BTCV Handbooks Online

Book:	Environments for All
Chapter:	2.7 Paying for it all
Section:	Taking care of business
Metadata:	Details	Buy this book

Local groups spend money on all sorts of things. The wages, the office, the hire of a van are all obvious: smaller sums for room hire, photocopying, tea and coffee are less noticeable but are important too.

Most community groups start small. If you are trying to run any kind of project you will need to know:

How much money you need;
How much money you have raised;
How much money you have at any point; and
What the money has all been spent on.

If you're going to raise money you will need to have somewhere to keep it, and you will need to convince those who might fund you that your group is competent. If you are part of a voluntary group that is going to operate efficiently, you need financial accounts and a treasurer to look after the 'books'. It may be that if you are employing staff then you will have a financial officer, but that person should be supervised by a treasurer who is a member of the group.

Finding a good treasurer is an important place to start. If you are running a project you will need to trust this person and they may make the group's life a lot easier. So look for someone who has some experience of handling money. For example, a retired bookkeeper often may make an excellent treasurer for a community group: if you have someone who is happy to be treasurer but who has no experience then arrange for them to have some training.

What does a treasurer do?

The duties of a treasurer in a small group are fairly straightforward. They are to:

Keep a record of income and expenditure;
Make sure that important payments such as insurance are made on time;
Deal with matters relating to the bank or building society account;
Work with the group's officers and staff to ensure that money is coming in and that the group stays in credit;
Produce a regular financial update for meetings;
Produce an annual financial report; and
Keeps good records and accounts.