The Charity Commission
Have you considered becoming a registered charity. This could have advantages
as far as funding is concerned, as being registered opens up avenues that
you couldn't approach without charity status. The immediate opportunity
that springs to mind is being able to to make Gift Aid claims
1st April 2008
The rules are changing from this date and organisations wishing to become
a registered charity must have regard to the Commission's Public
Benefit guidance, and to demonstrate their organisation's aims
are for the public benefit as part of the application process. As the documentation
on this, and becoming a charity in general, is so vast we have decided to
list just some of their documents, that we believe are essential reading before
completing the application forms. These are available from the 'Documentation
Link' top left on every page of this website
Charitable Incorporated Organisation (CIO)
This is a new piece of legislation that is at present in the draft regulations stages, so is not yet available for organisations to sign up to. This may be of interest though to voluntary groups accessing the information on these pages, who might consider registering as a 'Charitable Company', as it will replace the need to register with Companies House, as a "Company Limited by Guarantee", if that was a route you were considering.
Here is a list of the advantages a CIO will have
over the present scheme of becoming a company limited by guarantee, and also registering separately as a charity.
a. A single registration - a charitable company has to register with the Registrar of Companies at Companies House and the Charity Commission. A CIO will only need to register with the Commission
b. Less onerous requirements for preparing accounts - the general regime in the Charities Act 1993 will apply, so small CIOs will be able to prepare receipts and payments accounts, whilst larger charities will prepare accruals accounts
c. Less onerous reporting requirements - CIOs will only prepare an annual report under the Charities Act 1993. Under company law, companies have to prepare a directors' report as well
d. One annual return - charitable companies have to prepare an annual return under company law and, normally, a separate return under charity law
e. Less onerous filing requirements - CIOs will only have to send accounts, reports and returns to the Commission. Charitable companies have to send these to us and the Registrar of Companies
f. Less onerous requirements relating to reporting of constitutional and governance changes - CIOs will be subject to a less extensive range of reporting requirements than charitable companies and will only have to report to us
g. Lower costs for charities - the Commission make no charges for registration and filing of information
h. Simpler constitutional form - the Commission will produce model forms of constitution which will include fewer fixed governance provisions than is the case with companies
j. More straightforward arrangements for merger and reconstruction - the Charities Act 2006 contains a number of provisions designed to facilitate merger and reconstruction which are not available to charitable companies
k. An enforcement regime which does not penalise the charity for the conduct of its directors
l. Codified duties for directors and members which reflect the charitable nature of the CIO
m. EC company law directives will not apply to CIOs