How To Start A New Student Group

IN THIS ARTICLE

• BEFORE APPLYING
• CORE EXEC ROLES
• STUDENT GROUP CONSTITUTION
• MEMBERSHIP FEES
• REGISTRATION FORM
• WHAT HAPPENS NEXT?

BEFORE APPLYING

If you are interested in starting a new student group it's not as complicated as you may think, plus you'll receive help from SU staff throughout the process and after as a ratified group. 

Before applying:

1)    You will need to have a president, treasurer and secretary in place and these positions all need to be taken up by three separate people.

2)    You need to edit the Student Group Constitution file to detail the group's aims as well as some key governance rules for your group.

3)    You should determine your membership fees for the current academic year.

4)    You should seek out other interested students to show support for the group.

5)    You will need to read and agree to various terms and conditions which can be found in the in registration form itself.

CORE EXEC ROLES

Firstly, you need to have at least 3 people who will take up the positions of President, Secretary and Treasurer in the group. These 3 positions are the core exec, and you cannot run a group without them. No matter when you apply, your exec will stay in their positions until the first day of the summer holidays, unless they have resigned, been re-elected or handed over to new exec before the date. You can find out more about these roles below:

• President – Responsible for the overall running of group and setting objectives. Lead contact with the Students’ Union, and main representative of the group. Manages and supports the exec team, ensuring role duties are being fulfilled. Ensures activities are in line with the group’s aims, and the group is compliant with Students’ Union policies and processes. Calls and chairs exec meetings.
• Treasurer – Maintain financial accounts in a transparent manner, using Students’ Union finance processes. Create the group’s annual budget and work with other exec on budgets for events. Ensure expenses and invoices are paid. Oversee grant applications and sponsorship agreements. Keep the exec and members informed of the student group’s financial situation. Present accounts to the membership at the annual general meeting (AGM). 
• Secretary – Ensures effective communication between the exec and members. Supports the President in setting exec meeting agendas, and organising AGMs (and GMs), as well as taking minutes. Manages the student group area of website. Maintains up-to-date membership records and mailing list. Maintains records and associated paperwork.

STUDENT GROUP CONSTITUTION

Next, you will need to decide the group's aims and how you will achieve those. When you have defined them, you need to edit the template file. We recommend that you read the whole template, but you only need to edit the highlighted yellow sections (sometimes we’ve added in a suggestion to help you) – the rest of the document is locked from editing. There are notes within the form from page 13 onwards – these pages give guidance on how to complete the form, but there’s nothing to edit after this page. If you would like to make any changes to the locked sections of the constitution template, then you will need to get in touch with us.

MEMBERSHIP FEES

Anyone wanting to be a member of your group must buy a membership through the website, including all exec committee members. If you have free memberships, this can also make it harder to claim grant funding so it may be worth setting something! Do think carefully - once a membership is set-up it cannot be changed for the remainder of that academic year, so make sure to plan your budget for the year and set your membership fee accordingly. See "How Do We Decide On A Membership Fee?" for more details. 

You will need to think about your membership fees for the current academic year (or upcoming year if applying at the end of an academic year). By default, groups are allowed to set memberships for 1 year, or 'lifetime' (4 years). Memberships give members access to your group up to 30 September following the end of an academic year. 

Examples are:

• A 1-year membership for the 22/23 academic year would end on 30 September 2023.
• A lifetime membership (4 years) beginning in the 22/23 academic year would end on 30 September 2026. 

If you would like to set a membership for a different length of time, then you will need to get in touch with us to discuss this. 

REGISTRATION FORM

Once you have organised all the above, you are ready to apply! To apply to start a new group, you will need to complete the online registration form. For more information on the areas of the registration form itself, you can view the article Registration Questions - Why Do We Need This Information?

WHAT HAPPENS NEXT?

When the registration form is complete, the ASK team will check it over and contact you if there is anything else that we need from you. Once we are happy that you have submitted everything and have no further questions, your group will go to the Student Group Committee for approval. 

Student Groups Committee will formally accept an application for a Student Group to be entered onto the Register, on the condition that:

• The aims and objectives of the Student Group are consistent with Durham SU’s aims and objectives.
• A Registration Risk Assessment has been accepted by the Secretary to Student Groups Committee.
• The Student Group is committed to, and acts in compliance with, the Student Group Agreement.
• The Secretary to Student Groups Committee, on behalf of the Board of Trustees, confirms that Durham SU has capacity to support the Student Group effectively.

The Student Group Committee meet during term time and once your application has been reviewed by the ASK Team and we have everything needed from your group, the application will be sent to the next Student Group Committee meeting. We cannot advise on exactly how long it will take for your group to receive a decision as it does depend on many different factors, if your application is received during holiday periods (or just before), or after a meeting has already taken place then it will take longer to get a decision but the ASK team will keep you updated on progress. 

When your group is ratified, you will be invited to arrange an induction session with a member of the ASK team and you will be given all the information you need to get started.

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