Charity registration
Johnny Toner, Casework
and
Tim Richards, Casework
Presentation objectives
By the end of this presentation you will have a clearer
understanding of…
• the online charity registration process
• the public benefit requirement
• annual reporting, now and in the future
There will also be time for questions
Background: charity registration
in Northern Ireland
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All organisations that are charitable must apply to register
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Applies to everyone – no exceptions
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Prepare for registration now, check the registration list today
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On the list? You’ll be called forward to apply to register
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Not on the list? Complete Expression of intent form now
Check registration list:
www.charitycommissionni.org.uk
Some important terms
Charity trustee: The people who are legally responsible for the control and management
of the administration of the charity. They may be called trustees, governors, directors,
committee members or some other title.
Control and direction: Those who have control and direction of an organisation are the
people who are ultimately responsible for its management and governance – the
trustees.
Governing document: This is any document that sets out the charity’s purposes and how
it is to be administered. It may be a trust deed, constitution, memorandum and
articles of association, a Royal Charter or some other formal document.
What is a
charity?
What is a charity?
Established for exclusively charitable
purposes: each purpose must fit within
one or more of 12 descriptions of
purpose and be for the public benefit
Charities Act (Northern Ireland) 2008
What are the 12 charitable
purposes?
Relief of
those in need
Animal
welfare
Education
Citizenship,
Community
development
Environmental
protection or
improvement
Any other
charitable
purpose
Arts, culture, heritage, science
Relief of
poverty
Health, Religion
saving
lives
Amateur
Human rights, conflict resolution,
reconciliation, promotion religious
racial harmony, equality, diversity
sport
Supporting guidance
What is the public benefit
requirement?
Benefit: this is the way in which an organisation’s
purposes provide a benefit and how that benefit
can be demonstrated.
Public: the organisation must know who the
intended beneficiaries are and how they might
benefit.
The nature of the public benefit and the way it may
be demonstrated will be different for each purpose
and for each organisation.
The online
registration
process
Accessing the registration
system
When to apply for
registration
All charitable organisations must make sure we have your
details to let you know when you must apply to register
1. Check the Commission’s online registration list for your charity.
2. Included on the registration list? Check the online tranche list
3. Not included on the registration list? Complete a short, online
Expression of Intent form today
What do you need to apply?
Registration information and document checklist
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Governing document
Trustee declaration
Details of charity trustees: DOB, contact details, current and
previous names
Bank details
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Most recent annual report (if you have one)
Latest set of financial accounts (if you have them)
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Applying for registration
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Provided with a unique password
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Three months to submit your application once you are invited forward
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Can log in and log out after section six
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DO NOT select ‘approved governing documents’ unless you are part of a
pre-approved group registration eg PTAs
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System has help information
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System indicates what information will be shown on the public register
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Some information is compulsory: you will not be able to progress
without an answer *
Completing online registration
Registration online form divided into number of sections
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Preliminary questions: key information and eligibility
About your organisation
What you do
Who is involved
Special circumstances
Submitting your application
Key part of the information you provide includes the public benefit
requirement
Accessing the registration
System
Password
Apply
Decision
• We will provide passwords via email
• Start preparing application as soon as you
get password
• 3 months to apply
• Aim to make a decision on application
within 3 – 4 months of receipt
Common errors: avoid!
1.
Incorrect / incomplete attachments
– Ensure the 3 required documents are attached; governing document, recent
bank/building society account statement in charity’s name, completed trustee
declaration
2.
Incorrectly selecting approved governing document
– Answer no unless you are using a governing document that has been preapproved by the Commission, does not refer to internal approval
3.
Purposes in application do not match those in governing document
– Should be a direct replica of purposes (objects) in governing document
4.
Poor public benefit statement
– use the toolkit
Common errors: avoid!
5.
Poor ‘what your organisation does’ response
– refer to the activities the organisation carries out to advance its purposes
6.
Incorrect number of trustees or incorrectly identified
– Check governing document for minimum requirement number of trustees,
ensure details of ALL trustees are entered on the application
7.
Trustee declaration completed incorrectly
– Complete both sides, must be signed and dated (date of signature) by all
trustees
Registration : guidance and
resources
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Registering as a charity in Northern Ireland guidance
Public benefit requirement statutory guidance
Purposes and public benefit toolkit
Registration document and information checklist
Registration information form: trustees and key contact
Trustee declaration form
Helper groups
Model governing documents
Online tutorial
Screenshots of the online application form
Completing the
public benefit
statement
What is the public benefit
requirement?
Benefit: this is the way in which an organisation’s purposes are beneficial and
the extent to which they are beneficial.
The benefit must:
The nature of the public benefit and the
way it may be demonstrated will be
• flow from the charity’s purposes
different for each purpose and for each
• be capable of being demonstrated
organisation.
• be beneficial, not harmful.
Public: the organisation must know who the intended beneficiaries are and
how they might benefit.
The benefit which flows from the charity’s purposes must:
• be to the public or to a section of the public
• not provide a private benefit to individuals unless this benefit is incidental.
What is private benefit?
Private benefit occurs when:
•an individual or organisation, that is not an intended beneficiary
gains from the purposes of the organisation.
•In some cases this benefit may be proper.
•In other cases the private benefit may outweigh the public
benefit and prevent the organisation from being a charity.
When could private benefit prevent
an organisation being a charity?
•Where an organisation has as a purpose to provide a private
benefit
•Where the organisation’s beneficiaries are a private class rather
than the public or a section of the public
•Where the private benefit outweighs the public benefit.
Examples of Private benefit
Likely to be acceptable:
•A purpose to regenerate rundown buildings of historical interest
and open them for educational purposes. This may lead to an
increase in tourism and benefit local hospitality providers. This is
an incidental by-product of the purpose and is not a purpose in
itself and is likely to be acceptable.
•A charity is established to advance appreciation of culture and
the arts. It plans a series of concerts featuring local musicians.
The musicians benefit from exposure to a wider audience which
may result in their gaining a higher profile. This is incidental to
the achievement of the purpose and is necessary to help the
charity achieve its purpose.
Examples of Private benefit
Unlikely to be acceptable:
•A Will established a trust fund to provide for the education of the
descendants of three named individuals. This was not found to be
charitable because the beneficiaries were defined by their
connection to named individuals so were not the public or a
section of the public.
•An organisation had a purpose of promoting trade, commerce
and enterprise. It argued that there was a benefit to the public in
the increase of profitable businesses and the reduction of
unemployment. The organisation was found not to be a charity
because its purpose provided a private benefit to the individuals
engaged in trade, commerce or enterprise and the benefit to the
public was too remote.
Toolkit: public benefit
Completing the public benefit statement
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Demonstrating this benefit
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Any harm arising from the purpose and whether this is outweighed by
the benefit
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Who the beneficiaries are: the public or a section of the public
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Whether any individual or organisation gains a private benefit and, if
so, that this is incidental in achieving the purpose
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Complete sentences in the toolkit
Toolkit: purposes
Toolkit: public benefit
Benefit element
For each purpose:
What benefit flows from it?
•The benefits which flow from this purpose
include improved health outcomes and
reduced levels of stress and anxiety
Can you demonstrate the benefit?
•These benefits will be demonstrated through
feedback from patients and regular
independent evaluation of our services
Is any harm or possibility of harm outweighed by
the benefit?
•In providing medical treatment for patients
with illness x there is a risk of unintended side
effects from the drugs however this is rare
and the benefit outweighs the harm
Public element
For each purpose:
Who is the benefit for?
•The benefits of this purpose are provided to
those diagnosed with illness x and to their
families and carers
Is there any private benefit? Is it incidental and
necessary?
•A private benefit flowing from this purpose
is that gained by an organisation that owns
a facility that is renovated by the charity to
be used in the provision of respite. The
facility is necessary to the achievement of
the purpose and the investment is
reasonable and the lease on the facility is
long term therefore the private benefit is
incidental and is outweighed by the benefit
to the beneficiaries.
Public benefit statement
The benefits which flow from this purpose include improved health
outcomes and reduced levels of stress and anxiety
These benefits will be demonstrated through feedback from patients and
regular independent evaluation of our services
In providing medical treatment for patients with illness x there is a risk of
unintended side effects from the drugs however this is rare and the
benefit outweighs the harm
The benefits of this purpose are provided to those diagnosed with illness x
and to their families and carers
A private benefit flowing from this purpose is that gained by an
organisation that owns a facility that is renovated by the charity to be
used in the provision of respite. The facility is necessary to the
achievement of the purpose and the investment is reasonable and the
lease on the facility is long term therefore the private benefit is incidental
and is outweighed by the benefit to the beneficiaries.
Practical exercise:
Public benefit statement
Practical exercise
Example public benefit statement
The trustees believe that our purpose satisfies both elements of the public benefit
requirement.
Purpose one
The direct benefits which flow from this purpose include an increase in the number
of children in education across the world and reduced infant and child mortality
rates. These benefits can be demonstrated through official government statistics.
There is the potential for harm in sending volunteers to dangerous parts of the
world however this is mitigated through having policies in place to protect them
and is necessary to achieving the purpose. The beneficiaries of this purpose are
children in any country of the world. A private benefit may be to the travel
company with whom we have a relationship to facilitate the movement of
volunteers abroad. These benefits are incidental and necessary to ensure the
benefit is provided to our beneficiaries.
What next?
Next steps
• Gather all information needed from within your organisation using the
checklist produced by the Commission
• Read the public benefit statutory guidance
• Use Commission guidance to prepare your application for registration
• Get trustee declaration signed
• Submit application for registration by the deadline – ideally well before
Register of charities
If registered,
your
organisation
will be placed
on the public
register of
charities
Online services
If registered, organisation will
receive:
– Welcome Pack
– Log-in details to ‘Online
services’
From Online services,
organisation can amend
information, for example:
– What your charity does
– How your charity does its
work
– Bank / building society
details
– Details of trustees
Annual reporting
All registered charities must report to the Commission on their
first full financial period after their registration date.
All registered charities are required to:
1. complete and submit an online annual return form
2. submit their accounts and reports in the format in which
they are currently prepared (there will later be rules on how these
accounts and reports should be prepared, likely to be consulted on
later in 2015)
Charity accounting and
interim reporting
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Charities to submit:
 Annual monitoring return
 Copy of accounts (in format they are currently prepared)
 Copy of trustees’ annual report (if applicable)
 Copy of auditor’s/examiner’s report (if applicable)
Filing deadline examples
Registered on
05 February 2015
Financial period starts
1 April 2015
Financial period ends
31 March 2016
FILING DEADLINE**
31 January 2017
* First full accounting period after registration
** 10 months after the accounting period end
Good governance
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At the heart of an effective charity is good governance
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A well governed charity will find the registration and annual
reporting processes straightforward
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Many of the concerns we receive about charities relate to
governance
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Running your charity guidance
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Registration FAQs
For more information visit our website
www.charitycommissionni.org.uk
Thank you
Any questions?