Annual General Meeting OVERVIEW

The business and timing of the Annual General Meeting  (AGM) is set out in the Cooperative Association Act. Sections 14.1, 14.2 & 14.3 of your co-op’s rules also provide instructions.

Required Business

The required business is:

  • the auditor’s report and presentation of the year-end financial statements
  • appointment of the auditor
  • report from the directors to members. Depending on section 14.3 of your co-op’s rules, reports from committees may also be required.
  • a board election

Be cautious about placing a lot of other business on your AGM agenda. In most cases, the required business is enough to fill the evening and leave some time for members to socialize. Any additional business may be better addressed in a separate special general meeting.

AGM Notice

The AGM notice of meeting is an official document.  The notice must set out the general nature of the business to be considered. Your co-op Rules set out when and how to issue an AGM notice. For more information see Notice and notice periods in the Overview section on this page.

 

AGM Agenda

Keep the notice of meeting separate from the agenda. The agenda can follow the notice and be included in the AGM package.  Committee reports sometimes take up a lot of agenda time. Some options to mange this are included in the AGM Agenda Key.  For more information, see Agendas is the Overview section on this page.

Financial Statements

The audited financial statements must be provided to members in advance of the meeting. Including the statements in the AGM package is helpful.  This should be distributed at least 3 to 5 days before the AGM to give members adequate time to review the information.

Elections

Electing directors is the members’ most important job. The work needed to hold elections that give members a real choice begins well before the AGM. The Election toolkit provides tools for the recruitment of new directors, lists the materials you will need for the election, and provides samples.

Following the AGM

Make sure your AGM minutes accurately reflect what happened at the meeting including your election process and results.For more information see Minutes in the Overview section on this page.

Submit your annual report to the Registrar. Include and updated version of your co-op’s Register of Directors. Our Guide to the Co-op Act section 9.5 deals with ‘Filing and the Registrar’s Office.’

Download  a PDF of this Annual General Meeting OVERVIEW.