Constitutions

Principles

This section looks at the core of community organisations and how they manage themselves - their constitutions, their meetings, roles and responsibilities, financial management systems, how they check on whether they are performing well, and how they look after the volunteers who are involved in the group.

Constitutions set out what an organisation wants to do, what powers it has to do this, who can be members, and how it governs itself.

Types of constitution

There are essentially 3 main types of constitution that may be appropriate:

A very simple steering group constitution that gets you started as you come together to plan and/or to set up a more formal group.
A constitution for an unincorporated association which formalises the group but doesn't turn it into a legally recognised body. This will be most appropriate if you are not likely to be holding a lot of funds, employing staff or wanting to own or manage land and property.
A constitution (Memorandum and Articles of Association) for a company limited by guarantee. This gives your organisation legal status and offers the limited liability protection that comes with the establishment of a company. Particularly useful if you are raising and likely to be accountable for large sums of money, or employing staff and want to own land or property.