Starting a UCD Soc?

ironclaw

Who is the go to office for starting a society? I'm looking to start one but have no idea what is invovled as regards to legally, paper work, finances etc.

I have the society end sorted, its just the initial start up.

Thanks!

Jev/N

You need a couple of meetings with the societies officer Richard Butler and be able to convince him UCD needs another society, that it will last more than one or two years and that you have a solid enough plan of what you plan to do this/next year.

You'll have to draw up a constitution, set up a bank account and put forward the above proposals. You're not entitled to grants in the first couple of years so you've to just go for subscriptions from people which, at this stage, isn't gonna be that easy due to freshers week coming to an end.

What do you intend on setting up if you don't mind me asking?

TDOie

If your soc has an academic or well to be frank a background that has an actual point then get a Senior member of staff to back you up. If they do your chances increase significantly.

Jev/N

TDOie wrote: »

If your soc has an academic or well to be frank a background that has an actual point then get a Senior member of staff to back you up. If they do your chances increase significantly.

Yeh I forgot to mention this, you have to have a member of staff to be your senior treasurer and sign off on all the books, accounts etc.

ironclaw

Thanks for all the replies. The society I was planning was a Paintball Society. Now, before anyone boo's it, Trinity and DIT have societies which have been highly successful, similar to our L&H. DIT I think had 300 members plus which is massive for such a minor sport.

I'm hoping to finally get UCD on the IV's score board and hopefully get teams abroad. Paintball is huge worldwide and Ireland has a real chance to be in the top teams if we get our act together

Is the set up different if it is a sport club as opposed to a society?

Jev/N: Did I buy Vestax CDJ's off you a few years back?

Jev/N

Sounds great, defo go for it! TBH I haven't a clue if there's a different procedure between sports and normal socs?

And yep it was me you got the decks off, hows it all going?

TDOie

ironclaw wrote: »

Thanks for all the replies. The society I was planning was a Paintball Society. Now, before anyone boo's it, Trinity and DIT have societies which have been highly successful, similar to our L&H. DIT I think had 300 members plus which is massive for such a minor sport.

I'm hoping to finally get UCD on the IV's score board and hopefully get teams abroad. Paintball is huge worldwide and Ireland has a real chance to be in the top teams if we get our act together

Is the set up different if it is a sport club as opposed to a society?

Jev/N: Did I buy Vestax CDJ's off you a few years back?

Deffo a worthwhile Soc. The chances of it being made a soc is probably pretty high. My brother was involved in TCD's Paintball soc and as far as I can tell they where fairly active.

conbob

class idea.we well need a paintball soc

convert

Is there not a paintball club already? It would have been down in the sports expo in the sports centre. There was definitely one last year or the year before.

And if you're setting up a club you need to talk to Suzanne Bailey in the Sports Office, not Richard Butler, as paintball would probably fall under a club rather than a society.

KeyLimePie

I'm quite annoyed that there's no tv based society on campus, in DCU they've a home and away society but in CIT they've a simpsons' society:)they rent out a lecture theatre once a week and show simpsons' episodes

aequinoctium

i want a society for the two following areas:

gourmet food & wine
antiques

lemur option

How to set up a society/club: (the hard way)

Go to Richard Butler without any prep. Tell him you want to start a society and then sit for 20 mins while he asks you questions, hands you forms, and generally dumps more work on you than most people are willing to do..thus the lack of 1 year " this is a great idea" societies.

How to set up a society/club: (the right way)

Setting up a society requires you to write up an application and pass it by the society recognition committee (A group of current Auditors & Richard Butler). These like many of us do not want to read a half assed attempt to set up a society that's gonna fail. If you truly want this to happen you have to commit to it.

Things you should prepare/ look into (most of which you've looked into I'm sure):

A committee: at least an auditor, a treasurer and one other committee member (secretary, PRO, events co-ordinator).

Interest in the subject of the society: This is not a requirement AFAIk but looks great. Get 50-100 people to sign a sheet saying that if there was a paintball soc that they would join.

A senior treasurer/staff backing: You'll need this eventually anyway, I think it's a requirement for setup.

Events: what is it you plan for your soc to do? weekly paintball? monthly paintball? Here's where background info about other college paintball socs is invaluable. See what their schedule is like, see what they do, see what you could do that would be different etc. Make it interesting, show enthusiasm.

Insurance: Richard has info on the insurance coverage of society events. This is something that any auditor has access to. So I'm sure that you could ask an society committee member to get you a copy, or you could ask liz in the forum office, or just jump in and ask him yourself. (I personally am going to have to get a copy of this soon as Gamesoc is running paintball in october)


Personally I like the idea. I think what you're looking to set up is more of a club than a soc, which means much of what I've said may become invalid, as the socs and clubs are under different insurances and different ruling on many things.

What I'd really like to see is you expand this to become a Paintball/airsoft club. Airsoft is a very similar sport to paintball, and I'm told it is actually less dangerous. This will boost your overall numbers, give you a slightly bigger range of activities with easy crossover as they are so similar.

Gamesoc was contacted by an airsoft company based in dublin/wicklow, if I find the info I'd be happy to forward it to you.

Best of luck with this anyway. Any help you need, just PM me.

Rory
Gamesoc Auditor 09/10
www.ucdgamesoc.com

convert

I assume that the process is similar enough to that outlined above for clubs. However, you also need to remember that insurance is also required for all clubs and members. This is provided by UCD through the AUC, provided each member has paid a minimum membership fee of E10. However, each club has to provide a club safety policy document.

Every club also has to have a children's officer for members who are under 18, and this club officer has to attend a course, arranged by the sports office, on ethics in sport.

If you are serious about going about resurrecting/setting up this club/soc (if not in existence this year) go down to Suzanne in the sports office. She's really approachable and helpful.

You could also have a chat with the Rifle club and see if any of their members would be interested in joining.

ironclaw

Thanks for all the help folks. I think I'll sit down and do my homework, then go down the club route.

Many Thanks.

Jev/N

KeyLimePie wrote: »

I'm quite annoyed that there's no tv based society on campus, in DCU they've a home and away society but in CIT they've a simpsons' society:)they rent out a lecture theatre once a week and show simpsons' episodes

Was it sci-fi soc that used to screen Family Guy episodes on Fridays about 3 years ago?

The Agogo

I thought there was already a Paintball society?

ironclaw

The Agogo wrote: »

I thought there was already a Paintball society?

Bit of a grey one. There was a society last year but decided not to continue. Apparently they didn't have a clue about the Soc world or the paintball world. But I can't confirm or deny that.

errlloyd

I can defo confirm that I read somewhere that joining the Rifle club involved paintballing.

But Tbh mate if you are going directly for a paintball society keep us all posted, I'm sure there is a fair bit of interest.

(P.S Skirmish is better than Kilruddery)

Siog-Alainn

KeyLimePie wrote: »

I'm quite annoyed that there's no tv based society on campus, in DCU they've a home and away society but in CIT they've a simpsons' society:)they rent out a lecture theatre once a week and show simpsons' episodes

I'm so jealous of the Home and Away soc, DIT have one too. Would definitely join and be an active member if there was one in UCD

ChocolateSauce

How to set up a society/club: (the hard way)

Go to Richard Butler without any prep. Tell him you want to start a society and then sit for 20 mins while he asks you questions, hands you forms, and generally dumps more work on you than most people are willing to do..thus the lack of 1 year " this is a great idea" societies.

That's how I got the Secular Humanist society started! :rolleyes:

It only took 3 years...

ironclaw

Just a quick Q&A here folks:

1) Do I need to contact the Sports office or Richard for setting up a sports club?

2) Is there a minimum requirement for training, i.e. Must training take place every week?

3) Where is cheapest for A3 color posters?

4) How does one go about getting a lecture theatre for a talk / info event? And is there a cost invovled?

ravydavygravy

ironclaw wrote: »

1) Do I need to contact the Sports office or Richard for setting up a sports club?

Sports office, in the sports centre.

ironclaw wrote: »

2) Is there a minimum requirement for training, i.e. Must training take place every week?

Not that I'm aware of - for many years, the caving club had no regular training - just ad hoc stuff. now we have the use of the climbing wall once a week.

ironclaw wrote: »

3) Where is cheapest for A3 color posters?

Get a postgrad with access to color printing facilites to do it.

ironclaw wrote: »

4) How does one go about getting a lecture theatre for a talk / info event? And is there a cost invovled?

Ask at the Arts services desk - they dole out the rooms for the whole college, I believe. You can tell them what you need (number of seats, projector, etc...) but its a case of first come, first served - no charge for student events...