Starting a community group

Contents

• Why set up a community group?
• Deciding your aims and objectives
• Forming a committee and the different roles
• Creating a constitution
• Opening a bank account
• How to hold meetings
• Annual General Meeting (AGM)

Why set up a community group?

There are many reasons for setting up a community group. They usually start with an individual or group of people who share similar concerns and are aiming to solve a particular problem, meet a certain need or who feel there is a lack of something in their community.

Once the idea or vision is in place, there are various factors that need to be considered and good planning at the beginning stages can save a lot of wasted effort or work further down the line. Here are some points to consider if you're thinking of starting your own community group.

• what do we want to do or achieve?
• where do we want to do it?
• do we have the time, energy and commitment to do the work?
• how do we know there is a need for what we want to do?
• what will be the benefits of running our activities?
• is there anything similar that already exists?

It is also important to think about the following:

• do we know our aims and what we are going do?
• do we need a committee?
• do we need a constitution?
• do we need a bank account?
• how will we generate funds?

Deciding your aims and objectives

It would be useful to hold an initial meeting to agree the aims and objectives of the group. This can be as small or large as you require. You need to decide:

• how you are going to achieve what you want to do
• your first set of actions and tasks that you are going to do

 It is a good idea to record what you discussed by taking minutes.

Alternatively, you may want to firstly attract people, in which case, holding an open meeting for the whole community could be more effective.

Forming a committee and the different roles

To run your group, you will need committee members with varied skill sets. You may want to elect a committee with named officers or just share out the work that needs doing immediately. Either way, everyone needs to know who is doing what, and when they will report back to the whole group.

Initially, there are usually 3 to 4 people who set up a group before evolving into a management committee.

The key roles are:

Chairperson

The Chair's job usually falls into 4 main areas:

1. Chairing meetings

Chairing meetings is the most visible role of the Chair. Your job is to help the meeting to run smoothly and effectively and involve everyone. Here are some central points:

• plan and think about the meeting in advance
• prepare an agenda
• make sure the meeting gets through all the necessary business
• make sure everyone gets a chance to talk, and no one dominates
• make sure clear decisions are reached and any actions are noted
• start and finish on time.

2. Helping the committee to work together as a team

The strongest committees work as a team. The Chair is an important part of the team but is not the boss. It is not your role to make all the decisions or do all the work. It is your role to encourage and involve all committee members in whatever way they can contribute.

3. Having an overview of the work of the group

The day-to-day work of the group is important, but someone needs to be thinking about the bigger picture. It's not up to the Chair to decide the direction and activity of the group, but to help the committee work this out. Regularly remind yourself of your aims and think about what needs to be done to achieve them. Some ways of doing this are:

• once a year, have a discussion at the committee about the group's plans for the coming year. What are the main things you want to achieve?
• have a regular item on the agenda to discuss how recent events and activities went.

4. Being the main contact person for the group

The Chair is often the first point of contact for anyone else interested in the work of the group. You might be asked to attend other groups' events, or to get involved with another project. It's not the Chair's job to take all of this on by yourself. Discuss it with committee members, see if it is something the group wants to do and if so, who is best person to do it.

The Chair, along with the Secretary, is also often the advertised contact person for new members.

Secretary

The Secretary's job usually falls into 3 main areas:

1. Taking minutes at meetings

Taking minutes is often the main job of the Secretary. Minutes are simply notes taken during the meeting to remind you what was discussed and agreed.

A few central points to remember are:

• do not try to write everything down,  it's impossible and not useful
• concentrate on getting down what has been decided, and who is to do it
• listen carefully to the discussion and think about overall points being made.

2. Keeping people informed

There is a basic level of communication needed in every group:

• committee members need to know the date, time and place of the next meeting, and receive minutes and an agenda
• the people you are trying to reach and include in your group need to know you exist, what you are doing, and how to contact you and get involved.

How much, and what sort of publicity you need will depend on exactly what you are trying to do. It's not up to the Secretary to make all the decisions about your publicity and communication, the committee as a whole needs to think about this and divide up and delegate tasks.

There are also lots of different ways of communicating with each other. You need to work out what suits your members best and might want to use a mix of different methods, such as social media as well as printed flyers.

3. Receiving and responding to information, emails and letters

The Secretary, along with the Chair, is often the contact for information from other organisations or any formal communication with the group.

The Secretary and Chair are also often the advertised contacts for people interested in joining the group.

The Secretary's role is to make sure that any information they receive is dealt with. This doesn't necessarily mean doing it all yourself but making sure that someone is. For example, an invitation to attend an event could go to the next committee meeting and an enquiry from someone interested in joining the group could be passed on to another committee member.

Treasurer

The Treasurer has the day-to-day responsibility of looking after the group's money. They need to have an overview of the group's financial situation and provide information to help the group make informed decisions.

It is important to remember that the Treasurer does not have sole responsibility for the group's finances. It is up to the committee as a whole to decide how funds will be raised and spent. It's also up to the committee to make sure that the group's money is being handled properly.

The Treasurer's job covers 2 main areas:

1. Keeping financial records for the group

The most important thing is to write everything down, and to keep all related paperwork. Don't put off the task of recording money that has been received and spent until it becomes confusing and complicated.

Here is a quick checklist of the main tasks:

• keep a written record of the money going in and out of the group funds
• check and keep bank statements
• keep receipts for all items bought
• keep paperwork for all grants and money received
• have a system for dealing with expenses and petty cash.

2. Keeping the committee informed of their financial situation

It is the Treasurer's job to keep the committee informed about the group's money, so everyone understands the overall financial situation.

It's useful to give a financial update at every committee and general meeting. This doesn't have to be a big task.

It's useful for your update to cover:

• how much money the group has
• how much has been spent since the last meeting, and what on
• any problems or issues you have spotted - for example, if there isn't enough money to pay the room hire for your next meeting.
• at an Annual General Meeting you will need to provide a fuller report that covers the whole year.

Creating a constitution

You need a set of rules or principles that you will use to govern your group. Your group will need this governing document so that everyone knows:

• what your group is called and what it aims to do
• how your group will be run
• who is responsible for running your group

You also need this document to apply for funding to keep your group running. People will only give money to you if they are confident it will all be accounted for and spent properly. The normal type of governing document for a small group is a constitution.

Constitutions are important because they can help to solve disputes and outsiders can see that your group is democratic and accountable. Therefore, you should make sure your constitution reflects properly the way you want to do things.

What to include in your constitution?

The information below will help you write a constitution if you are part of a group that does not intend to become a registered charity. Whilst there are many reasons for groups starting up, most constitutions have similar headings and structure. There are several headings you should probably include in any constitution.

• name of organisation
• aims and objectives
• membership
• officers of the group / meetings
• committee
• rules of procedure / Annual General Meetings (AGM)
• finances
• discipline and appeals
• dissolution
• declaration.

Aims and objectives: Why are you setting up this organisation? What do you want to achieve? Who has the group been set up to help? Are there any specific audiences that you want to include within the remit of your group? Please beware of defining your aims and objectives too tightly. Leave room for your group to add to or change the focus of why you exist; otherwise you may have to wind up the old group and start the process all over again.

Membership:  Who can be a member and how many people can be in the group? For example, is it anyone who pays a membership fee, everyone who uses the group or volunteers their time or anyone who lives in a certain area.

Officers of group / meetings: How many general meetings that are open to all members will there be each year? Will there be a committee responsible for organising these and generally dealing with the day-to-day issues?

Committee: What officers do you need? How many people should be on the committee? How will the committee be chosen or elected? What are the responsibilities of the committee? How long should people serve on the committee for? How will the Chairperson, Secretary and Treasurer be chosen or elected? How will the committee share information with all the other members of the group?

Rules of Procedure / AGM: These can seem boring but they do help meetings and committees to run smoothly; For example, how often do you meet, are other members allowed to attend meetings and if so, are they allowed to vote?

Finances: How will any monies owned by the group be looked after and used? You will need to establish and administer your bank account and ensure that there is more than one signature on any cheques.

Dissolution: What happens to any property or money if the group closes or stops?

Opening a bank account

Your community group will almost certainly need a bank account. Most high street banks offer accounts for not-for-profit organisations, which will allow your group to start depositing funds and authorise signatories that have access to them.

You will need to identify at least 2 people who will be signatories. Most banks may ask to see your constitution or minutes from your group meeting when you agreed to open a bank account.

How to hold meetings

View further detailed information on how to hold meetings.

Annual General Meeting (AGM)

View further detailed information on Annual General Meetings (AGM)