In brief, an incorporated non-profit association under the Associations Incorporation Act (1987) (WA) must comply with the following:

1. It must have a name unique in WA.
2. It must have a membership of at least six. (Institutions may be members.)
3. It must have a set of written objects that must be suitable for its non-profit nature (benevolence, education, religion, health, sport, music, etc.).
4. Its activities must be in furtherance of those objects.
5. It must be non-profit.
1. It may pay members for services actually rendered at current market rate, but not a dividend or for "deemed" (i.e. non-actual) services.
2. It may reimburse members for expenditures actually made.
3. It may not pay a dividend on operating surpluses.
6. It must have a constitution, with which it must comply. It can only change its constitution by a special resolution of members.
7. All members are entitled to a copy of the constitution.
8. It must have a committee of management.
9. It must have a list of members and officers, and all members must be given access to this list.
10. It must have an Annual General Meeting for members to attend.
11. Members must be allowed to see the body's documents.*
12. It normally has a winding up clause specifying that after payment of all debts, any remaining assets are to be given to another non-profit organization with the same or similar purposes.

_____

*The "records and documents" are not further defined. At the least, they should include every record or document tabled at or generated by board meetings.

This provision seems specifically designed to prevent the board claiming "commercial in confidence" privileges, i.e. board members keeping their transactions with the association's funds secret from the members. It would be better practice to give members access to "commercial in confidence" information upon the signing of a confidentiality statement.

It should probably not be interpreted to include personal details of individuals (e.g. disciplinary matters, employment records of individual staff, etc.) as that could be a breach of the Privacy Act. However, it would include such documents as employment policies and procedures, because they do not relate to individuals.

Disclosure could also include performance bonuses paid to employees, especially if they are paid to the CEO, are substantial, are not disclosed in the budget or employment policy, and/or are not specifically disclosed in the annual financial report. (The bottom line is that it would be cheating to pay a large bonus to an employee and keep it secret from the members.)