I hereby give notice that an EXTRAORDINARY GENERAL MEETING (E.G.M.) of Finchley C.C. will be held at the Club Pavilion, Arden Field, E End Rd, London N3 2TA on 05 July 2024 at 6:00-7:00 pm to conduct the following business:

The agenda for the meeting will be as follows:

1) Proposed change to the legal structure of the Club

Please find attached for your consideration and voting decision

Exhibit 1 – Charitable Incorporated Institution (CIO) constitution in pages 9-40 of the meeting pack
Exhibit 2 – supplemental club rules in pages 41-46 of the meeting pack
Exhibit 3 - ICAEW training course on CIO set-up and governance requirements in pages 47-81 pages of the meeting pack.

The Executive Committee (EC) has been assessing the benefits to convert the legal structure of the Club from unincorporated status (Community Amateur Sports Club, CASC) to an incorporated status (Charitable Incorporated Institution “CIO” with a wholly owned trading subsidiary). This matter was briefly featured during the EGM and AGM of 2023. The EC has obtained legal opinion on this matter and has decided to progress this matter from “proposal stage” to “execution stage”. The conversion to a CIO status with a wholly owned trading subsidiary will generate multiple benefits for Club amongst enhanced access to grants, fundraising and corporate match funding, tax benefits and limiting liability of all members in case of any unforeseen contingencies.

The proposed resolution covers the following six elements:

Approval of the draft CIO constitution - the EC has decided to adopt the model constitution from GOV.UK that is designed to comply with applicable regulations as well as best practices. All edits to the standard model constitution have been highlighted in red and these are essential edits to make to fit for purpose for Club’s adoption. (Refer Exhibit 1)
Approval of draft Club rules that will be supplemental to the CIO constitution. All proposed changes are also included in red-lined tracked changes to demonstrate that no material changes are proposed to the existing Club rules unless the model CIO constitution already sets out the relevant provisions within. (Refer Exhibit 2)
Approval to apply for CIO registration with the Charity Commission and set up a trading subsidiary once the CIO is approved and incorporated.
Approval to transfer relevant assets and liabilities from existing CASC structure to CIO structure with a wholly owned trading subsidiary.
Approval to apply the CIO constitution (Exhibit 1) and supplemental club rules (Exhibit 2) to replace the existing Club rules once the CIO and trading subsidiary is fully established and ready for day-to-day operations of the Club.
Approval to dissolve and close out the CASC structure once EC is satisfied to do so.

This proposal was approved by the EC members on 23rd May 2024. The EC also arranged a consultation with the lifetime vice presidents and honorary members regarding the above proposal. No objections arose from the consultation process - members wanted to ensure that the benefits of the proposed legal structure outweighs the additional governance requirements of CIO and compliance with Charity Commission’s rules and expectations.

2) Re-approval of the accounts for financial years 2021, 2022 and 2023

The Executive Committee arranged for the Club’s accountant to conduct an expert assessment of the accounts for 2021-2023 and restate as required. This assessment resulted into some changes in the accounts. The Club accountant will provide a summary of key changes and rationale along with the restated accounts for 2021-2023. These will be presented at the EGM for approval.

3) Any Other Business

Taking any other business that Members would like to raise.

With an aim to improve transparency, the following member groups have been invited to this EGM and vote on the proposed resolution.

Senior and student players who have no outstanding payments impacting their membership status.
Vice President members
Honorary members
Executive Committee members

We will post this notice on our Club website and the notice board of Club pavilion.

Please note that if you are unable to attend the meeting in person to vote, you will need to send your vote by email to amitav.borkakoty@gmail.com or post to 141 Wentworth Rd, London, NW11 0RJ by no later than midnight of 28th June 2024.

I request your vote as one of the two options for proposed changes to the Club’s legal structure. If you select option 2, please feel free to add any comments you wish to make.

Option 1: Approve the proposed resolution.
Option 2: Reject the resolution.

I will acknowledge your vote as I receive it.

The EC looks forward to seeing you on 05th July 2024 at 6pm and please do not hesitate to be in touch if you would like to discuss anything at all.

Finally, please don’t forget to browse the grand heritage of our Club. Thanks to Barnet Council’s local studies, we have been able to archive a rich history from 1902-1950 period. More to come – stay tuned.

FCC - Club History (1902-1950)!

Many thanks to all

Best regards,
Amitav
FCC Secretary