Registering as a charity

There are specific documents that you should use to as the foundation of your Governing document (also called a constitution). As a first step these can be downloaded from the Charity Commission website.

Download Documents

Much of the content of these templates have been written by the Charity commission and should be treated as static content that should not be edited but there are some decision points for each that you need to work through.

Use our dedicated pages to help guide you through the creation of your Governing document.

Registering as a charity

Once you have finalised your governance document the next steps is to register with the Charity Commission. This is done online here.

To complete the registration process you will need:

• Your governing document
• A completed Trustee declaration form
• Proof of income/bank account

You will also need to answer to questions about

• Classification (against the charitable purposes)
• Purpose and benefit
• Compliance with the Equality Act
• Membership
• Fees and charges

There are different questions based on your responses. For example you may be asked to select sub categories of your chosen classification and provide more detail on how you will achieve your purposes. Our chatbot can help you to create responses for your organisation!

Why not copy the questions into the Chatbot with some information on your organisation and planned activities to help write your response.

As part of registration you may also need to explain why you have a restricted membership or beneficiaries and how that complies with the Equalities Act 2010.

Charitable Exemption to the Equalities Act

The Equalities Act 2010 protects against discrimination on the basis of protected characteristics including age, disability, gender reassignment, marriage and civil partnership, pregnancy and maternity, race, religion or belief, sex and sexual orientation.

There a some exceptions to this one of which is the charity exemption.

Under the exemption charities are allowed to limit their beneficiaries based on a protected characteristic consequently "discriminating against" those who do not share that characteristic.

In order to do this the restriction must be specified in the charities governing document and meet one of two legal tests:

Test A

Tackling disadvantage – aimed at addressing a specific disadvantage affecting the protected group.

Trustees need to demonstrate that the target group faces greater disadvantage than the general population.

Test A: Examples

Test B

Legitimate aim – pursuing a lawful objective in a proportionate, fair way.

Trustees need to demonstrate that the restriction contributes to a legitimate aim that aligns with the Charities purposes and that it is both appropriate and necessary.

Test B: Examples

If you need help applying these tests to your planned charitable activities our Chatbot can help, you could ask it to help you understand the tests better or could explain your charities activities and ask it to apply the tests.

Next Topic: Small Charity – unincorporated organisation