The registration catch, what you need to apply, the checks banks run, and how long it takes Opening a charity bank account is mostly a matter of having the right documents ready and passing the bank’s checks, but there is…
The account types, the banks, the fees, and how to choose the right setup A charity bank account holds and moves a charity’s money in the charity’s own name, rather than an individual’s. Every charity needs one; to keep its…
The legal document that creates your charity and sets the rules it runs by A charity’s governing document is the legal document that creates the charity and sets out how it is run; its rulebook. It states the charity’s purposes,…
The legal test at the heart of being a charity – and what “showing” it really means Public benefit is the legal test at the heart of being a charity: every one of a charity’s purposes has to be for…
CIO, charitable company, trust or association – and how to decide between them Your charity’s structure is its legal form – the thing your governing document creates – and it decides three practical things: whether your charity can hold property…
Who can be one, what the role requires, and how to appoint your first board A charity trustee is one of the people who holds overall responsibility for a charity; for its direction, its money, and making sure it does…
What the Charity Commission tests in your objects clause and why most rejections start here Your charitable objects are the clause in your governing document that states, in legal terms, what your charity exists to do. They are the part…
The lesson isn’t the money Small Charity Week runs from 22 to 29 June this year, and most of what you’ll read about it leads with the same figure: £1.84 million raised in seven days during the 2025 campaign. It’s…
A charity can do everything right and still get Gift Aid wrong. The staff are dedicated, the trustees are diligent, the donations are genuine, and somewhere in the process, a claim gets made that shouldn’t have been, or a declaration…