Company Secretarial Support For Charities
A Distinct Governance Framework
Whilst there are similarities between business and charities the are significant differences such as the regulatory frameworks, purpose, generating distributable profits vs surplus for reinvestment, sources of funding and who you are accountable to.
Charitable Incorporated Organisations were created in 2013, and grant these organisations legal personality and the trustees a degree of protection from personal liability. Many charities were created before this and registered as companies limited by guarantee with Companies House and with the Charity Commission, requiring two sets of reporting and two set of governance documents. And with up to 190,000 other charities who are not registered but operating within the not-for-profit sector there is a wide range of structures, governance arrangements and levels of understanding about charity law and of the trustee roles and responsibilities.
Governance Support
Like businesses, boards of trustees (sometimes called management committees) have to operate in line with their constitutional documents - making decisions in accordance with charitable objects and in the best interests of the charity. These decisions, or resolutions, need to be properly recorded and would be important evidence if there is an investigation by the Charity Commission.
As such, much of the work that we do with businesses we also offer to charities i.e.
* Chairing meetings
* Minute taking
*Agenda setting and board meeting preparation
* Running member meetings/AGMs
*Strategy review
See 'Our Services' page for more details of these
Setting Up a Not For Profit
Forming an organisation to deal with social, environmental or humanitarian issues will come under Charities Act 2011 if it falls within one of the 13 charitable purposes contained in section 3.
It is a misconception that charity law only applies to registered as a charities, and all too often people who step forward to help run them do not understand their responsibilities and potential liabilities.
We offer advice on how to set up your organisation, governance and roles and responsibilities, and can do talks for your organisations to help them understand how to operate within the governance frameworks. We can also help with writing constitutions.
This is type of help is often available free from local infrastructure organisations such as Voluntary Action, or Community Action that operate in your locality. If you are looking for free support NAVCA (National Association for Voluntary and Community Action) the national membership body for local infrastructure organisations and their website can direct you to help that is available locally.
Alternatively we offer this as a stand-alone service.
Training
In order to act in the best interests of the organisation, trustees and management committees need to step back from their mission and understand the environment in which they operate.
Be it charity specific i.e. trustee duties, relevant points of charity law, laws and codes of practice concerning fundraising, or more general matters such as data protection we offer training as a stand-alone service.