🌍Foundation

What to do before you start

1

Founders

It doesn't matter whether you're a council, a community organisation or a small group. Everything new needs its founders to make things happen.

2

Find the others

Founders can't do it by themselves. Bring others into the mix and build your board or steering group.

3

Feasibility

Depending on your resources, the scale of your ambitions and the number of people you need to convince, this stage could take a couple of weeks to over a year.

4

Formation

This makes the decision to proceed official. For groups this might be formally registering as a co-op. For local authorities this could be spin-off to a mutual, deciding to commission a service or pilot or incubating a co-op with their community. The day-to-day decision-making methods should also be clarified at this stage.

Formation can be delayed (sometimes indefinitely) if you are working within a Local Authority or other larger organisation. Equal Care offers incubation options for groups who would rather delay this step.