STOP: Check our Register for similar charities in existence
There may already be a charity doing the work you want to. It would be more cost-effective to join forces with them rather than start a new charity. There are over 160,000 registered charities (and many more unregistered) so there is a good chance there is an existing charity already doing what you hope to do. You can search our register on the home page of this website.
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If you do decide to start a charity then you should consider the following
You must establish your charitable purposes
You and your fellow trustees need to agree what your charitable purposes are. Only certain purposes can be charitable so you should read our guidance to see if what you're aiming to do is charitable. If not then you may still operate as a non-charitable entity so long as you do not claim to be a registered charity.
If you believe that your purposes are charitable then you will then need work out how you will carry out and achieve those purposes.
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Your charity must meet the Public Benefit requirement
If you are to be a charity then your organisation must be established for public benefit and you will need to be able to demonstrate this. We suggest that you read our guidance to help understand if your organisation fulfils public benefit and you must be familiar with these requirements if you continue in starting your charity.
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The charity must have a suitable "Governing document"
A charity must have a set of rules to determine how it is managed. To do this you need to choose a "governing document". We have produced guidance on how to choose a suitable governing document and we have examples on our website that are free of charge for you to use.
You must have "adopted/executed/incorporated" your governing document, that is, it must have become effective and agreed to by all the trustees before you can apply to us. The only exception is when you are trying to register a company with us with the word "charity, charities or charitable" in the name. Companies House will not let you use these words unless we have given our consent. This naming issue is considered with a full registration application from you. (This will need to change one CIO's are accepted as they are not executed until we register them).
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The charity must have trustees who are jointly responsible for the running of the charity
The role of trustee comes with a number of legal obligations and to understand these and to see if you are eligible to serve as a trustee read our guidance. Trustees are the people who are responsible for a charity and may often be known as "committee members" (for an association of members) or "Directors" (for a company). We recommend a minimum of three unconnected unrelated trustees for a charity and a wide and varied skill base where possible.
It is a founding principle of charity that trusteeship should be voluntary. Importantly trustees cannot generally be paid for being trustees and they can only be employed by a charity under certain conditions. If this is relevant to you then you should read and comply with our guidance on this.
If any of the trustees, or their close relations, benefit from their role in the charity then this must be carefully managed by the rest of the trustees and failure to do so can result in a breach of trust.
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The charity will need a bank account
You will need to have opened a bank account in the organisation's name. There are a number of accounts available to unregistered charities/organisations (usually called "community" or "treasurer's" accounts) available from a many high street banks and building societies.
We recommend that you read our guidance of financial controls for charities.
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When you are ready to apply you should read further guidance
If your charity is established and has an income of at least £5,000 per annum then you should read our section Top Tips you need to know before applying to register a charity and also our guidance on applying to register.
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