Perhaps you have just been invited by a friend, colleague
or family member, to sit on the Executive Committee (Exco) of a non-profit
organisation. It is an honour to serve in such a capacity, and it is encouraging
to see more and more community organisers stepping forward to start non-profit
organisations and charities. Volunteer work not only serves the greater good
but allows Malaysians from all walks of life to come together and work
side-by-side on worthy causes for the benefit of all communities.
However, before you accept the invitation to be an Exco
member or a main office bearer, it’s a good idea to familiarise yourself with the
scope of duties beforehand so that you can honestly assess your existing
commitments, and evaluate whether you can really take on the job. Time is a
finite resource after all, and not everyone has the luxury of focusing on a
non-profit role. More likely than not, you’ll be balancing your full time job
and family obligations as well as the additional tasks that may fall to you in
your role as an exco member.
For the most part, non-profits are small organisations running
on a shoestring budget and almost all those involved are volunteers. In such an
organisation, you should be prepared to take a hands-on approach. There won’t
be a host of administrative assistants to take care of the administrative work.
If you accept the position of Secretary or Treasurer for example, and if the
organisation does not employ any administrative assistants, you could quickly
find your role taking up a lot of man-hours J.
Under the Societies Act 1966 (“the Act”), and in accordance
with the registered society’s constitution (see http://www.ros.gov.my/index.php/my/perkhidmatan
for sample Constitutions for societies with and without branches, provided by
ROS), there will usually be a President, Secretary, Treasurer, and a number of
Deputies or Assistants (such as Deputy President, Assistant Secretary,
Assistant Treasurer etc). Once these main office bearer positions are filled,
the rest of the members forming part of the “Ahli Jawatankuasa” are usually
referred to as “Exco members” with no corresponding office bearer title. They
do however still need to sign circular resolutions, attend Exco meetings, and
are still deemed to be office bearers within the meaning of the Act.
President
The President is the face of the organisation, and will need
to set the direction for the organisation in terms of day-to-day activities as
well as short, medium and long-term planning. The President will need to
oversee aspects such as sourcing for funding, identifying and courting
corporate and other sponsors, seeking out opportunities to raise funds and
generate publicity, coming up with ideas for programmes to generate awareness
and attract volunteers, as well take overall responsibility for the society’s
general compliance with regulatory requirements. The President is also an
authorised signatory with the registered society’s bank for the purposes of
signing cheques on behalf of the society, and is one of the office bearers
authorised to deal with the society’s bank account.
Secretary
Be warned…if you don’t like paperwork and regulatory compliance,
don’t sign up for this job :-) The Secretary is responsible for a lot of the
back-end functions, or rather, to manage the documentation that forms part of
the regulatory aspect of running a registered society. The Secretary must
maintain updated registers of members and of Exco members, prepare/circulate all
documentation relating to Exco Meetings and Annual/Emergency General Meetings (these
would include notices of agenda, minutes of meetings, reports such as the President’s
report, the audited accounts, attendance lists, etc), and the preparation of
the annual returns - a set of documents that needs to be lodged with the ROS
once every financial year. In addition, the Secretary will need to draft
circular resolutions when needed. The Secretary is also likely to be an
authorised signatory with the registered society’s bank for the purposes of
signing cheques on behalf of the society and dealing with the society’s bank
account. The role of Secretary has been greatly assisted by the recent introduction
of ROS’ online submission system, called eROSes. (Go to http://www.eroses.gov.my/).
Treasurer
This is a role for numerically-minded, so if you still rely
on your fingers and toes to count, then perhaps, this is not quite the role for
you :-). Prepare to be buried under a pile of receipts and claim forms as soon
as you take up the job. Once you have extricated yourself from the pile, you
might be confronted with another pile...of cheques this time J.
OK, this is an exaggeration, it shouldn’t be as bad as all that. If your
organisation is small and just starting out, there should not be so many
transactions to start with. However, Standard Operating Procedures and
templates should be created from day 1, to ensure that the accounts are managed
properly. The Treasurer is responsible for the society’s funds. So, however few
transactions there are, and however small your non-profit organisation is,
records must be kept, data must be entered into an accounting system such as
MYOB, receipts and documents must be filed and bank statements must be
reconciled. Petty cash boxes, chequebooks, the registered society’s chop and
other important items should be locked up at all times. Once a year, the
Treasurer will need to liaise with an external auditor for the purposes of
conducting an audit. Once again, the more organised and up-to-date the
accounting and finance records, the easier the audit fieldwork process will be.
The Treasurer will definitely be an authorised signatory with the registered
society’s bank for the purposes of signing cheques on behalf of the society, and
is one of the office bearers authorised to deal with the society’s bank
account.
Other Exco members
If the main office-bearer positions sound like too much work,
perhaps you might helpfully offer yourself for the position of “Exco
member”...as you’re probably thinking, “Hey, sounds pretty good, I’m not being
responsible for any actual work, but I get to attend meetings, hang out with
the rest of the committee and enjoy the food and drinks….” :-) Ha ha! Well, to
some extent you might be right, but usually, Exco members also do need to
contribute time and expertise to the organisation, especially if the
organisation is small, has just started out, and does not have much funding or
resources at its disposal yet. But yes, your role is not statutorily defined,
so the scope of your duties and contribution depends largely on the
organisation itself. Perhaps you could help with co-ordinating volunteer
activities, generating publicity, fundraising and awareness campaigns,
contributing ideas for future expansion and helping the main office bearers.:-)
Conclusion
If the role of a main office-bearer or other exco member
sounds like too much to take on given your current commitments, it’s best to
politely decline up front so that the organisation can look for someone else
who has more time to contribute. However, this does not mean that you cannot
participate. If the cause is something you believe in passionately and want to
support, think about other ways that you can help the organisation. Talk to
your friend, colleague or family member about other ways that you can be
involved and help support the organisation. As the saying goes, many hands make
light work, and almost all organisations need volunteers with different
skillsets and profiles.
