Constitutions Corner

First in a series of articles published in Thrive magazine from Graham Partridge (Community Groups Legal Advice Worker at ABLC )

My role in the Avon and Bristol Law Centre is to advise community and voluntary groups on legal matters, especially those concerning their legal structure or constitution; thinking through whether they are to be incorporated or not, and helping with their charity registration if required. The service prioritises newly arrived communities or assisting with groups or issues that increase the diversity of the local Voluntary and Community Sector (VCS).

In the course of this work, matters of general interest are likely to become apparent and I will be highlighting some of these in this new regular column.

One aspect that has struck me is that many groups coming to me for help are “rushing into structure”. This seems to stem from a variety of pressures.

In some cases this pressure comes from within the group, mainly in the shape of an individual activist who is aware of a pressing social need; or a gap in the market of provision, which they feel they have the personal motivation and skills to help to fill. The way the system appears to block them from making their contribution as an individual unless they have the ‘shell’ of a voluntary group around them.

It certainly feels problematic when the only option is to set up a new and very small voluntary organisation where the only skills seem to lie with the prospective paid worker, and the trustees are extremely vulnerable  through their lack of underpinning knowledge and/or training in the legal duties of running a company and/or charity.

Another obvious driver for setting up a group is to get funding; sometimes there seems an almost “magical belief” that if you become a charity you will then automatically get money for your cause.

A more surprising source of pressure to set up a group “in a rush” occurs when a statutory body has a target to “do something” about a newly identified priority, but lacks the in-house skills and resources to fulfil this new requirement from within their mainstream provision.The solution then arises to “outsource” delivery: but then this can only be done if there is an independent VCS body to commission or to grant aid to provide the new service.

This “rush into structure” involves particularly high risks for the trustees of the VCS organisations that are being set up.

In terms of “solutions” :

• An emerging group could focus on what is important and sustainable in the long term, rather than what feels urgent in the short term
• Generalist articles in VCS newsletters about what charitable status means, and what it can and cannot do for you, could help develop underpinning knowledge and understanding
• Groups being pressured by statutory bodies to set up in undue haste could maybe argue more strongly for ongoing support.

Where available a new group should seek support and guidance from an experienced community development worker to help them to develop more “organically” and sustainably.

Graham Partridge
Community Groups Legal Advice Worker, Avon and Bristol Law Centre   Telephone 0117 9248662.  Email: grahamp@ablc.org.uk