A council's fraternal year runs from July 1 to June 30, and on July 1 the work passes to a new slate. Most of what goes wrong at a change-over is not the work itself; it is the things only the outgoing officer knew. Do this in June, with both slates in the room.
Accounts and passwords
- List every account the council uses — website, email, social media, online payments, the domain name — and who can sign in to each.
- Move each one to an office, not a man. An address like grandknight@ that passes with the role outlives any one Grand Knight.
- Give at least two officers access to everything that matters, so one resignation or one lost phone does not lock the council out.
- Remove access for outgoing officers who are not continuing in another role, the same evening it is handed over.
- Find the domain renewal date and the card it renews on. An expired domain takes the website and the email down together.
Money and signatures
- Update the signers on the council's bank accounts, as your by-laws and your bank require.
- Hand over the budget, the year-to-date reports and anything paid by standing order.
Documents
- By-laws, the current budget, the Financial Secretary's and Treasurer's reports.
- The minutes of the past year's meetings, approved and in one place.
- The volunteer-hours record so far, so the year's total is not split across two men's notes.
Keys and things
- Hall and storage keys, the council's equipment, and who holds each.
- Supplies for recurring events, and where they live between them.
The calendar
- The year's fixed dates: meetings, recurring events, parish commitments, reports that fall due.
- Who the council deals with outside — the pastor, the parish office, suppliers — and how to reach them.
On July 1
- Update the officers listed on the website and anywhere else the public looks.
- Announce the new slate to members, with who to contact for what.
- Put the next change-over in the calendar now, so this list gets used again next June.
Or let the site keep it for you
On a Knightly Sites council site, officer terms are scoped to the fraternal year. When the slate changes, the officers page, the permissions and the year's records follow it — the new Grand Knight inherits a working site, not a password nobody has.
What a Knightly Sites council site does · Check the site you have now