Starting a New Society
There are six steps to forming a University of Worcester Students’ Union Society:
Step 1: Putting together your ideas
Step 2: Membership Interest
Step 3: Meet with the SU
Step 4: Submit your application to Executive Committee
Step 5: Approval
Step 6: Supporting you through your first few months
Only Societies who have followed these six steps will be permitted to operate as a Students’ Union Society. This is to ensure that your potential Society has a proper structure, does not contravene Students’ Union policy and has the required level of financial assistance, both from its members and from the Union. The process can be completed at any time of the year. Please note that only current students of the University of Worcester are permitted to establish Societies or hold committee positions within them.
Some of your Key contacts when starting a Society:
Meg Lee, Vice President Student Activities - m.lee@worc.ac.uk
Hannah Heskin, Student Groups Assistant - Hannah.heskin@worc.ac.uk
Step 1: Putting together your ideas
Coming up with a name for your potential Society should be easy enough, it’s worth checking with the Union if anyone else has begun to plan a similar group. We want to you to feel confident when starting your Society so feel free to email Hannah or Meg or drop in to see them and they can answer questions you have at this stage. You will need 3 students in total to set up a Society, they will make up your commitee. You can have a look at these roles here. Once you have gathered together your ideas you will need to submit a ‘New Society Application Form’ outlining the aims and purpose of your Society.
The minimum required number of members for a Society is twelve, within six weeks of formation. Make sure that it is realistic that your Society will be able to recruit twelve members, so start to get people interested as soon as possible.
Once we have received your New Society Application Form, we will invite you in for a ‘Start-Up Meeting’. The main of this meeting will be to with you to understand what a constitution is and help you to write one. This document will not only help you to focus the direction of your Society but also serves the basis of the proposal for you Society’s existence. (You can view a draft constitution document here)
We will also discuss the following:
- Guide to the Committee Hub (Including, finance, events, and committee meetings.)
- Marketing the Society
- Affiliation Deadline
Once you have had your ‘Start Up Meeting’ and developed your constitution, your application will be submitted to the SU Executive Committee meeting for approval. These happen weekly during term time.
Once your Society is approved you are free to start with your planned activities. Please note that Societies will not be able to run, or take membership fees etc. until approval of all documents has been received from Executive Committee.
New societies will be approved based on the principles available here.
Please note that all societies that request to set up after 1st March will not begin operations until the next academic year.
Step 6: Supporting you through your first few months
Once your new Society has been approved you will be given a page on the website for your Society, this is where you as committee members will need to pay your membership fee. After we have checked that you have paid for your membership you will be given access to this page. You can edit this page to tell potential members what your society is all about, advertise events, and provide contact details and social media links.
2 Weeks after Set Up
This will be a progress check either over the phone or in person, to see how everything is going to to start with.
Review 1: One Month after Set Up
The new committee will meet with the SU to review the progress that has been made so far. During this first month you will be asked to fill out a ‘New Societies Development Plan’, the purpose of this form is to look at some of the following:
- Aims for the Society
- What activities you want to organise and run this year
- Income/Expenditure for the year
Review 2: 3 Months after Set Up
After the first 3 month’s you will meet with the SU again, in this meeting the SU and the committee with review your progress from your one month review, and how on track against your Development Plan you are. This will involve looking at your membership totals, have you affiliated yet? And if not how can we help make that happen. It’s an opportunity for us to talk through any concerns you have, answer any questions that you have.
End of Academic Year Review
(A six month review may be had first depending on which comes first.)
The final meeting of the year as a New Society will be reviewing how the year has gone, looking at some of the following
- Membership Totals (Affiliation)
- Balances to carry forward
- Handover
This will be a review of how your first academic year has gone, how viable it is to continue next year, and finally a review of your Development Plan from the beginning of the year. It is an opportunity to talk about next year and what you plan to do to make it just as successful.