Starting a group

This guide is intended to provide information to help you to set up a small unincorporated community organisation.

Networks

Greater Manchester Social Enterprise Network – Hosted by Greater Manchester Centre for Voluntary Organisation (GMCVO), the GM Social Enterprise Network is a place to connect with other social enterprises in the city and find essential free support and advice. We recommend that everyone who is part of a social enterprise or wanting to set up a social enterprise should join this network.

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Organisations operating for public benefit are often described as being one of two categories – either a charity or a social enterprise. However, these definitions are broad and within each there are many variations of form and structure, and confusingly these often overlap too!

This document aims to briefly summarise the two types of organisation and some of the differences between them.

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Process overview
For an overview of the forms and guidance available, start at the home page for the Office of the CIC Regulator

Resources on this page include:

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“Social enterprises exist in the space between traditional charity and mainstream business.” Social Enterprise UK 2017

Social enterprises are businesses which have a clear social and/or environmental mission, which generates the majority of their income through trade and reinvest the most of their profits to tackle the problems they were set up to address.

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Think about all the different kinds of meetings you have been to or heard about. These might include:

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A constitution (or governing document) contains the aims and rules that your group will use. It explains what your group is going to do and how you are going to do it. A constitution is important because: