committee

Running a committee, part one: responsibilities and roles

The majority of our member groups are run by a committee - a group of enthusiastic people who care about their group, want to see it thrive and are willing to take responsibility for making that happen. As well as enthusiasm, a committee position requires good organisational skills, a willingness to give up some spare time and the ability to co-operate with others. And like most things in life, being on a committee will very often give you a sense of achievement and fulfilment – but it can also be tedious and frustrating, especially when things are not going right.

The role of the chair

The role of your group’s committee or management team (or whatever term you use to describe the group of people who volunteer their time to run your group) is to organise and facilitate the activities of the group, whilst supporting and protecting the reputation of the group and ensuring that legal responsibilities are met.  The role of the chair within this, is to oversee the work of the committee and the everyday activities of the group to ensure that these aims are achieved.

Running a committee, part two: meetings, communication and ways of working

The majority of our member groups are run by a committee - a group of enthusiastic people who care about their group and are willing to take responsibility for running it. Even if you don’t have something formally called ‘a committee’ it is likely that you have a group of people who work together to run your group and so the overarching themes in this resource will still be relevant. 

Similarly whilst the resource refers to constitutions and charities, if your group is not a charity or does not have a constitution the main themes are still applicable.

Running a committee, part three: recruitment and problem solving

The majority of our member groups are run by a committee - a group of enthusiastic people who care about their group and are willing to take responsibility for running it. Even if you don’t have something formally called ‘a committee’ it is likely that you have a group of people who work together to run your group and so the overarching themes in this resource will still be relevant.  Similarly whilst the resource refers to constitutions and charities, if your group is not a charity or does not have a constitution the main themes are still applicable.

Example committee role descriptions

Committee or management teams tend to work best with clear and defined roles. The simplest way to do this is to have a role description for each position on the committee or management team. It means whoever is in the role understands what their job is and what they are responsible for, helps all members to understand what everyone does and can be invaluable if an occasional territorial disputes crops up.

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