Start Your Own Club/Society!

You can create a new Society at the start of the next academic year, from September 2024 onwards.

All official clubs and societies at Surrey are led by students and supported by the Union; if you can’t find the group you’re looking for, we can help you get one set up!

In order for a new club or society to be set up, you’ll need to be ratified – this is where the current club/society committees vote to approve the formation of a new group. This helps you identify whether your idea may overlap with an existing student group, and gives everyone the opportunity to discuss whether a new group is an effective use of the Union’s resources. If you have any questions, please email ussu.information@surrey.ac.uk.

How to set up a new sports club or society:

1. Head to the bottom of this page to ensure your proposed sport or society is not listed as dormant. If it is, don’t worry, email ussu.information@surrey.ac.uk to hold an EGM and reinstate the club/society.
2. If it is not already dormant, you will need to find at least 20 other students interested​ in your proposed society.
3. Ask the 20 students to complete a form with their name, Surrey email, URN and signature; scan this in and fill out the ‘New Society Action plan’ (see files below). Then, send both forms to ussu.vpactivity@surrey.ac.uk. 
4. VP Activity will invite you to present your ideas to the Activity Zone. At the meeting, the Zone will either vote to give it ‘zone ratification’ status, ask you to go back and reconsider the proposal, or say no outright.
5. You will then be invited to Society Standing to request full ratification (approval), held monthly
6. If ratified at Society Standing, you’ll need to book an Extraordinary General Meeting (EGM) to elect the society committee (President, Vice-President, Treasurer). All AGMs must be advertised for at least 2 weeks. 

Files

Typical reasons a society may not be ratified

• the concept is too similar to an existing club or society
• the concept is offensive/problematic
• the concept is in conflict with the Unions charitable status

What’s the difference between a club or society?

Fundamentally, it comes down to funding and membership requirements. Clubs are funded by Surrey Sports Park (SSP) and as such all sports club members MUST pay a membership to Team Surrey as well as to their individual clubs. Societies are funded by the Union through the University subvention hence there is no additional membership fee. When deciding if you should be a sport or society it is all about what will give the best value to your members, at Surrey we have both active societies and sports clubs!

For your first year, you will be considered a society as Team Surrey club allocations will have already been formalised. However, if by the end of the academic year you consider changing status to a club, this would have to be decided at Sports Standing for the next academic year.

Advertising your Club or Society

All clubs and societies are welcome to use all resources available to them to promote and advertise their club.

The Students’ Union enters each club and society into our list of clubs and societies once you’ve been ratified. Each club and society is given an email address for enquiries, as well as tools to create a website where you can explain to students what you’re all about! Many groups use the sites to promote their activities, show their current committee, explain their membership structure and announce new events.

To allow students to purchase memberships and products, please follow this guide.

If you run into any issues, please email the digital experience team and we’ll get back to you and resolve your issue.

Restarting a dormant club or society:

Dormant clubs and societies are groups which used to be active but failed to hold a valid AGM within the required timescales, and therefore became inactive. They remain dormant for 18 months from the point the group became inactive. If you want to restart a dormant club/society, it is far easier than starting a new one from scratch, as they can be restarted by booking and holding a valid EGM. Please ussu.information@surrey.ac.uk to enquire about the dormant club or society you wish to revive and make active again!

Groups which have been dormant for 18 months will be considered dissolved, meaning they cease to exist. This means that should you wish to restart the group, you would need to go back through the ratification process detailed above to reconstitute the group.