Secretary Volunteer

We're looking for a dedicated committee group to set up the Good Neighbour Scheme, acquire the funding and organise its day to day running. Surrey Community Action offer full support in the set up including attending committee meetings for as long as necessary. Expectations of time are approximately a few hours a month to attend meetings but more time might be expected in the initial stages of getting the scheme off the ground.

Taking minutes at meetings

Taking minutes is often the main job of the Secretary. Minutes are notes taken during the meeting to remind you what was discussed and agreed.

• Don’t try to write everything down – it’s impossible and not useful.
• Concentrate on getting down what has been decided and who is going to do it.
• Listen carefully to the discussion and think about what overall points are being made.

Keeping people informed

Committee members need to know the date, time and place of the next meeting, and receive minutes and an agenda.

The people you are trying to reach and include in your group need to know you exist, what you are doing, and how to contact you and get involved.

How much, and what sort of publicity you need will depend on exactly what you are trying to do. It’s not up to the Secretary to make all the decisions about your publicity and communication – the committee as a whole needs to think about this and divide up and delegate tasks.

You need to work out what methods of communication suits your members best and you might want to use a mix of different methods, such as social media as well as printed flyers.

Receiving and responding to information, emails and letters

The Secretary, along with the Chair, is often the contact for information from other organisations or any formal communication with the group.

The Secretary and Chair are also often the advertised contacts for people interested in joining the group.

The Secretary’s role is to make sure that any information they receive is dealt with. This doesn’t necessarily mean doing it all yourself but making sure that someone is. For example, an invitation to attend an event could go to the next committee meeting and an enquiry from someone interested in joining the group could be passed on to another committee member.

What skills do I need?

Organised with good administration skills.

Excited to help set up the new scheme.