Templates

This resource is designed to help you produce a finance policy for your music group. It focuses specifically on charities. If your music group is not a charity, many of the principles will still be useful but the specifics around the Charity Commission / OSCR and HMRC will not be relevant.

The template contains suggested headings for a financial policy. The notes in each section explain what sort of thing to cover in that section, along with some example wording. The wording will not be right for all groups, so you should adapt it to suit you needs.

Understanding how the demographics of your members or audiences compare to the make-up of your geographical community can be helpful when planning your strategy, performances, or community engagement plans.  

We have created a census comparison survey to help leisure-time music groups collect data from people who belong to your group, or attend your events, so you can directly compare it to the UK government's Census 2021.  

Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) plays an important role in the character and culture of your group. It shows your members, potential members and the world in general that you are taking action to ensure you are an open, inclusive and welcoming group.

All four nations of the UK have been living without Covid restrictions since early 2022. Although during much of 2020 and 2021 groups were required to take action to stop the spread of Covid, expectations have changed.

Likewise, many members and audiences' have changed. People are used to living with Covid, and without restrictions. Others might still have concerns and want to see some measures in place.

What is social prescribing and how can your music group benefit from it?

Social prescribing is part of the relatively new NHS personalised care programme and a way for GPs and local agencies to refer people to a link worker, who takes a holistic approach to people’s health and wellbeing. They then connect people to community groups and statutory services for practical and emotional support.

We have created a template contract for engaging freelance performers in a one-off performance or series of performances.

We have created it with lawyers, and it is intended to be a starting point only. It should not be considered a finalised legal document or as constituting legal advice. Neither Making Music nor its legal advisors shall be liable for any decisions made or action taken in reliance on this document, or for any damage arising from its use. The contract is suitable for use in all countries of the United Kingdom. 

We have put together an accounts template to help you manage your finances.

The constitution will put your music group on solid footing in terms of charity structure, regulation and governance and will be hugely valuable in helping you run your group as well as helping to ensure your registration with the Charity Commission is fast tracked. This guidance explains more about what a constitution is and explains why and how you should use our model constitution, including some notes on creating a separate rules and regulation document to go alongside it.

Making Music published a model constitution with the Charity Commission for England and Wales in 2015. We reviewed and updated the constitution in October 2021, with Charity Commission and OSCR approval.

This resource is for groups that are currently using the 2015 version of our model constitution and want to find out about the October 2021 changes. It explains what has changed and the options if they would like to make the same changes. The updated constitution can also be downloaded at the bottom of the page. 

Wear the Making Music badge with pride!

Download our logo or our membership badges for use on your promotional materials, to help you show that you’re part of Making Music’s network supporting and championing leisure-time music. You can also download adverts and images for your programmes, social media channels and newsletters to help spread the word about amateur music making.

Membership badges

Show you're proud to be part of Making Music by using our membership badges on your programmes, leaflets and elsewhere.