Charity donating to another charity

[maclarencat]

Can someone help please as I do not know much about charities. I am on the committee of a charity and we have a considerable amount of money in ou bank account. This money came from the sale of a property a few years ago and a bequest we do not have any income and the charity is tutor the benefit of the members but we have made some donations to other charities. Now we have a jobs worth who says we are not allowed to do this can anyone advise who knows the law please (not just a common sense guess) thankyou

[bednobs]

tutor the benefit of members? what does that mean? have you tried the charities commission website?
I think there are strict rules that you have to make money

[maclarencat]

Predictive text!!! For not tutor lol. I spoke to the charity's commission but you have to have a an income of 30k to register with them

[piggling]

OK I'm not an expert - but I have worked with various (small) charities and my understanding (which appears to be confirmed on the Charity Commission website) is that when a charity is set up it has to have some sort of 'charter' ie. a statement of the aims of the charity. And any payment made has to conform with that aim. So, for example, if the aim of the charity is to provide benefits for members of a society, donations can not be given to anyone else. If you want to do anything that is not within the terms of the charter, then you have to change the charter. Hope that helps.

[Buenchico]

As Piggling indicates, your charity is bound by its constitution.

If, for example, such a constitution was to state that the aim of the charity was solely to fund medical care for animals, you could lawfully give money to another charity with similar aims (e.g. the PDSA). You could also give money to a relevant specific project (e.g. the creation of an animal hospital) set up by the RSPCA but you couldn't contribute to the RSPCA's general funds (as they do much more than just fund the medical care of animals). You certainly couldn't give money to Oxfam or to the RNLI.

The essential test is embodied in this question:
"Is the money received from donors being put to the use which they thought that it would be when they agreed to donate it (either directly or, for example, by attending fund-raising events)?"
If the answer is "Yes", you're in the clear.

Chris

[d9f1c7]

not a legal thing but if I was one of your donors I'd be mightily angry that you don't need the money and are giving it away rather than refunding it to your donors. The guy who points this out is not a jobsworth but the rest of you sound like a bit of a sh0wer.

[maclarencat]

d9f1c7 If you had read the question you would have seen that this money was not donations but received from the sale of a property that we owned. The property was a club and when it stopped making money we sold it and thought we should put the money to good use and help benefit those less fortunate than ourselves. If this is being a bit of a shower then I offer no apology for being a bit of a shower. What would you have us do just leave it in the bank doing no good to man nor beast until the last of our elderly members (the average age is 81 with the oldest 93 and youngest 72) die and the money is then no use to anyone.

[piggling]

It sounds as if the whole reason for the charity was some sort of club? If this no longer exists, and all you have is the proceeds from the sale then you might want to consider closing the charity. Have a look at this link (hope it works) for more info.

http://www.charity-co...index.aspx?Type=PAGE#

[d9f1c7]

I did read the question. Why beg for donations when you can give some away? Sell your property and add it to your donations. What would I have you do? spend it on what the charity exists to do are you saying that the subject of your charity no longer needs any money? if so disband your work is done. It appears you are not actually a charity to me. What is the name of this "charity"?

[woofgang]

so you aren't a registered charity? What are you? have you got a constitution or anything in writing to state what you are for?

[Skyline D]

d9f1c7, you clearly haven't read the question. They have not "begged for donations".

Anyway, there's no reason per se that a charity cannot donate to another charity, though as others have said their constitution may be specific enough to prevent some donations. I act for a charity whose entire expenditure is donations to other charities.

[Nibble]

Ask someone to check through here http://www.charity-co...ications/cc20.aspx#f4

Or, alternative conatct the Charity Commission and ask their advice - better safe than sorry.

[woofgang]

But he has said that he is not a registered charity......

[Barmaid]

If the money came from the sale of the property, my questions are

1) how was the property acquired - if a normal "at arm's length purchase", that's fine but if not
2) were there any conditions as to the gift/legacy
3) is the property a permanent endowment.

[maclarencat]

Why do some people seek to only see the worst side of everyone must have quite a suspicious character. Just for the record we are a charity just not registered with the charities commission but we are registered as a charity with the inland revenue .
Thankyou to the people who tried to help, we have now sorted this out and we are allowed to give to other charities it is just laid down that they meet certain criteria so that is fine.

[Allielea]

Hello, did you manage to resolve this problem? As we are a new unregistered charity, and are currently working hard to raise the required money to be able to register with the Charity Commission. We have a large sum of money waiting to be donated to us, but will not be handed over until we are registered. They have given us the option of nominating another charity that is registered to accept the funds, who would then pass the donation on to us. Are we able to do this? Did you have any luck finding out the legalities? Also Skyline D.. what is the charity you work for? Could your charity help us?
Thanks