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CARLISLE COUNCIL FOR VOLUNTARY SERVICE
Some of the most important considerations can be split up into two basic
areas, the main points of each of these areas are covered below. However these
are only guidelines for good practice as there are no laws for voluntary and
community organisations (unless they are also registered charities).
For more information please refer to Factsheet
3: Management Committees, Factsheet 4: Planning Meetings and
Factsheet 2: Constitutions.
You need to have a specific
idea about exactly what the group you are setting up is going to do. Will it
offer a service to a community or will it be of benefit solely to its members?
What are the aims of this group? What do you want to achieve?
What area are you going to
cover? For example are you going only to cover Levenshulme or are you going to
cover the whole of Manchester? Be realistic about this
- if you only have the resources to cover a small area don't try and
overstretch yourself.
If you are providing a service
then you may want to identify a specific group of people with whom you are going
to work, for example people affected by a specific issue or living in a defined
area. Also, if you are going to work with several groups, then you need to think
carefully about any possible conflicts of interest.
Once you have made these
decisions, you need to do a bit of research and find out if there is already a
group doing the same kind of things you want to do in the same area. Duplicating
what other groups are doing won’t help you when it comes to trying to get
support, funding or volunteers so it is a good idea to ensure that what you want
to do is new and/or unique in some way before
you start.
If there are groups already
doing something similar perhaps you could make your idea an addition to their
already successful organisation, or perhaps you could work together to develop
something new. If you are in a similar geographical area then you could perhaps
share premises and work together for the benefit of both groups.
Start by thinking about who
might be interested in getting involved in the group. Then you can start
advertising your intentions to start up a group by using posters or leaflets etc
in areas where this target group might go, for example a local community centre,
doctor’s surgery or school.
If you are going to make sure
that you don’t drown under a pile of information, ideas and bureaucracy then
it is a good idea to spend time as a group identifying goals, thinking about how
you can achieve them and sharing out tasks. This way everybody gets involved,
everyone knows what they're working towards, and no one person has all the work
piled on them. It will also make it easier to get funding and support if you
have a clear and agreed vision of what you're trying to do and where you want to
get to.
Adopting a constitution
If you are going to set
yourselves up as a group then you really need to have a set of rules that will
govern exactly what your group does, how it does it and how you all work
together. This is what a constitution does. One of your first tasks therefore is
to write a constitution and officially adopt it. CVS has copies of a model on
which you can base your constitution. The important part of a constitution is
that it reflects what you want to do now and how you want to do it and also
allows you room for expansion and diversification in the future.
Getting a committee
There is usually a group of
people from within the membership of your group who will be responsible for the
day to day running of the group. The constitution might call them the Management
Committee or the Executive Committee. The Committee are elected by the
membership. Some members of the Committee also take on specific roles within the
Committee including Chair, Treasurer, Secretary etc.
Holding your first General
Meeting
The General Meetings are
usually the overall decision-making body for the group as it is made up of the
whole membership. It is at the first meeting that you will need to vote to
officially adopt your Constitution and to elect the Committee.
Once you have a group set up
you will need not only a means of managing the group
- a constitution - but also a means of managing your finances. For this
reason it is important that you open up a bank account. The account should be
opened in the name of the group and should have 2 signatories for all cheques.
It is often a good idea for groups to have 3 or 4 signatories on an account of
whom any 2 can sign cheques to cover when committee members are on holiday or
unable to sign cheques for the group.
Very often many of the
problems or difficulties that you may face will have been faced and overcome by
other groups in the past. Working in partnership, sharing information and
networking with other groups who are doing similar things or who are working in
the same area can be an invaluable source of support and information.
4:
Further Help
Telephone
01228 512513