Chess Club Constitution Template

A constitution is two pages of writing that turns “some people who play chess on Tuesdays” into an organisation that can hold a bank account, receive grants and outlast its founders. Every bank and every grant-maker will ask for it, usually before they’ll talk to you at all.

Plenty of model constitutions exist for community groups in general, but — as far as we can find — nobody has published one written for UK chess clubs. So here is ours: shaped by the models that banks and funders already recognise, checked against the constitutions of real English chess clubs, and annotated so you understand what you’re signing, clause by clause. It pairs with our guide to starting a chess club.

Download the template as a Word document — fill in the square brackets, or copy the text from this page. It’s free, no attribution needed, though we’d love to hear about your club.

Why your club needs one

• The bank requires it. To open a community or club account, banks ask for the group’s constitution, a minute of the meeting choosing the bank, and identification for the signatories. The account name must match the constitution’s name exactly.
• Grant-makers require it. The National Lottery’s Awards for All programme — £300 to £20,000 for exactly this kind of group — asks for a governing document, a committee with at least two unrelated members, and a bank account with two unrelated signatories. Council grant schemes ask for the same. The ECF’s own Grassroots fund applications are much easier with one. No constitution, no grants — it really is that binary.
• It settles arguments before they happen. Who can call a meeting? Can the treasurer spend £200 on clocks without asking? What happens to the club’s trophies and funds if it folds? Real chess clubs have fallen out over every one of these. A constitution is the answer you agreed when nobody was cross.
• It protects the volunteers. Written rules about two-signature payments and annual accounts aren’t bureaucracy — they’re what lets a treasurer hand over cleanly, and what shows everyone the money is handled properly.

Two of the four real club constitutions we studied while writing this had no dissolution clause — the single omission most likely to sink a grant application. The template below doesn’t make that mistake.

How to adopt it

1. Fill in the square brackets — name, place, officer count. Delete the optional clauses you don’t need (they’re marked).
2. Give everyone a copy before a general meeting — your launch meeting or first AGM is ideal.
3. Vote to adopt it; record the vote in the minutes.
4. The chair and secretary sign and date two printed copies. Keep one with the minutes; scan it — the bank and every funder will want the copy.

Twenty minutes, once, and it’s done.

The template

Constitution of [NAME] Chess Club

1. Name The club’s name is [NAME] Chess Club (“the Club”).

2. Objects The Club exists to promote and provide opportunities to play chess in [TOWN/AREA] and the surrounding area, by: a) holding regular club meetings for casual and competitive play; b) organising internal competitions and entering teams in external leagues and competitions; c) welcoming players of all ages, backgrounds and standards, including beginners; d) promoting chess in the wider community. The Club may affiliate to the [COUNTY] chess association, the English Chess Federation and other chess organisations in furtherance of these objects.

3. Membership a) Membership is open to anyone with an interest in chess, and the Club shall not discriminate on the grounds of age, disability, gender reassignment, marriage or civil partnership, pregnancy or maternity, race, religion or belief, sex or sexual orientation. b) Membership classes are: Full (adult); Junior (under 18); and Honorary Life, awarded by a general meeting for outstanding service to the Club. c) The committee may refuse or withdraw membership only for good reason — such as conduct likely to bring the Club into disrepute — and the person concerned has the right to be heard by the committee, accompanied by a friend, before a final decision is made. d) Members aged [16] or over may vote at general meetings. Each voting member has one vote.

4. Subscriptions Annual subscriptions for each class of membership are set at the Annual General Meeting. The committee may also set nightly fees for visitors, and may reduce or waive any fee in cases of hardship. Fees shall be kept at a level that is not an obstacle to membership.

5. Officers and committee a) The Club’s officers are the Chair, the Secretary and the Treasurer, elected each year at the Annual General Meeting. b) The Club is run by a committee of the officers and up to [4] other members elected at the AGM. At least two committee members must be unrelated and not of the same household. c) The committee may co-opt members to fill casual vacancies until the next AGM, and may appoint members to specific roles such as club captain, results officer (grader), safeguarding officer and webmaster. d) The committee meets as often as Club business requires. Three committee members, including at least one officer, are a quorum. Decisions are by simple majority; the meeting’s chair has a casting vote.

6. Safeguarding (keep this clause if the Club has, or may have, junior members) The Club adopts the Safeguarding Policy of the English Chess Federation as its safeguarding policy. While the Club has junior members it shall appoint a Safeguarding Officer, who shall hold an enhanced DBS check, and the committee shall ensure that all who regularly run or supervise junior activity are checked as the law and ECF guidance require.

7. Annual General Meeting a) The Club holds an Annual General Meeting each year, no more than 15 months after the last, with at least 14 days’ written notice (email counts) to all members. b) The AGM receives the committee’s report and the accounts, elects the officers and committee, and sets subscriptions. c) The quorum is [6] voting members or one third of the voting membership, whichever is fewer. d) Decisions are by simple majority of those present and voting, except as provided in clauses 10 and 11. The meeting’s chair has a casting vote.

8. Extraordinary General Meetings The committee, or any [5] voting members by written request to the Secretary, may call an Extraordinary General Meeting. The meeting shall be held within 28 days of the request, with at least 14 days’ written notice stating its business. Notice, quorum and voting are as for the AGM.

9. Money and property a) The Club’s funds and property shall be used only to further its objects. No member shall receive payment from the Club except to reimburse expenses properly incurred, approved by the committee. b) The Club shall keep a bank account in its own name. Payments require the approval of two unrelated committee members, at least one being an officer. c) The Treasurer keeps proper records and presents a statement of accounts for the year to the AGM, examined before the meeting by a member who is not a committee member (or an external examiner) if the AGM so requires. d) Club trophies remain the property of the Club and holders shall return them when asked.

10. Changing this constitution This constitution may be amended at an AGM or EGM by a two-thirds majority of those present and voting, provided the notice of the meeting set out the proposed amendment.

11. Winding up The Club may be wound up at an EGM called for that purpose, by a two-thirds majority of those present and voting. Any funds and property remaining after debts are paid shall be given to another chess club or chess organisation in the area, to the [COUNTY] chess association, or to a charitable organisation chosen by the meeting — and shall not be distributed among members.

12. Adoption This constitution was adopted at a general meeting of the Club held at [PLACE] on [DATE].

Signed: ____________________ (Chair) ____________________ (Secretary)

The clauses, explained

1–2. Name and objects. The name must match your bank account and grant applications exactly — decide “Anytown Chess Club” versus “Anytown & District Chess Club” now, not at the bank. The objects clause is deliberately broad (“promote… provide opportunities to play”) so that a junior section, a congress or an outreach event twenty years from now doesn’t need a constitutional amendment. The affiliation sentence signals to leagues and the ECF that joining them is within your powers.

3. Membership. “Open to anyone” plus the non-discrimination list — the protected characteristics of the Equality Act 2010 — is exactly what funders look for, and what a members’ club owes under the Act anyway. The right-to-be-heard wording in 3(c) is the fairness safeguard that stops an expulsion row becoming a legal one. The voting age is yours to choose: we suggest 16, some clubs enfranchise juniors at 13, others reserve votes to adults — whatever you pick, write it down, because “can the juniors vote on this?” is a real AGM argument in real clubs.

4. Subscriptions. Setting fees at the AGM (not in the constitution) means changing them never needs an amendment. The hardship and not-an-obstacle wording mirrors what community funders want to see.

5. Officers and committee. Chair, secretary, treasurer is the minimum viable committee, and “at least two unrelated” is a funder requirement written into the document so you never accidentally breach it. Clause 5(c) names the roles a chess club actually develops — captain, grader, safeguarding officer — without requiring them to exist.

6. Safeguarding. Adopting the ECF Safeguarding Policy by reference keeps you current as the ECF updates it, satisfies the condition attached to the ECF-arranged club insurance, and commits you to the enhanced-DBS safeguarding officer the ECF recommends. Everything practical — the rule of three, parental consent, DBS mechanics — lives in our starting-a-club guide, not in the constitution, which only needs the commitment.

7–8. General meetings. Fifteen months (not twelve) stops an AGM drifting technically out-of-order because last year’s was in September and this year’s is in October. The quorum — six or a third, whichever is fewer — is sized for real clubs of 15–40 members: big enough to be legitimate, small enough that a wet Tuesday can’t paralyse the club. Real chess club quorums we found range from 5 to 10; adjust to your size.

9. Money and property. The two-signature rule and members-can’t-profit wording are the heart of the document for banks and funders. The trophies line looks quaint until your club is chasing a cup last seen in 2019 — chess clubs accumulate silverware, and this clause (borrowed from real clubs’ constitutions) is the polite lever for getting it back.

10. Amendments. Two-thirds, at a properly-notified meeting, is the standard across community models and most chess clubs — hard enough that the constitution is stable, not so hard it can never be fixed.

11. Winding up. The clause grant-makers turn to first: it promises that public money can’t end up divided among members if the club folds. Naming the county association as a possible recipient is a nice chess-specific touch with precedent — several clubs direct residual funds to their county body, which can hold them for a successor club in the same town.

What legal structure is this?

The template creates an unincorporated association — the standard form for UK community groups: free, no registration with anyone, governed by its constitution. Two consequences worth knowing, and two structures you may hear about:

• The honest downside: an unincorporated club isn’t a legal person, so committee members contract in their own names, and members can in principle share liability for the club’s debts. For a club whose exposure is hall hire and £500 of equipment this is managed with insurance (see the guide) rather than incorporation.
• CASC status — not available to chess clubs. Community Amateur Sports Club status (the tax relief scheme for sports clubs) is limited to sports recognised by the National Sports Councils, and following R (English Bridge Union) v Sport England [2015] the position is that mind sports don’t qualify — HMRC’s guidance is explicit that unlisted sports can’t register. If a well-meaning adviser suggests CASC, this is why it won’t work.
• Charity status — genuinely possible, rarely necessary. Charity law is kinder to chess than sports law: the Charities Act 2011 defines sport as games promoting health “by involving physical or mental skill or exertion”, and both bridge clubs and chess bodies (the ECF’s own Chess Trust among them) are registered charities. A club with a serious junior or community programme and growing income might one day register as a CIO — at which point Gift Aid on donations becomes available (though not on ordinary playing subscriptions). That is a bridge to cross when income demands it; this constitution is the right starting point either way.

Frequently asked questions

Do we need a solicitor? No. Model constitutions like this are designed to be adopted by ordinary groups without legal advice, and banks and funders see hundreds of them. If your club later registers as a charity or takes on a lease, take advice then.

Can we change it after adopting it? Yes — that’s clause 10: propose the amendment in the meeting notice, pass it by two-thirds at an AGM or EGM. Keep every signed version with the minutes.

We already have a constitution but it’s ancient. Compare it against clauses 9 and 11 — two-signature payments and dissolution are what modern funders check, and older documents often lack both. Amending an existing constitution (via its own amendment clause) is better than starting again, because the club’s identity — and bank account — carry on.

Does a school chess club need this? No — a school club operates under the school’s own governance. This template is for independent, community clubs.

What about a league or a congress? The same shape works with the objects clause rewritten, but leagues have multi-club politics (voting by club, not by member) that deserve their own document. Ask your county association for a neighbouring league’s rules as a starting point.

This template is provided in good faith as general information, not legal advice; adapt it to your club’s circumstances. Written August 2026, drawing on the community-group models banks and funders recognise and on the published constitutions of English chess clubs. If you spot a problem or improve on it, tell us — corrections make it better for the next club.

Next step: How to start a chess club — the complete guide.