Subject: Registering

Hi Roy,

do you mean registering as a charity? If so, the Charity Commission is the place to go.

Do let us know how you get on.

Hi there,

I am interested in this topic about registering - I am aware that you can register as a charity but can you register anywhere as a Non Profit Organisation? 

Is there a national register or something where this can be done? 

Am I also right in thinking that in order to register as a Charity you have to have Charity status as given by the Charity Commission?

Kind Regards

Lisa Sirah

www.theorphansofindia.com

Hi there,

I am part of a non-profit social enterprise run by University students. We are registered as a company limited by guarantee, and I would like to know if it is possible to register as a non-profit organisation. I understand that we can't register as a charity because we are already registered as a company, is this correct? Any information anyone has regarding the topic would be much appreciated.

Thank you,

Amy Steelers

Hi  Amy  - SocialEnt

When I asked the charity commisson if I could set-up a company which was also charitable, they were not very helpfull.   I spoke with solicitors and they were not very helpfull.   I ended up as a  limited company with shares.   The organisation who set this up for me did not do me any favours.    I should have been set-up as a company limited by guarantee, which would have allowed me to apply to the charity commission for a charity no.

If you don't have £5,000 in your non-profit account you are not eligable for a charity no.  But it is okay to have part of the amount in your account and also have evidence by way of a letter offering a donation which would cover your short fall. Or a sponser offering the amount of you short fall. (check this with the charity commission incase rules have change recently)

If you can't raise £5,000 either in your account or partly  supported by a sponsor or other supporter,  you would come under a different controlling  body until you reached the target of £5,000, which the charity commission will or should explain to you.     Once you reach your financial target you would then be eligible to apply to the charity commission for a charity no. 

Below is an example from a piece I found on Ataxia UK.

Ataxia UK WORKS ACROSS THE WHOLE OF THE uk and is a charity registered in Scotland (no SC040607) and in England and Wales (no 1102391) and a company limited by guarantee (.4974832)

Ataxia UK is a company limited by guarantee - company no 4974832

Ataxia UK is also a registered charity               - charity no   SC040607

I hope this helps you to get through the red tape. I found out the hard way.

Best wishes

RaincloudDance

Hi

Having privately purchased land sometime ago, I am interested in starting a conservation wildlife charity/NFPO in Zambia (primarily to raise funds to conduct the necessary work e.g. anti-poaching, tree planting, animal sanctuary/conservation facilities etc...).  Where can I find out information concerning the best place to register i.e. in Zambia, UK or other?

What would be the pros and cons of registering in different geographical locations? Does one have to register in the country of operation?  How do I decide which type of organisation to register - I have read all the points on KHNP regarding this, but I am still none the wiser.

In advance, many thanks

Hi, those of you who had questions about the various issues surrounding setting up a charity might find out latest course on this topic useful. It's a video training course called Setting up a charity and it's delivered by someone who actually set one up, which helps. Lucy, the founder of Msizi Africa, has had many of the challenges that you describe so she might be a good person to advise. There is a discussion forum attached to the course where Lucy is available for questions.

hi i no you cant get a charity number until you have a certain amount of money in the account for the non profit charity but ive heard you can get a tempory charity number to help you raise funds to raise enough  funds to regiester properly can anyone please help or advice with this ??

many thanks

Hi all, friends of oldbrook is a neighbourhood community coming together to raise funds for a childrens play area, we have been in meetings with the appropriate people and have had the go ahead providing we fund this entirely ourselves.  Now we are stuck as we do not know how we go about setting up a charity, as i have read you cannot register with the commission until we have been active a year and have £5k, we dont have either, so could someone please inform as to how we become a registered non profit organisation (i guess this is a seperate registry?).  We would like to get cracking with the many fundraising ideas we all have, but want to go through the steps correctly and legally.  Start from the bottom, what do we need to do, please?

Many Thanks for anyones help and advice

Kerry Johnson