Annual General Meeting 2023

NOMINATIONS FOR THE PHILANTHROPY AUSTRALIA BOARD ARE NOW OPEN

The 2023 Philanthropy Australia Annual General Meeting (AGM) will be held online at 3pm AEST on Wednesday 24 May.

Philanthropy Australia’s Constitution outlines the process for the nomination and election of directors: 

Clause 12.2 – Nomination of directors 

(a) Nominations of candidates for election as directors will be called for at least 45 days prior to the election of directors. The notice calling for nominations must list those directors ceasing to be directors and whether they are standing for re-election, the maximum number of directors fixed under rule 12.1(b), and the date the nominations must be received by the secretary. 

(b) The nominations must be: (1) for a candidate who is eligible under rule 12.1(d); (2) made in writing, signed by two members, other than the candidate; (3) accompanied by a short biographical statement including information required by the directors about the candidate, and the written consent of the candidate (which may be endorsed on the form of nomination); and (4) delivered to the secretary before the date notified. 

At the AGM on 24 May 2023, the following members of the Philanthropy Australia Board are ceasing to be Directors: 

·       Amanda Miller OAM – standing for re-election  

·       Kirsty Allen – standing for re-election 

·       Joe Skrzynski AO – retiring 

·       Jon Cheung – standing for re-election 

Therefore, there are 4 positions to be filled. Currently, 3 Directors are nominating for re-election. 

Nominations for Philanthropy Australia’s Board are now open. 

Eligibility 

To be eligible for appointment to the Board of Philanthropy Australia, a nominee must: 

• be a Member*, or a representative of a Member; and 
• not be disqualified from managing a corporation under the Corporations Act 2001 (Cth) or from being a responsible entity under the Australian Charities and Not-for-profits Commission Act 2012 (Cth). 

Clause 12.1 (d) of the Constitution states that “Each director must be a member or representative of a member, at the time of appointment or election, and the majority of directors must be Funders or representatives of Funders.”  

*A Member from Active, Engaged, Impact and New Gen membership levels has full voting rights and can be elected to the Board. Please see our Membership policy. 

Please note that Members whose rights have been suspended are not eligible to be nominated, nor to nominate others. 

Criteria

 The Philanthropy Australia Board works hard to optimise Board composition for effective leadership and governance. To this end a skills, experience and diversity matrix was established to help ensure the Board is representative of the broader community and current philanthropic practice.  

For the 2023 Board election, taking into account current Directors who will be retiring and re-standing at the 2023 AGM, the Board encourages nominations from members from all States and Territories with the following skills, experience and profiles: 

Skills and experience 

• Philanthropist 

• Accounting and finance 

• IT (including digital transformation) 

• Government relations (policy and process) 

Profile 

• Culturally and linguistically diverse 

• First Nations people 

The Philanthropy Australia Board Charter and other related governance documents can be found here. 

Nominations

Nominees are encouraged to speak with the Board Co-chairs, Amanda Miller and Lisa George prior to submitting a formal nomination to assist with questions, background or any other information that might be helpful.  Please leave a message with the Melbourne office on 03 9662 9299 if you would like to discuss a nomination or contact the Co-Chairs directly at [email protected].  

To nominate for a Board position, please: 

• use the form approved by the Board, which can be found here. 
• include up to 300 words describing the candidate’s profile, their purpose for standing and how they meet the needs of the Board, with reference to the skills matrix. 

After discussion with the Co-Chairs, please submit all nominations for a Board position by 5.00pm 19 March 2023 to Gavin Ryan, Director- OGL Group, at [email protected]

As per the Constitution, if there are more nominations for Board positions than vacancies, nominations will go to a vote of Members held by ballot, the details of which will be sent to Members on 3 April 2023. This vote will be conducted by Philanthropy Australia’s appointed returning officer, OGL Group.