Setting up and running a community group is exciting and rewarding. Most of us get involved because we’re passionate about something. Thinking about legal structures, government bureaucracy and constitutions is the last thing on our minds!

A legal structure isn’t always necessary, but it can help protect you and other volunteers, make it easier to apply for funding, and mean that your group is able to operate more effectively. It can be quite daunting trying to find out what’s the best structure for your group, which is why we organised a webinar to give an overview and advice on where to start. You can watch the webinar below – we recommend you watch the whole recording if you can.

There are many different legal structures available in the UK, but we focussed on the 3 below, as most community groups will choose one of these:

• Unincorporated Association: the easiest way for a group to set itself up.
• Charitable Incorporated Organisation (CIO): this is more complex to set up and run than an Unincorporated Association, but has advantages which means it can be worthwhile for community groups, particularly if you are looking for funding as many funds are restricted to registered charities, which includes CIO’s.
• Community Interest Company (CIC): this is more complex to set up and run than an Unincorporated Association, and the reporting requirements are more involved than a CIO, and you may need to engage a professional accountant. It’s a useful structure if you want to get an income from the work you’re doing. Feedback from our local community leaders is that the CIC structure can be difficult to manage and problematic.

We strongly recommend you do your own research before making any decisions and double check your sources – there’s a fair amount of second-hand and outdated information around. Because the CIO and CIC structures are relatively new, information on government websites can be confusing, and advisors from the regulatory bodies themselves don’t always get their facts right or agree with each other! Although you can change to a different legal structure down the line if needed, it’s much easier to get it right first time. You can contact the regulatory bodies directly: the CIC Regulator and Companies House (for CIC’s) and the Charities Commission (for CIO’s). Here’s where to go for more advice and information.

One of the best ways of choosing a structure is to speak to your local community groups and find out what their experiences are. Most of us are really happy to help – and it’s also useful to find out what went wrong and what we’d do differently with hindsight! We plan to add a few case studies and examples so if you’d like to tell us about your group, or if you have any other comments or ideas, we’d love to hear from you.