Committee rules worth agreeing before the first payment
Nobody wants a contract between friends. But a page of plain rules, agreed before anyone has paid anything, is not a contract — it is a way of never having the argument.
Short answer. A committee agreement needs six things: the monthly amount, the due date, the turn order, what counts as late and what follows, what happens if somebody leaves, and who decides when something is unclear. Agree them before the first payment, in writing, where everyone can see them.
The six that matter
1. The amount
One figure, the same for every member, every month. Committees that allow different amounts for different members stop being committees and become bookkeeping.
2. The due date
A day of the month, between the 1st and the 28th so that every month contains it. State whether the deadline is the end of that day.
3. The turn order
Written before the first collection, and not changed except by swap between two members who both agree, announced to everyone.
4. Late, and what follows
Two questions: when does a payment become late, and what happens then. A workable answer: late after the due date; a reminder the next day; after two consecutive missed months the member's turn moves to the end of the order.
5. Leaving
Somebody who has not yet taken the pot can usually leave and be refunded what they have paid, at the end of the current month. Somebody who has taken it cannot leave without settling — and that should be written down before anyone takes anything.
6. Who decides
Name the organiser, and name one other person. Anything unclear is decided by the two of them together, and announced.
Wording you can copy
This committee has [10] members. Each member pays PKR [5,000] on or before the [5th] of every month, for [10] months. Each month one member receives the full pot, in the order agreed on [date] and recorded with these rules. A payment not received by the end of the due date is late; the organiser will send a reminder the next day. A member who misses two consecutive months moves to the end of the turn order. A member who has not yet received the pot may leave at the end of any month and be refunded what they have paid. A member who has received the pot may not leave until the committee ends. Anything not covered here is decided by [organiser] and [second name] together, and told to everyone.
Where to keep it
Wherever the record of payments lives, so that the rules and the evidence are never in two different places. In Laqfiz, this goes in the community description, which every member sees when they are invited and can re-read at any time.
Common questions
Does a committee agreement need to be legally binding?
It does not need to be, and between friends it rarely is. Its value is that everybody agreed to the same words at a time when nobody was upset.
Can rules change mid-way?
Only by agreement of everyone, and only for months that have not happened yet. Changing a rule retroactively is how a committee loses its members.
Read next
- How to run a committee people trust — The organiser's job, month by month
- Handling late payments without losing people — The escalation that recovers money and keeps members
- When a committee goes wrong: prevention and what to do — The failure modes, and the ones you can design out
- Committee list format: what the record should contain — The columns, and why each one earns its place