretary files it with the club records, along with the notice, attendance sheet and papers. How long to keep records, and who may see them, depends on your constitution and on data protection; see GDPR for small clubs and charities.
Step 7: Tell the right people
After the meeting:
- Update the bank mandate and any online accounts if signatories changed.
- Tell your insurer, governing body or league if the officers changed and they need to know.
- If you are a registered charity, update the Charity Commission register where trustee or contact details have changed. If you are a company or CIO, there may be filings to make.
- Pass on the committee contact details to your web editor, and use a role-based email address so the next handover is easier. Our guide to handing over a club website when the committee changes covers this.
What to publish on your website
Putting AGM information online saves the secretary a lot of emails and tells new members how the club is run. Sensible items to publish:
- The date, time and place of the next AGM, and the agenda once agreed.
- The approved minutes of the last AGM, with personal details removed (see below).
- The annual report and summary accounts. Registered charities have obligations about making accounts available, so check what applies to you.
- Your constitution and the names (or role titles) of the committee.
- How to stand for election and how to put forward a motion.
What to leave off: members' home addresses, phone numbers and personal email addresses, anything said about named individuals in discussion, and any item concerning a safeguarding or disciplinary matter. Use role email addresses such as secretary@ rather than personal ones. If you have a members-only area, keep draft papers and the attendance list there or off the web entirely. If you are not sure whether a document is safe to publish, do not publish it until a committee member has read it from a stranger's point of view.
A club website with an "About" or "Governance" page is a natural home for this. If you need one, Natterio has a free plan that gives you a live 3-page site on a Natterio subdomain with no card needed, and paid plans start from £7 a month. Whatever tool you use, the content matters more than the platform.
If you find your constitution is thin, out of date or missing, treat that as a job for the coming year and start from the constitution guide.