Charities work under rules that change, and the duty to keep pace sits with the trustees. This is where we cover what the Charity Commission and other regulators expect, how to run a board that works, and the compliance obligations that come with being registered – set out plainly, so you know where you stand and can deal with problems before they grow. Setting a charity up sits here too: registration, HMRC recognition, charitable objects and governing documents.
On 1 September 2026, the rules change, and the group affected is volunteers. Until then, someone teaching, instructing, caring for or supervising children is outside regulated activity if a person already in regulated activity supervises them properly. From 1 September,…
The Charity Commission’s requirement for what a safeguarding policy says amounts to four things. The policy has to make clear how you protect people from undue harm, how someone raises a concern, how you handle an allegation or incident, and…
There are four sets of rules, not one. A charitable company, a CIO, an unincorporated association and a trust each amend their governing document differently, and the differences are not cosmetic. They change which power you use, how many of…
The Charity Commission published its second annual sector risk assessment on 18 August 2026, and it says plainly what it is for: to help trustees review their own risk registers. It covers ten risk areas. For a charity under £1m,…
Standard financial controls advice assumes a finance team. Separate the person who spends money from the person who approves it, and from the person who reconciles the account. Three roles, three people. A charity with a part-time administrator and five…
Ask a small charity when it last received a fundraising complaint, and the usual answer is never. The Fundraising Regulator defines a complaint as an expression of dissatisfaction, however made, about something done or not done. However made; so the…
A business you’re uneasy about offers £5,000. A donor’s money looks like it came from somewhere you’d rather not ask about. Someone gives generously, and a family member later rings to say they weren’t themselves. The instinct in each case…
The seven principles of trustee decision-making were not written by the Charity Commission. They come from the courts, developed over years of reviewing decisions trustees had already made. That matters for how you use them. They are the test applied…
Being a registered charity does not let you claim Gift Aid. Being recognised by HMRC does not let you claim it either, not on its own. There are three steps, and charities routinely stop after the first two: register with…