Governance and finance

This handbook will help you manage your charity and answers the most common questions about your responsibility as a committee member (trustee) of a charity.

Orchestra Tax Relief (OTR) is a government initiative for instrumental groups (not only orchestras!) where you could receive a payment from HMRC equal to a percentage of your production costs.

Despite being called 'Orchestra Tax Relief':

• the initiative can apply to many types of instrumental group – so don’t be put off if your group is not a traditional orchestra 
• you don’t have to be paying tax to claim it.   

Groups who put on eligible performances can submit a claim to HMRC each year for the payment. 

Free VAT consultation for members

Martin Waldron, of member group Haverhill Singers, explains how they approached changing the group name in order to recruit new members.

Background

We are a non-auditioning choral society of around 50 singers, founded in 1860. The aim of the Society is to perform choral music of many genres in and around Haverhill, Suffolk for two reasons.

It may be the last thing you want to think about when running your group, but your brand is crucial. It’s the story you choose to tell others about who you are and what you’re doing. 

For leisure time music groups and music promoters, image is paramount and is central to how you are perceived. 

A committee is a group of enthusiastic people who care about their group or organisation, want to see it thrive and are willing to take responsibility for making that happen. A committee position requires good organisational skills, a willingness to give up some spare time and the ability to co-operate with others. 

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.

We have all experienced the positive impact of music – either as a music makers or music listeners. However, measuring that impact can sometimes be quite a difficult concept to grasp.  If you have secured funding for a music project or activity, you may be already aware that measuring impact is often a standard  requirement. However, it needn’t be burdensome. There are many benefits in adopting a simple and proportionate approach that may help grow your group, improve the impact it makes and help with a funding application.

Data protection is about organisations collecting and using data in a fair, responsible and transparent way. It puts the emphasis on needing a good reason for holding and using the data and being clear about what those reasons are. It also emphasises the need to have consent from individuals (in some situations), and the individual’s rights over their data. New data protection laws (often referred to as GDPR) came into force in May 2018.

https://www.makingmusic.org.uk/about-us/contact-usOur Charity Registration Service is designed to make the process of registering as a charity as simple as possible. Find out how we can help you.