Drawing up your Club Partnership Agreement and By-Laws If you are starting up a club, you may want to get an attorney's advice for drawing up your agreement, though this is not required, and you should check with your state about registration requirements. BetterInvesting.com has an article with advice on doing this (So You Want To Start An Investment Club?, Web Feature, January 2003). Details about monthly meeting dates, valuation dates, a minimum monthly investment amount, withdrawal procedures, and detailed voting procedures are examples of things that may be more appropriately spelled out in by-laws/operating procedures than in the partnership agreement. Discuss what you really want for your club now, before something else gets 'set in stone'. The Partnership Agreement itself should be relatively open-ended, using language like "as determined by the partnership". This defers specific details to the By-laws/Operating Procedures, which may be more readily amended. If you are already operating under a PA or by-laws you feel are outmoded in some respects, amending it is perfectly acceptable. The changes should be thoughtfully discussed by an executive committee and brought to the membership with proper notice for a vote. Don't be hasty, ask for input, come back with suggestions, and 'sleep on it' for another month before a final vote. There is a 3% retention fee on cash withdrawals in the BetterInvesting Sample Agreement which is really outmoded, and many clubs elect to leave this out. There are a couple of other items in the paragraph on Withdrawals that could stand some revision, also. ICLUBcentral has a Sample Agreement with some updated language. Click here for further discussion of club by-laws/operating procedures. Links to topics to pursue in more depth for consideration in your Partnership Agreement or By-Laws:
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