Where the burden of maintaining a church building is shared by a small group of people, and there are other people in the community who value the church building but do not necessarily want to contribute to the religious aspects of the church, it can be helpful to set up a ‘Friends Group’. Guidance on how to do this can be downloaded from the Parish Resources website

There are a number of Friends Groups running in Cumbria, for example at Beetham, St Anthony Cartmel Fell, Tebay St James, Ravenstonedale St Oswalds, Geat Salkeld St Cuthbert, Aldingham st Cuthbert and many more.  You could speak to them to find out how they set up and run their group.   

Where a church is developing a specific project in partnership with others it may be useful to set up an new body with its own constitution. A model constitution of an unincorporated groups can be viewed here.

Cumbria Council for Voluntary Service can provide one-to-one information, advice on guidance on the development of new voluntary sector organisations.  They also have an organisational development toolkit available to members.  This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it Some useful fact sheets are downloadable below:

Factsheet 1 - Setting up a new group

Factsheet 2 - Constitutions

Factsheet 11 - Tips for Funding Applications

ACT (ACTion with Communities in Cumbria) can personally advise you, for instance in writing your constitution.  Their website also has lots of advice and model documents.