Committee handover: leave the next person a working desk

Start with what is due next

The ACNC's Small Charities Library recommends a planned handover when key people leave. Its guidance covers preserving knowledge and making records and access available to the people taking over. That is a better starting point than forwarding an inbox on the last day.

For an event organiser, I would open the handover with the next six weeks. Put the venue payment, registration closing date and outstanding supplier answers on one page. Beside each item, write the person responsible and the date it needs attention. Distinguish a confirmed booking from a conversation about a booking.

Source: ACNC: Small Charities Library, handovers

Leave decisions alongside documents

A quote tells the new organiser what a supplier offered. It does not tell them that the committee chose the accessible entrance, agreed to subsidise ten places or promised the hall would be empty by 10pm. Link the relevant decision or minute beside the task it affects.

Keep the note factual. Record what was agreed and where the evidence sits, rather than a private assessment of the people involved. The new committee needs a reliable record it can use and update. Personal commentary copied into a permanent file creates a different problem.

Transfer access through individual accounts

Make an access register with the service name, its purpose, the account owner and the recovery contact. Do not put passwords in the handover document. Use the service's invitation or ownership-transfer process and an appropriate password manager where a shared credential is unavoidable.

Have the incoming person sign in from their own device while the outgoing person is available. Check the organisation's mailbox, event system and document storage, as well as any banking or regulator access relevant to the role. Those services have different authorisation processes; changing a name in your contact list does not transfer them.

Once the new access works, agree when to remove the outgoing person's access. Record any remaining responsibility explicitly rather than leaving every former committee member connected indefinitely.

Run a small rehearsal

Ask the new organiser to find the next event, identify the current confirmed headcount and locate the venue contact. Then ask them to find the cancellation procedure. Let them drive. Watching someone else click through a familiar system can hide the gaps in the notes.

Use a preview or test record for changes. You do not need to email attendees or alter a live booking to discover that the event folder is missing or a permission is wrong. Add whatever was missing to the handover as you go.

• Find the current event and its agreed budget.
• Locate the latest attendee list and explain whether guests are included.
• Find the venue agreement and the person authorised to approve a change.
• Check who receives attendee replies.
• Locate the next committee meeting and the open decisions it needs to make.

Treat the first week as part of the handover

Book a short follow-up after the incoming person has tried the job. Keep a list of unanswered questions so they can be resolved together, instead of turning into a month of scattered messages.

In fullhall, invite the incoming committee member with their own login and the appropriate role. Contacts and event history stay with the organisation. Check the separate ownership and access arrangements for your payment provider too. A successful handover ends with the incoming person able to work without borrowing someone else's identity.