The Secret to a Successful Community Group

Charities and Community Groups are usually set up with good intentions at heart but unfortunately not all are successful. This article looks at the secrets to a successful community group and gives some insider tips that could turn an existing group into one that makes a real difference in your local community.

The truth is even before anyone had heard of the credit crunch, a proportion of businesses fail. Included in these are also charities and community groups who very often are not even in it to make money. And the reason why many of these fail to achieve their aims and objectives is that they simply did not have a specific objective to begin with.

Community Groups are set up for many reasons including wanting to get their views across against a particular proposal or just wanting to support, help and share experiences amongst a group of people. However, simply saying you want to make a difference is not enough in many cases.

As with any objective the group would have to make sure what they want to achieve meets certain criteria. Using the SMART acronym the objective a community groups wants to achieve should be Specific, Measurable, Achievable and Timely. An example of a community group setting a SMART objective could be that ABC Community Group wants to raise ten thousand pounds before 31 December 2009 to build a new youth club in the community. This objective does not tell a community group how to achieve it but by having this specific, measurable, achievable, realistic and measurable objective in place from the very beginning and making sure everyone involved is aware of it dramatically increases the chances of success. Simply saying, we want to build a youth club will not.

So once the objective has been set as to what your community group wants to achieve you need to get organised to make sure it happens. The first step towards this will be to hold an initial meeting to discuss who within your group will be responsible for each task and to get the opinions of all those involved. In order to make sure this initial meeting is successful as possible some key tasks need to be carried out.

The first of these will be to publicise the meeting to attract visitors and interest. There are many which this can be including word of mouth, handing out flyers, putting up posters, putting an advert in the local shop or newspaper or trying to get some free press coverage on the local television or radio station.

Once this has been done and a venue for the initial meeting has been decided upon your community group needs to set an agenda so the meeting is well organised. The agenda is likely include things such as welcomes and introductions, the aims of the group, the plans and ideas you have and deciding who will carry them out, the finances and the date and time of the next meeting.

Finances and making sure the community group is legal by arranging community group insurance is particularly important as groups are likely to need funding from somewhere. And once funding has been achieved using a specialist community group insurance broker will allow you to get the correct level of insurance cover at the best possible price.

Community Groups can be highly effective and successful so get organised, set clear objectives, get the right community group insurance and make sure your group and community is as successful as possible.

NCi Charity is Charity and Community Group Insurance Specialists and for details of their Community Group Insurance facilities or to get a insurance for community groups quote simply visit the UK Business Insurance Brokers.