- Human resources – you will need facilitator/s, participants, support people (if needed by network members).
- Venue – meeting places should be fully accessible and easy for people to get to.
- Catering – having some food and drink available makes people feel welcome and keeps them refreshed during meetings. It will be helpful to have a fridge, tea and coffee making facilities and crockery and cutlery, or some disposable cups, plates etc.
- Materials – you might need butcher’s paper and markers for group conversations, paper and pens or laptops for note takers, and specific resources for group activities.
- Transport/parking – Participants will need access to transport and/or parking to be at meetings.
- Marketing materials – you might need fliers to advertise your group meetings, or think about ways to do it using Facebook, SMS, etc. You might like to have business cards and other materials if you are campaigning. Access to word processing and printer and paper will be helpful.
- Communication – you might need to post material, and will need access to a telephone, a computer and the internet. Lots of people connect to Facebook, and via SMS messages so this might be something to think about how you can communicate instantly with group members, and the broader public.
- Insurance – do you need volunteer’s insurance or public liability insurance? How can you cover this? Who might be willing to help? Is there an organisation who can help you?
- Training and development – you may find there is advice and training available for you and for group members to support individual and group development
- Celebrations – you may want to celebrate achievements, and will need resources to do this – venues, catering, invitations etc.
Some ideas for finding resources
- Think about who might want to help? Remember your value proposition is not just for attracting network members, it is also for showing what a great purpose you have in helping your community and there will be people in your community willing to support you. See Quick Guide: Thinking about the value proposition that a group would offer (information, mutual support, campaign hub or a combination).
- Think about ways to share costs and resources – members and others may like to bring a small donation, or some food, or offer to print some resources.
- Local councils, State and Federal Members of Parliament can often offer suggestions to voluntary local groups about ways to find resources and what is available in the local community.
For more information and ideas see:
Quick Guide: Finding organisations to assist where necessary with the group and
Quick Guide: Hunting resources: what no-cost resources are available in your local community to help your network get going
Useful links:
The Centre of Excellence for Peer Support (mental health) has some great resources for peer support networks.
Co-authored by Queenslanders with Disability (QDN)
The information on this page is also available as a downloadable Quick Guide. There are PDF and word versions.
