Archiving the minutes of a general meeting

The minutes of a general meeting are the record of the decisions taken. Badly filed, they are nowhere to be found on the day a funder, a member or the authorities ask for them. Here is a simple method to keep them, and to share them simply.

01What has to be kept

• The signed minutes (chair and secretary of the meeting).
• The notice and the agenda.
• The attendance sheet and the proxies.
• The reports (activity, financial) and the approved accounts.

02One folder per financial year

The golden rule: one folder per year, and consistent naming (for example 2026 - AGM - minutes.pdf). You find everything by year, and the dated upload fixes "when" each document entered the archive.

03Publishing without exposing everything

On PDF Archive, publishing creates a frozen and dated copy: the minutes are available to members through a public link, while the sensitive documents (detailed accounts, contact details) stay private in their folder. The link is revocable and can be given an end date.

Minutes go to a public link; accounting documents stay private in the folder for that year.

04How long should they be kept?

As a guide, the minutes of a general meeting are kept indefinitely (they are the memory of the association) and accounting documents for several years at least, depending on what they are. Check your own articles and your own obligations (grants, accreditations).

An informative article; adapt it to your own articles and obligations.