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How to incorporate a club

Consumer Affairs Victoria (CAV) are responsible for the administration of incorporated associations in Victoria. Only clubs who have been approved by La Trobe Sport must start the incorporation process, which follows below:

Choose a Name

The name must not be identical or similar to one listed on Search ASIC registers. The name must have 'Incorporated' as the last word of its name. You may also use 'Inc.' or 'Inc'.

Additionally, clubs must become incorporated in the following naming convention: 'La Trobe University (Sport) Club Inc'. As you will be applying for 'University' in your name, you will given an approval letter from the University to use this word, provided to you after your club has been approved. 

Create Rules & Purpose

Your club must have a written set of rules (also known as a constitution). The Associations Incorporation Reform Act 2012 (the Act) sets out the 23 matters the rules must cover in Schedule 1 of the Act.

Your association can choose to make its own rules, but they must comply with the Act. An alternative is to use the model rules, which are a set of prewritten rules for incorporated associations.

  • Please click here to view more information on how to create your constitution and its rules. 
  • Please click here to view an example constitution, or 'model rules'. These include the 23 matters in schedule 1 that must be included. 

Clubs must also include the below 'Affiliation' rule:

  • While the Association is affiliated with the University, the club must abide by any decision of the University, which, in the opinion of the University directly affects the Association.
  • If at any time the University disaffiliates the Association, the Association must account to the University all funds granted to it by the University and must transfer to the University all assets acquired wholly or partly with grant funds and any unexpended grant funds.
  • Upon termination of the Affiliation Agreement with La Trobe University, the Association must take immediate action to remove the words “La Trobe University” from its name.

Vote to incorporate the association

To incorporate, the club must first hold a meeting to vote on whether to do so. You must give all members at least 21 days’ notice of the meeting.

At this meeting, a majority of votes cast by members must:

  • authorise a person, who is at least 18 years old and lives in Australia, to incorporate the association
  • approve proposed rules that comply with the Act, or approve adoption of the model rules.

Unless you nominate another secretary, the person who lodges the application for incorporation becomes the secretary. If the person who lodges the application is not the secretary, that person will become a delegate of the association.

Lodge an application

You can only lodge an application if you are authorised to do so by your committee. Before you start to prepare your application, you will need to: 

  • read the requirements for registration to check your organisation’s eligibility 
  • search for the name you wish to use to make sure it is not being used by another organisation
  • have an electronic copy of the proposed rules of the association ready in Word, PDF, or RTF format, unless your association is adopting the model rules
  • have the details ready for trusts that affect the association.

You can submit an application form HERE