Drafting your Constitution

So, you’ve decided to set up a voluntary or community group to help meet a need in your local community. You can run as an informal group for a while but if you want to be more formal and apply for funding, you will need a constitution.  

 

What is a constitution?

A constitution is a set of rules that lays out how you run your group.  It sets out your group’s aims, where it works, how it runs and how you manage your money.  Your constitution is a legal document and you must follow it so it is important to get it right. This is where we can help.

How we can help

We use this form below to gather information to help us write a constitution for your new voluntary or community group.  We can also meet with you to go through the questions and the draft constitution to help you understand it.  

What if you want to register as a charity?

If you already know that your group wants to register as a charity, you do not need to fill out this form.  You should contact us, ask to speak with the Support and Development team and we will develop your constitution together. To register as a charity, your group must have exclusively charitable aims; be able to show that it is active and be able to show its activities are for the public benefit.

What do you need to do next?

Answer as many questions as you can.  You may find it useful to discuss the questions with other members of your group.  Don’t worry about filling in all the gaps because we can talk about it when we meet.  Add helpful notes if you wish and feel free to write “don’t know” or “don’t understand”. 

 

Download and complete the form: