Incorporation of CUHK (Melbourne) Alumni
1. A meeting was held on Thursday,
21.9.2006 for the Special Group that studies the issue of incorporating the
Melbourne Alumni. Members were
2. It was agreed unanimously that it is
to the benefit of the Alumni and its executive members that the Alumni be
registered as an incorporated body. It was understood that at it present
status, the Alumni is not legally in a position to organise any activities as a
group. Neither are we able to open a bank account or hire a venue for a
particular function under the name of the Alumni.
3. Experience over the past years shows
that, since the establishment of our ‘Alumni’, it has been providing valuable
opportunities for CUHK alumni to get together for social functions, exercise
and interest classes, as well as regularly communicating with our University. Most
activities were popular. Incorporating the Alumni will ensure that the Alumni
could continue to operate properly and organize the activities.
4. As an incorporated body, the Alumni
will be able to insure for Public Liability Insurance. It is now impossible to
hire most places (e.g. sports centres, churches) without this insurance. And
without this insurance, persons organizing an activity is
liable to be sued for compensation in the event of personal injury or death.
5. While it was acknowledged that
registering as an incorporated body will require extra work for ExCo members (in initial registration and on-going annual
renewal procedures), the Special Group was prepared to undertake this.
6. The Tai-chi class has been generating
regular income which should be more than sufficient to pay for the premium of
Public Liability Insurance. In fact, among all activities organized by the
Alumni, Tai-chi class is probably the highest risk one and requires insurance
cover most.
7. The Special Group recommends that no
membership fees will be introduced (getting members to pay their fees is often
not an easy thing to do; keeping those who did not pay from participating in
activities is difficult; members might demand their ‘desired’ services if they
had paid money). It was thought that other than Tai-chi class fees, small
‘profits’ could be made through some activities (e.g. dinners). Fund-raising
functions could also be held.
8. ExCo members
are therefore requested to endorse the Special Group’s recommendations at the
forthcoming meeting that:
(i) The Alumni should be registered as an
incorporated body,
(ii) Membership fees will not be charged (it might be necessary
to charge a fee, even a
nominal amount of, say, $1), and,
(iii) Public Liability Insurance will be
arranged by the Alumni.
9. If the recommendations are accepted by
the ExCo, they will be proposed at the next AGM
(likely to be in November) for all members to consider and hopefully approve.
10. In the meantime, the Special Group is
starting to prepare a draft of the updated constitution for the Alumni. Leo
Leung has kindly agreed to look after this matter.
All goes well, the draft should be ready at the next ExCo meeting.