Has anyone experience with creating an informal group?
I had a friend who did that once and succeded go make a project but actually was because they hired a professionist to make the application. I suggest not to because gets much less credibility to the NA
Hey! Thanks Thomas for posting the first question on the forum.
As there were more people interested in this topic, I will also post here some general information beside my personal experience.
BASIC INFO: An informal group is a group of at least four young people (13-30) that can act legally in the same country (legally resident, don’t have former conviction, etc.) that, instead of registering an organization, decide to act as an informal group. If in the group there are minors, they can be represented by adults.
To consitute an informal group of young people, the group has to decide who will be their representative and this person has to create his/her EU Login, access the Erasmus+/ESC portal and go to the organization section. There, choose “register an organization” and then “informal group of young people”. The chosen representative will have to sign the papers and upload the natural person and the financial identification forms with their personal data and the coordinates of his/her bank account.
PERSONAL EXPERIENCE: I gave my first step in Erasmus+ through a “Youth Initiative”, similar to what now is called a “Youth Participation Activity”. I also know people that have been running projects for a few years as an informal group until they decided to register an association.
If it’s true that for some National Agencies it may look more solid if an application comes from an organization, for others the participatory aspect of informal groups may be also very relevant.
In Erasmus+ it happens sometimes that what appear as strenghts of a project in one country may be considered as weaknesses in another country, and if there is one single rule-them-all advice that fits to any project is: ASK YOUR NATIONAL AGENCY FIRST. You can find their contacts here
I personally would recommend to contact your national agency and ask them directly via phone. Usually they are very kind and supportive. In Germany I can ask all my questions to them and they feel like collegues
Your national agency you can find here: National Agencies | Erasmus+
@Thomas: Here are the contacts for the German national agency!