How to start a community group in the UK
How to start a community group in the UK
"A good head and a good heart are always a formidable combination" - Nelson Mandela
When people talk about a community group, or they ask me how to start one, they are usually referring to a local group that either:
Aims to fix or address a problem, need or issue in the local community
Seeks to add something that’s missing
Creates an outlet for friendship & togetherness
Let’s look at some examples of these:
Aims to fix or address a problem, need or issue in the local community
These might include food banks, soup kitchens, litter pickers & support groups
Seeks to add something that’s missing
Like out-of-school provision, locally-grown produce or meals on wheels
Creates an outlet for friendship & togetherness
A community choir, coffee & craft afternoon or an arts festival
You might find the following free online courses useful:
What do we mean by community?
So, what exactly do we mean when we refer to ‘community’. For me it can mean either:
- People in a geographical location, i.e. village, neighbourhood, town, city, sub-region
- People sharing demographics (age, gender)
- People sharing psychographics (opinions, interests)
What is a community group?
Simply put, a community group is a group of people working together with a common aim.
A group of people can get together and do whatever they like (ideally good stuff) so why is there the need to become a community group?
Whilst you might start out as an informal group, if you want to gain real traction and make an impact on your local community, you might want to take a step towards formalising your group. This can be worthwhile for a couple of reasons:
If you want to apply for any grants, you will need a constitution and bank account, plus evidence that responsible people are in charge of the group
It can help to keep things organised, manage everyone’s time and responsibilities, and stay on track with achieving what the group was set up to do
How do you set up a community group?
A community group is usually unincorporated. Very briefly, here’s what that means:
An unincorporated organisation is seen in legal terms as a collection of individuals, meaning that the people who set up the group are themselves the group. Therefore, all financial obligations are the direct responsibility of that group of individuals.
In contrast, an incorporated organisation is seen by law as a separate entity from the individuals that set it up. It exists in its own right. As such, those financial obligations belong to the organisation, rather than to the individuals running it, giving its trustees, directors or committee members some protection from the risk.
What is an unincorporated association?
To keep things simple, most people will start off by creating an unincorporated association. This can be a great place to start because it allows you to create some structure for your group, but it’s easy to then move to a different (incorporated) structure if and when you grow.
Here are a few things you might need to know about an unincorporated association.
For community groups run by volunteers, doing something to benefit either themselves or their local community, with no plans to employ staff or lease premises, an Unincorporated Association is the simplest option and often the best place to start.
It can be charitable (meaning its activities fall within the Charity Commission’s 13 descriptions of purposes) but it doesn’t have to be.
If it is a charitable group, once its annual income exceeds £5,000 per year, you will need to register it with the Charity Commission.
Otherwise, you don’t have to register the group, but you do need a simple constitution to set out the objectives of the group – details a little later on.
If you’re at the stage of ‘Starting Your Group’, you can find my training here.
A few things to think about:
Your group’s aims and objectives - what is your organisation trying to achieve?
What impact do you hope to make?
Who will you prioritise supporting/targeting?
Your people – at some point you will need to agree on the following roles:
- Chair – sets meeting agenda, leads meetings and ensures agreed actions are completed
- Secretary – takes notes, keeps records and distributes responsibilities
- Treasurer – oversees bookkeeping, budgeting & fundraising
Insurance - It’s a good idea to take out public liability insurance to cover yourself in the event of any incidents and/or claims
Opening a bank account. There are a number of UK banks that offer free banking for not-for-profit groups including The Cooperative Bank, Metro Bank, Barclays, RBS & Santander.
Writing a constitution
All voluntary and community groups should have a written constitution, as early on in their formation as possible.
A constitution sets out what the group was set up to do, agrees some ground rules and ensures everyone involved knows what their responsibilities are.
You can write your own or download a template from the Charity Commission here.
Other structures you might want to consider are:
Community Interest Company
Community Benefit Society
Cooperative Society
You can find all the details of the different legal structures of not-for-profit organisations here.
Please feel free to comment below or reply to this email,
Rachel x