Grant funding, donations and fees must be paid into a group bank account and not a personal bank account. This ensures you are not confusing the funds of your group with any individual accounts or monies.
Banks will ask you to have at least two signatories who are unrelated who can sign each cheque or approve withdrawals.
The account is specifically for community groups, or charities if your group is a charity. Banks usually refer to community groups as “Clubs and Societies”. Note that some banks only offer accounts to registered charities.
You will need to prove that you are a community group or charity by providing:
Ethical Banking
See here for more information:
If your group cannot open a bank account for some reason (For example during covid there were severe delays for communities opening bank accounts), or you need a system to use while you wait for your account to be opened, you may want to consider using a fiscal hosting service like the one provided by The Social Change Nest CIC.
The Social Change Nest acts like a bank and holds money on behalf of your group. It is designed specifically for community groups who do not have bank accounts, and you can use their online platform to manage your incoming and outgoing money.
Examples of bank accounts are as follows (Please note these change often, please do connect with your Community People Community Development Team for the latest updates).
Other high street banks with added advantage of a physical bank but many are choosing to close their local branches:
Online banking options: