A voluntary management committee can be of various sizes. It needs to have enough members to be representative and perform the necessary tasks but not so large that it becomes unwieldy. The number of members of the management committee partly depends on the size of the organisation but generally to work effectively it should be no more than 12.
In order to take binding decisions or agree policy, a voluntary management committee meeting must be quorate. This dictates the minimum number of committee members including any office bearers necessary at a meeting. The number or proportion of the Committee required to make a meeting quorate is set down in the Constitution or at an annual general meeting. A quorum should ideally be over half and up to two-thirds of the full management committee. If a quorum is not present then binding decisions cannot be taken. In the event of an equal split on a decision the convener’s vote decides.
Since voluntary management committees have a number of duties to be carried out, a range of skills and experience is required from the committee members. Many organisations now try to ensure they have community representatives and representatives of their service users on their management committee, to make it more accountable and effective.
The principles of equal opportunities should underpin the recruitment, election or appointment to a voluntary management committee. Membership of the committee should be open to different people to become involved, irrespective of gender, race, disability or any other unrelated factors. Management committees should strive to ensure that their committees are representative of the community as a whole.
There is no prescriptive method for operating a voluntary management committee. Certain specific roles are often performed by individuals, although the actual tasks this includes varies between management committees.
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