Starting a new group
If you are considering setting up a community or voluntary organisation you will find there is a lot of work to do and many details to think through. The following factsheets will give you a better understanding of what's involved. You can then complete our start up questionnaire to access further advice from VAL or signposting to organisations who can help you.
- Start here: thinking about starting a new community group
- Start here: how to set up a new community group
- Start here: getting your new community group up and running
Ready to fill in our start up questionnaire for further information or advice? Download it here
Let us know if you would like these factsheets in large print or other format.
Start here: thinking about starting a new community group
Setting up a new community organisation takes energy, enthusiasm and commitment but can bring a lot of satisfaction too. Before you put in too much hard work to get your community group started, consider these preparatory steps:
- Avoiding duplication
There are at least 700 community groups in Lewisham and competition for funding is fierce, so you need to be sure that your proposed community group will not duplicate the work of established organisations.
Rather than setting up a new group that struggles to attract resources you might achieve your aims by joining an existing group as a volunteer or management committee member. Alternatively you might want to talk to existing groups about working in partnership with them or developing a joint project.
But there is always room for community organisations that meet real needs and have viable plans for funding their work, particularly where this includes generating income rather than depending too heavily on grants and donations.
- Do your research
Try to find out as much as you can about other groups who are already doing similar work to your proposed new community group. This might be through local contacts - such as your housing association if you are thinking of forming a residents group –by doing a Google search e.g. foodbank Lewisham or by doing some local research relevant to your area of interest.
You can find out more about groups working with particular communities in Lewisham through these organisations:
Lewisham Education Arts Network
Lewisham Refugee and Migrant Network
Your local community centre http://www.lewisham.gov.uk/getinvolved/community-support/Pages/Community-premises.aspx
or library http://www.lewisham.gov.uk/myservices/libraries/Pages/default.aspx may also know of or host other small local groups.
Lewisham borough is split into 18 smaller areas called wards that each have a Local Assembly. Local Assemblies consult with local people about priorities for the area. They also have small grants available for projects that meet their priorities for the benefit of local residents. See http://www.lewisham.gov.uk/getinvolved/localassemblies/Pages/default.aspx
Lewisham Council’s website includes a page dedicated to community support with links to activities in each ward. http://www.lewisham.gov.uk/getinvolved/community-support/Pages/default.aspx And your local councillor may be able to introduce you to groups or community activists in your area. See http://councilmeetings.lewisham.gov.uk/mgFindMember.aspx
The Charity Commission has a searchable database of registered charities where you can search by key word or the specific name or charity number of a particular charity – but bear in mind that not all community groups are registered charities. http://apps.charitycommission.gov.uk/showcharity/registerofcharities/RegisterHomePage.aspx
Organisations that do complementary work with your proposed client group as well as those that do similar work but in another part of the country are also good sources of information and perhaps advice.
- Evidence of need
Are you sure there is a need for your proposed community group? Before you get too far into setting it up you will need to gather some evidence to persuade people to support you.
Big Lottery provides guidance to applicants about identifying, defining and evidencing the need for your service and provides a Needs Checklist containing questions to ask yourself before going ahead. https://www.biglotteryfund.org.uk/funding/funding-guidance/applying-for-funding/identifying-need
You can gather evidence of need from:
· Doing your own surveys or consultations
· your own experience, or what you have seen
· Letters of support e.g. from local schools, councillors
· Links to local area plans or other initiatives e.g. Lewisham's Joint Strategic Needs Assessment (JSNA) http://www.lewishamjsna.org.uk/
· Local or national statistics and subject-specific data relevant to your project e.g. Census data or the ‘Indices of Deprivation’. For England based statistics go to www.ons.gov.uk Look for the ‘Find statistics for a local area or region’ on the Home page, and enter your postcode in the ‘Get data for your local area from Neighbourhood Statistics’. Click on the ‘People and Places’ tab and scroll to the bottom of the screen where you will find a scale. Hover your mouse over the pointer and it will give you the ward rank for your postcode. 1 is the most deprived area, 32,482 the least deprived.
· Local authority initiatives or partnership strategies between statutory and voluntary sector services that are in place because the need is already well known and evidenced.
4. Other opportunities to network and meet others working in your field
We also run regular networking events and forums where you can find out more about who’s doing what in Lewisham - so keep an eye on the Events section of our homepage and consider signing up for our e-bulletins.
5. Other resources
http://www.justact.org.uk/2014/12/18/top-tips-for-setting-up-and-running-a-community-organisation/
Start here: how to set up a new community group
If you have worked through the first Start here page and are sure about setting up a new community group the best way to start is to arrange a meeting of people who share your interest and talk with them about what you could do. You will need some of these people to join you in setting up a management committee if your group wants to be set up formally. Consider:
- Asking people you know who have an interest in the subject – friends, neighbours, community, church, workplace
- Advertising in libraries, children's centres, on community noticeboards, in leisure centres, GP surgeries and volunteer centres
- Using social media to spread the word
- Agreeing the purpose of your group
Once you have got people interested, you need to discuss what it is your group will do and the issue or problem you want to tackle. At this stage people may have very different ideas, so you need to listen to other people’s viewpoints and see if you can come to an agreement about what it is you want to focus on.
- Your first meeting
Arrange a public meeting to tell others what your group wants to do. You can publicise this to the wider community, to other groups who work in your field, or prominent members of the local community (e.g. local councillors or community leaders). It is up to you who you invite, but the idea is to:
- Tell others what you want to do
- Get people to sign up to join the group
- Raise your group's profile
- Get input from others about how you can develop and what the needs are
Your meeting could be a formal launch or just an informal chat over a cup of tea but make sure you record who was there and the main points of the meeting so you have a record to refer back to. At this meeting you need to recruit people to join the group’s management committee. This would usually include a Chairperson, Treasurer and Secretary, plus a few general committee members. The role of the management committee is to make the overall decisions about the group and its work, and to be accountable for money, resources and the management of the group’s activities. Try to recruit a diverse group of people who have enthusiasm for your cause and who can contribute a range of skills and experience.
- Making it legal - drawing up a governing document
A governing document, or constitution, is a set of rules that all members of the group agree to abide by. It’s important to have a governing document as it shows that your group is democratic and accountable. It can be referred to if there are any disagreements within the group or if decisions need to be made. Once you have agreed the content, the governing document is signed by the first committee members and ‘adopted’.
Your constitution will detail the group’s aims and powers, how your management committee and membership will work, and how decisions will be made. You can set up a small community group with a simple constitution that can be downloaded from the Charity Commission’s website here.
- Other legal structures
Other legal structures that you might consider for a new group are:
Charitable Incorporated Organisation – a type of charity that protects trustees from liabilities
Company Limited by Guarantee – a type of non-profit making company
Community Interest Company – a non-charitable legal structure for a social enterprise
These all involve either a lot more time to set up or greater responsibilities on behalf of trustees or directors and are therefore unsuitable for small or time-limited community groups. But if your group will be employing staff, taking on a lease or selling goods and services a simple constitution will not be appropriate. For more information about legal structures see https://knowhownonprofit.org/basics/setting-up-a-charity/legal-forms-for-non-profits-1
5. Other opportunities to network and meet others working in your field
We also run regular networking events and forums where you can find out more about who’s doing what in Lewisham - so keep an eye on the Events section of our homepage and consider signing up for our e-bulletins.
6. Other resources
https://knowhownonprofit.org/basics/setting-up-a-charity
https://www.gov.uk/setting-up-charity/set-up-a-charity
https://www.gov.uk/guidance/how-to-set-up-a-charity-cc21a
