Setting Up A Charity

[ScottNicol]

Hi Folks,

Myself and a couple of local business within my area are looking at setting up a charity for disabled kids to enjoy sport in our local comminity as at present there is nothing available for them. The plan is for our compnay to donate a plot of land to the charity and to raise as much funds as possible to build a small complex, which will be built at cost by ourslves, where these sick and disabled kids can go and enjoy themselves and get involved in sport instead of being left out. Does anyone have any idea of how such charaties actaully work ?

We are at the early stages of this, so just looking for thoughts on how we can be setup.

Many Thanks

[timskipper]

http://www.charity-commission.gov.uk/

Is probably a good a place to start as any.

[Eric Mc]

Try looking up the Charity Commisioon's website. There is should be plenty of guidance there on what to do.
Charities are legally classified as trusts and therefore the people who run the charity are the Trustees. The charity needs to have its own bank account and it needs to draw up a document stating its aims and purpose.

Charities are normally tax exempt on their progits but the situation with VAT is much more copmplicated.

[ScottNicol]

I have saved that website in my favourties and will have a browse later, thanks very much.

[rpguk]

Great to hear, good luck with it.

It can be quite complex though and an accountant with experiance in the field will be very useful.

[Eric Mc]

Charity accounts have to comply with formats set out under the various Charities Acts. The detail required under these formats varies depending on the size of the charity and whther the charity is a limited company or not.

All charity accounts (except very small charities) need to have their accounts scrutinised and signed off by an Independent Examiner.

[trunnie]

I'd agree about the Charity Commission website, it is really good with information pitched at a wide range of readers.

There is one thought that you may want to think about, which is that there are already a lot of charities out there. The time and energy that you and your colleagues spend setting up a charity could be spent on the actual project if you actually find a charity with similar aims who are prepared to undertake the project. I appreciate that there are attractions for having a specific local charity that is attentive to local needs, but it may be worth thinking about using an existing charity, even if in the end you decide to go it alone.

[ScottNicol]

I havent had a chance to read the site yet, but what do you mean by using an existing charity ?

[Truckosaurus]

I believe he means find an existing children's charity and offer them the land and your building skills in exchange for them funding the project, saving you the effort of fundraising in advance, any funds raised locally to cover the running costs would be administered by the existing charity.