Registering a Charity
From the 1 April 2008 trustees of organisations applying for registration as a Charity will be required to have regard to the Charity Commission’s public benefit guidance and to demonstrate their organisation’s aims are for the public benefit as part of the application process. The Charity Commission provides comprehensive information on registering a new charity, including all the publications and forms you will need before you apply.
Click here to see the Charity Commission’s Public Benefit guidance
There are a few things to think about before setting up a new charity, and these are listed on the Commission’s website. Click here to view the Charity Commission’s Things to think about before setting up a new charity
The Charity Commission provides an online registration facility for organisations that are affiliated to an umbrella body and have a Commission approved governing document. The advantages of applying on-line are:
- The on-line application system only asks questions relevant to the organisation and to tailors the questions to the responses made to the earlier questions.
- Validation checks are carried out on the information as it is entered and can ensure that all required parts of the application are completed. This substantially reduces the need to contact applicants with queries.
- It eliminates clerical errors that can otherwise occur if someone unfamiliar with the organisation enters information into the charity database.
- Because of these advantages, they aim to provide the majority of organisations with their registered charity number in about a week. This compares with an average turnaround time for paper applications of about a month.