The Duties of Officers and Employees in Non-Profit Organisations

Abstract

extract] The paper attempts to crystallise some of the current ideas about the principles of corporate governance that should be implemented by a non-profit organisation. Those ideas, which have emanated from a number of recent cases, articles and statutory amendments, are juxtaposed to examples of large and small non-profit organisations in Australia. The writer has also attempted to address the statutory and common law duties of officers and, to a lesser extent, employees, of non-profit organisations. Reference will be made to some current public examples of conduct in the sporting sphere that appears to be in contravention of the statutory duties of officers and employees. Finally, the writer will outline some of the common complaints of members of non-profit organisations and identify the primary remedies that are available to them as against the offending officers of the organisation and the organisation itself.