If you would like to set up a new society then the documents to do so are at the bottom of this page, however please first read the application guidelines below. It is usually a good idea to discuss your new society with the Activities Developer before applying so that there is a better chance of your application being successful; to book an appointment contact Alisdair Denholm

Application Guidelines

All new societies need to show that they will be able to provide their membership with a selection of well organised activities.

All new societies must complete and submit all the application forms listed at the bottom of the page to Alisdair Denholm .

You can submit the forms any time you like however SUEC (the assessing body for new societies) consider applications twice a term. The deadlines for applications is the end of week 3 and week 7 each term.

Before you send your application in you need to consider all the practical aspects of running your activity. You will need money to run your activity; therefore you need a budget for the first year to show how you will generate the income to run your activities. You can generate funds in many ways including, membership fees, charging for the activity, fund raisers. There is also grant funding available to societies which are affiliated; for more information it is worth reading the Societies Union Funding Policy.

You must also consider where your activities will take place; if they are off campus you will need to consider how you will get there and if they are on campus you will need to find a suitable space for the activity to take place. Unfortunately there is very limited flat floor space for energetic activities such as martial arts, so you will need to do some serious investigating to find a space. On your application you will be expected to show where your activities will take place and how you will get there.

You must also consider the health and safety implications of your activities; LUSU takes the health and safety of all students very seriously and there are several procedures in place, including the Safety Framework which must be followed by all groups. Many groups will need a risk assessment and code of practice for their activities. There is support for this process and if you need more information then contact the Activities Developer (Alisdair Denholm). If you are successfully affiliated then the executive will be required to attend a duty of care briefing before any activity can take place, this is usually organised for the week after the SUEC meeting.

Once an application has been sent in it will be put forward to the next new society application meeting (week 4 and 8 of each term) The executive of the new society will be invited to attend part of the meeting and present their new society to SUEC; this is to give SUEC a better understanding of your society and gives you and SUEC the opportunity to ask questions. There is no need to prepare a long presentation; each group is only expected to spend a couple of minutes presenting their society.

The executive of the new society is then asked to leave the meeting and a vote is taken by SUEC. You will be notified of the decision within a week of the meeting; if the society is turned down reasons will be given and the society can re-apply once they have resolved the issues.

Below are the main reasons why a society would be turned down:

Application Documents

Here are the documents which must be completed for your application to be considered. It is worth making an appointment with the Activities Developer (Alisdair Denholm) before you complete the documents to discuss your proposed society. The documents can be submitted at any time to Alisdair Denholm however new applications are only considered twice a term; the deadlines are the end of week 3 and 7 of each term.

Here are the three required documents:

Application Form

The executive must consist of at least 3 student members (full members of the Union) who will be the signatories for the society; these are normally the President, Secretary, and Treasurer. The executive can have as many people on it as you want however it needs to be a manageable size. You may also be required to have a Safety Officer on your executive depending on the activities which you plan to do.

There are 7 steering groups (see the list of steering groups); they each contain like minded societies and you choose which steering group you want to be in.

If you intend to affiliate to an external organisation you need to put down details of the organisation and the affiliation details onto a separate document and submit it along with the other documents.

You will need a generic email address for the society; you will be able to set up a Lancaster email address once you are affiliated, however until then you will need to create one of your own.

You may want to include other documentation to support your application such as a calendar of activities.

Annual Budget

The annual budget needs to list all your income (e.g. membership fees) and all your expenditures (e.g. printing posters). These examples are listed on the blank form for you. The Totals and Profit/Loss should generate automatically.

You will need to include all the income and expenditure for any big events you have planned; unless you write a separate event budget for that event and just have the overall figures on the annual budget.

At the end it should say how much money you will have at the end of the year; this must be positive and should be a reasonable size to include contingency money in case there are any unforeseen circumstances throughout the year.

You must not set up a bank account with a commercial bank, all accounts are held in LUSU and you do your banking through us; this is for safety and security reasons.

Constitution

On the model constitution the sections highlighted in yellow contain references to the Union Constitution and Societies Bye Law; these have been highlighted because they are subject to change upon implementation of the new LUSU Constitution which was passed in the Summer Terms General Meeting last year.

Additionally, some areas of this document such as section 6.4, 6.5 and 6.9 (re: quoracy) are subject to change upon the review of the Societies Bye law (in order to update it in line with the new LUSU Constitution) which will be taken to Societies Council in Michaelmas Term.

You need to complete the Aims for your society; explain in full what your society will exist to do.

You need to make sure that every position you have on your executive committee is included in your constitution including their duties and responsibilities.

You may need to add or remove parts of the model constitution for it to fit your society; if you are not sure about any of the changes you have made then feel free to contact the General Secretary (Janie Coleman).