for last round of public benefit assessments
29 July 2010
The Charity Commission is publishing the names of the sports and recreation charities that will be involved in its last round of public benefit assessments. This follows assessments on charities advancing religion or education, arts charities and fee-charging charities.
Independent research* that the Commission published on charities' awareness, understanding and attitudes towards the public benefit requirement indicated that smaller charities, those involved in certain activities such as sport/recreation and those in operation before 2006 were most likely to have no awareness of the requirement at all.
The research also showed that three quarters (76%) of charity trustees say that they know about the public benefit requirement and nearly a quarter of trustees (22%) who are aware of the requirement say their charity has revisited its aims as a result.
The sports and recreation charities the Commission will look at are:
The results of the assessments will be published in the normal way at the end of the process.
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Notes to Editors
* Independent research conducted by FDS International and published in December 2009
1. The Charity Commission is the independent regulator of charities in England and Wales. See www.charitycommission.gov.uk for further information or call our contact centre on 0845 300 0218.
2. The Charities Act 2006 (which received Royal Assent in November 2006) gave the Charity Commission a new objective, ‘to promote awareness and understanding of the operation of the public benefit requirement'. The requirement to demonstrate and report on public benefit, as set out within the Act, was implemented in April 2008.
3. Prior to the Charities Act 2006, charities established to advance education or religion or to relieve poverty were presumed to have aims which are for the public benefit, and they were not required to demonstrate this further, unless there was evidence to the contrary. The Charities Act 2006 removed this presumption and all charities now have to demonstrate that their aims are for the public benefit.
4. The Charity Commission published its general guidance on public benefit for charities in January 2008, followed by four sets of supplementary guidance in December 2008. The Commission has also published a selection of fictitious example trustee reports, which aim to demonstrate how charities can effectively report on their public benefit. All guidance and examples are on the Charity Commission website.
5. Also published in July was the Commission's Emerging Findings report, which identified key issues for all trustees in the initial assessments. This is available on the Commission's website - http://www.charitycommission.gov.uk/Library/guidance/assessemerge.pdf