What We Do 

We provide support and advice for voluntary sector groups.  These can be anything from small local groups to registered and unregistered charities, and social enterprises.  Collectively these are called Voluntary, Community, and Social Enterprise (VCSE) organisations.  We aim to be a one-stop-shop for organisations at any stage in their development, and can provide support around topics like: 

• Finding funding 
• Answering governance queries 
• Advice on how to start up 
• Support to get the right structure 
• Policy advice  

And much more!  If it is to do with VCSE organisations, we can help or signpost you to the best place to get help.  

Our Support for New Groups in North Norfolk

North Norfolk District Council recognise the value of having a strong vibrant VCSE sector in North Norfolk, and commissioned us to create resources for new organisations, starting up in the District.   These resources are a self-guided learning tool.  You don't have to use them all, but by going through them you should have everything you need to get started!

Getting Started

So you have got an idea for a group...

To help get some of your ideas organised why not complete our questionnaire to see what areas you might need to work on.

Our Starting a New Group factsheet aims to help people who have an idea, and a small team, and want to start putting their ideas together from the same starting point.  

Taking on a shape (and why you should)  

Having some sort of recognised structure helps you to ensure the group runs as you would like it to, but more than that, it helps outside organisations (like statutory services) to see you are serious about the group's running.  It also helps you to be able to access funding.  It doesn't have to be a big registered structure, but you should at least consider a governing document (sometimes called a constitution).

Why should we have a constitution?

The Charity Commission provides template governing documents for all sorts of charity groups.  You can find these here. To make things easier for you, we have a put a template here, with comments to help you create your own.

Aims, Purposes, and Objects

Your constitution (governing document) will ask you to set out your "purposes" (Sometimes called "aims" or "objects").  If your organisation is planning to operate as a charity (regardless of size) these will be essential. Making sure they are appropriate is a must.  Watch our video to tell you a bit more.

The Charity Commission provides guidance on how to write your purposes, which you can find here, and they have created some example purposes for different types of charity, which you can find here.  Remember, our Development Team can help check over your purposes if you are unsure.  

Raising your profile  

Reaching People

So you've got a team, you're ready to start helping people, but how do they know you are there? We all know a web presence is vital, and that social media is a free alternative to a website, but it's only good if you know how to reach people with it.  We've made an online version of our "Using Social Media" training session - it's a bit longer than the other videos, but chock-full of useful information.

You can use our Social Media Training Exercise alongside this video to capture your ideas and make a mini plan for your first few posts.

Managing Volunteers 

When you start to promote your activities, you might find you need more volunteers to carry them out.  You can plan a social media campaign to recruit them, but before you start to grow your team, here is a mini training session about the basics of good volunteer management. 

Resources we mentioned in this video:

• Information about the legal status of volunteers.  
• Get InVOLved - Voluntary Norfolk's volunteering portal.
• Do-it - The national database for volunteering.
• The Volunteer Passport - volunteer training scheme. 

Resources

We have a whole raft of resources available for community groups, but for new groups these can feel a bit too big, so we have adapted some of good practice basic resources and made them available as part of our Connect Scheme offer (More details here). 

Resources Connect Schemes can benefit from: 

• Insurance cover under our policy 
• Model policies such as money handling, safeguarding, and equal opportunities 
• Guidance and support around data protection and safeguarding 
• Up to 10 DBS Checks for volunteers (If needed) 
• Handbook and toolkit for volunteers 
• Training opportunities 
• Support with promoting and marketing your group 

If you are interested in these resources, and becoming a Connect Scheme, please get in contact.   

Our North Norfolk Dashboard

Click through our dashboard to find out more information about the types of community development and strategic support we are providing, as well as upcoming training and our partnerships.