Clubs charitable status

[11B]

Hi all,

 

I'm not sure if this is the right/best place to post this!

 

I'm involved with a very small model club, someone suggested that we apply for "Charity status". Google tells us that there are a number of model railway clubs that have applied for this and managed to get it, yet others haven't!

 

This leaves us with a number of questions... Have any of you good people done this? How long did it take? How complicated was it? Why do some clubs get granted this yet others don't?

 

Any help and advice would be greatly appreciated.

 

Many thanks

 

Ian

[johnofwessex]

What I can say is that a model engineering society of which I am a member is a Community Interest Company (CIC) which may be simpler than becoming a charity

[meil]

If you are a club - ie an unincorporated body then look at Charitable incorporated organisation ( CIO )

[Mike Bellamy]

 

You have to prove that you have 'Charitable Aims' and that you are not just a group of friends with a model railway.  How do you benefit others?

 

Quote

Your charity must have ‘charitable purposes’ that help the public (known as being ‘for public benefit’).

Charitable purposes include things that contribute to:

relieving poverty

education

religion

health

saving lives

citizenship or community development

the arts

amateur sport

human rights

religious or racial harmony

the protection of the environment

animal welfare

the efficiency of the armed forces, police, fire or ambulance services

 

 

What do you hope to gain from becoming a Charity?

 

There is a lot on the Charity Commission website

 

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/charitable-purposes/charitable-purposes

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/charities-supplementary-public-benefit-guidance

 

On a related topic, our club at one time had discretionary relief from business rates from the local authority. We had to reapply every five years and after the last submission of the paperwork (before Covid and cuts in local authority spending) our application was rejected on two counts.

1. We showed no evidence of financial need (as we had money in the bank)

2. We did not provide any benefit to the wider community (the benefit was only to our own members)

However we still don't pay business rates on the clubroom as there is a central government scheme for small business rate relief which covers the cost of business rates for small and low value buildings. We still get a rate demand each year from the local council (£1,800 last year) but that is offset by the same amount from the government - so it's a way for Derby City to get money from Westminster . . . . . . . . . 

.