Want to start a new, local, small charity

momoyama

Can anyone please advise.

Since my other half was diagnosed with MS, we've heard of more and more local people also being diagnosed. Talking to our MS Nurse it seems that there's an unexplainable exponential increase at the moment. As I'm sure you'll all appreciate diagnosis is a bit of a shock to the system. We live in quite a rural area. I'm also a Nurse in the area. What my OH and I would like to do is:
- set up a local MS support group
- this would just be for the purpose of providing non-financial support. e.g. giving emotional support to local people with MS or pointing newly diagnosed people in the right direction for help (the CAB, The MS Society, etc)
- We do NOT want to be dealing with vast sums of money or doing grand fundraisers for equipment or anything
- we'd like a bank account with just a little money in it raised via donations to pay for things like petrol for visits, stationary, 'phone calls, that sort of thing

How easy is this to do? Presumably we'd need to register as a charity? It would be just the two of us doing it. We're already essentially doing it on a very informal basis.

Any general advice on this at all?

vikki_louise

Hiya, lots of people have branches of the MS society, if you contact them they could give you info and see if you could be under them as an umbrella?

momoyama

vikki_louise wrote: »

Hiya, lots of people have branches of the MS society, if you contact them they could give you info and see if you could be under them as an umbrella?

I've already made contact with our most local branch. Yes, I'm looking to be sub-group of them. I'd like to hold my own money and be more autonomous, though.

fengirl_2

You cannot register as a charity until your income exceeds £5000. If you dont want to join your local MS branch, then it sounds as if you don't want the hassle and regulation which being a registered charity entails.
You will need to draw up a simple constitution in order to have a bank account and you will also need at least 3 trustees.
Think very carefully before you go it alone - joining the exisiting local branch may be a lot less hassle.
Your local CVS (Google nearest town and CVS) will help with set up.

momoyama

It will quite deliberately be just two of us as I want to keep hassle to a minimum. This is meant to be a simple support group. Informal. Always bloody bureaucracy in the way!

Thanks anyway.

fengirl_2

You couldn't set up any kind of formal structure with only two trustees, especially where they are married to each other. The trustees would have to be fully accountable for the money and there would be 'issues' over two related people having total control. These things are done for a reason!

momoyama

Yeah, I can see that. Me saying "but I'm honest, honest" just isn't going to cut it, is it?

So I still set up a support group with zero money and fund it all myself? I suspect that's the way it'll go.