By becoming a member of the committee, each person agrees to act and abide by the relevant legislations, regulations and standards. We’ll call them your legal duties. Legal duties boil down to a few simple ethical principles of behaviour that you could describe as commonsense or sound business practise. Much of the time, you’ll be complying with your legal duties without giving them a second thought. 

However, you need to know what your duties are to ensure you’re complying and acting legally. It is important to not let concerns over legal issues prevent you from being an active, involved committee member or from enjoying your time in the role. 

In fact, being active and involved is one way that you demonstrate your legal duties. To also reassure you, as a committee member of incorporated not-for-profit, you should be protected with a legal liability provision in your constitution, which in essence, states that if you’re fulfilling your legal duties, you have no liability to the organisation’s debts if it’s wound down. 

There are some areas though that, if proven, such as negligence of your duties or insolvent trading, you may be held responsible for. You’re not expected to be an expert in legal matters but you should be prepared to seek professional advice and information before acting.