Role of the management committee

All community organisations are run by a group of people – sometimes they are an elected management committee, sometimes it’s just the people who turn up to every meeting. If you take the time to work out who is responsible for what, and how you are going to make decisions within your group, it can save you a lot of trouble. This section contains information to help people take on specific roles within a committee, and also to help committees as a whole work effectively.

  • Budgets for community groups

    A small groups’ guide to preparing and using budgets

  • Chairing a meeting

    This information sheet looks at what chairing a meeting involves, and how to do it. There are some useful tips and advice to help improve and develop your chairing skills.

  • Charity reporting and accounts

    This guide summarises the requirement for charities to produce accounts, reports and returns each year.

  • Health and safety for community groups

    An introduction to health and safety for community groups run by volunteers.

  • How to improve your chairing skills

    The Resource Centre held two workshops on chairing meetings in March 2016. These were attended by twelve people from nine different Brighton & Hove City Council Tenant and Resident Associations.

  • Responsibilities of registered charities

    A short summary of the responsibilities of registered non-company charities with income under £250,000.

  • Responsibilities of the Management Committee

    A guide to the key responsibilities of an organisation’s management committee, trustees or other governing body.

  • Roles of Officers

    This information sheet provides some guidance to the jobs generally taken on by the Chair, Secretary and Treasurer. This information is also available in Arabic.

  • Taking Minutes

    Quick and easy guide to taking minutes

  • The Secretary's role

    A quick overview of the main roles of officers, and a more detailed explanation of the role of the Secretary.

  • Treasurer's role

    A step-by-step guide on how to be the treasurer for a community group. Includes basic principles of managing money, keeping track of cash and bank accounts, and sharing information with the rest of your group.

  • Your group's money

    Information and tips to help your whole committee take responsibility for looking after your group’s money.

These books are available at the Resource Centre, to borrow or to use in the Centre.

The services listed below are not provided by the Resource Centre. These are websites and services we feel are particularly useful for small groups in Brighton & Hove, and which are not easy to find by searching the internet.

Most useful services for local groups

Notes:
Community Works runs the following projects for the voluntary sector in Brighton & Hove:


They have an electronic voting system which is available to hire. This consists of hand-held pads which can be used by people in a meeting to vote. The results are then displayed instantly on a laptop. They also have a wooden ballot box, which groups can borrow.

Notes:
Very comprehensive website with information how to set up a charity, legal guidance, and a database of all registered charities. Also has specialist guidance section specifically aimed at small groups wanting to become charities.
The Charity Commission is now part of the GOV.uk site, which can make it difficult to search for the information you need. They advise you to:

  • always include 'charity commission' in your search terms, eg 'report serious incident charity commission'

  • enter your search term, then select 'Charity Commission' from the drop down list of 'Organisations' on the search results page


Some specific guidance you may find useful:

Other services you might find useful

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We hope you find this page useful. Would you like to make a donation?

All Resource Centre information is available for free because we know small community groups have small budgets. However, we are a small charity, so if you are in a position to make a donation, it will help us to keep running this service into the future.