Uncertain times for volunteer directors

In the past, many people, without hesitation, would volunteer to be a director or board member of a not-for-profit organisation, however, we are in uncertain times as recent litigation has caused concern for some volunteer directors and many more are now seeking some form of protection from their not-for-profit organisations for their potential exposure in these roles.

The concern generally speaking, arises from the disparity between the level of comfort a not-for-profit organisation can provide a volunteer director and the level of comfort of the volunteer director seeks.

For the most part, the duties of a volunteer director are the same as those of any company director under the Corporations Act 2001 (Cth) (the Act), consisting namely of the duty,