Setting up a new parent carer forum

All about setting up a new forum, including setting aims, membership structures, and more.

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Setting up a forum – contents

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Setting up a steering group 

How to set up a ‘steering group’ to get things up and running in a forum.

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Aims and objectives

Agreeing aims and objectives ensures that everyone involved in the group understands its purpose.

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Membership

Information on why and how to collect and safeguard wider forum membership information.

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Equality, Diversity and Inclusion and reaching out further

Information about reaching under-represented communities including examples from forums and the EDI toolkit

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Deciding on a structure

How a forum is set up, with different structures to choose from, is important to consider.

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Unincorporated associations

An unincorporated association is not a legal entity, but an organisation of two or more where the membership may change from time…

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Running under the umbrella of another organisation (hosting)

Information on hosting and some of the advantages and disadvantages of being hosted.

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Charity

Definition of what a charity is, the Charities Act 2011 along with some advantages and disadvantages to becoming a charity.

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Charitable incorporated organisations

Find out how they are set up and some advantages and disadvantages.

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Community Interest Company (CIC)

A community interest company (CIC) is a limited company which exists to benefit the community.

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Supporting each other 

Take a look at our useful information for the forum's leadership team on how they can support each and work as a…

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Holding an Annual General Meeting

AGMs are a good way to tell the wider parent carer membership the achievements and work you have undertaken throughout the year.

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Legal requirements and best practice for forums

This section looks at Insurance, DBS checks and forum contact details.

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Looking for something else? You can find a full list of pages on our Parent carer forum handbook contents page.