The Regulator for Charities in England and Wales
(Version - November 2000)
"to develop the capacity and skills of the members of the [socially and economically] [socially] disadvantaged community of [ ] in such a way that they are better able to identify, and help meet, their needs and to participate more fully in society"
(see A29 and A30 below).
If you are interested in setting up a charity to promote community capacity building, please contact our registration staff on 0870 333 0123
For further information you may find it useful to refer to the following Charity Commission publications:
RR1 - The Review of the Register of Charities
RR2 - Promotion of Urban and Rural Regeneration
A1 To sustain a claim to charitable status on the basis of community capacity building:
A2 We do not mean a need which it might be charitable to relieve under other recognised charitable purposes, such as a financial or physical need. We mean a need for improvement in peoples’ capacity - that is, in their self-confidence, basic skills and ability to make an impact upon their own lives, their own community and society generally.
A3 Most communities will not meet the requirements explained in A2 above since their members will generally already have the skills they need to take collective action to influence their conditions of life. The same will not be true, however, of communities which are both socially and economically disadvantaged (which are of course the very communities in relation to which community capacity building is generally practised).
A4 In some cases, we believe that it may be possible to meet the requirements explained in A2 above in relation to communities which are merely socially disadvantaged. (Economic disadvantage alone does not feature as a qualification for an eligible community only because it is accepted that that will invariably be accompanied in practice by social disadvantage.) Examples of qualifying social disadvantage might include communities which, although their members do not suffer from low incomes or high unemployment, nonetheless experience significant social exclusion as a result of high levels of crime, drug use or ethnic tension. In such communities it may well be possible to produce evidence to show that a significant number of its members are
A5. The latter requirement takes outside the scope of the new purpose organisations whose beneficiaries are in need of community capacity building but whose purpose is to meet their social needs. Those organisations might instead fall within the scope of other recognised charitable purposes (because they are set up for the relief of sickness amongst drug users say).
A6. Thus we believe that the charitable purpose should be restricted to instances where community capacity building is undertaken in relation to
How can promoters demonstrate that a community is socially and economically disadvantaged or socially disadvantaged?
What indicators of economic and social disadvantage may be used?
A7. Promoters will need to demonstrate the status of the community as economically and socially disadvantaged, or merely socially disadvantaged, by reference to appropriate indicators. We will not be prescriptive as to just what they should be in any particular case. It will, instead, be for the promoters to propose appropriate indicators. Promoters may find that they can frame appropriate indicators by looking at the evaluation techniques for this type of activity. In selecting indicators, the promoters will need to bear in mind that they:
A8 Appropriate indicators might include:
Plainly, this is not an exhaustive list.
A9 Nor will we prescribe the source of appropriate indicators. Sources may include:
Again, this is by no means an exhaustive list of possible sources of appropriate indicators.
A10. The amount of information from appropriate indicators required to demonstrate that a community is socially and economically disadvantaged, or socially disadvantaged, will depend upon the type of community in question and why its members are in need of community capacity building. Information necessary or appropriate in one case may not be in another. So flexibility will be needed on the part of promoters and of the Commission. We recognise that we may be approached when an organisation is only in its very early stages and when promoters may be less well equipped to compile evidence in support of their application for charitable status.
A11. In all cases, what matters is that indicators are appropriate to demonstrate need on the part of the members of the community in question. For example, evidence of a need for improved skill levels amongst the unemployed in a geographical community would not be sufficient to demonstrate that a need exists for community capacity building amongst all members of that community. Conversely, it would not be necessary to demonstrate a need for improved skill levels amongst all of the members of a community if community capacity building was to be carried out only amongst part of that community.
A12. Because of the different contexts in which community capacity building can be carried out, it is not possible to provide an exhaustive or typical list of activities. What matters is not so much the volume or variety of activities, as the nature of those activities.
A13. The need to make a difference to members of the community through collective effort means appropriate activities are those which offer genuine participation and involvement for those individuals. We would therefore expect to see activities that:
A14. Because of the emphasis on equipping people to be better able to do things for themselves, suitable activities will involve:
A15. Specifically, appropriate activities might include:
A16. We would not expect promoters to show precisely what benefits activities would deliver. But we would expect them to explain what sort of activities the organisation intended to carry out and why they would be capable of making a difference to the abilities of the members of the community in question.
A17. To be a charity, a body promoting community capacity building must be set up for the benefit of the public. This means that any personal benefits must be ancillary or incidental to the wider benefits to the public flowing from its activities. That is, they must be directed towards achieving the wider benefit to the public, or must naturally flow from it; and in either case the extent of the personal benefit must not exceed what is reasonable. Whether this requirement is met will depend on the circumstances of the case.
A18. Personal benefit to members of a community from the work of a community capacity building organisation, in terms of improved skills, confidence and capacity (eg an improved ability to present arguments orally or in writing) will be acceptable. This is because it is that very benefit to individuals which delivers the necessary benefit to the public (see paragraph 16 above).
A19. The personal advantage that people might derive subsequently from the application of those skills (in the job market, for example) would not be objectionable either. That would be considered incidental to the wider benefit to the public which comes from having acquired or improved skills - in the same way that the personal benefits which flow to individuals from education are seen as incidental.
A20. Beyond that, it is not possible to say with precision which activities will or will not bring more than incidental or ancillary personal benefit to individuals or groups. In each case we will have to take a view as to the balance between public and personal benefit flowing from the proposed activities.
A21. That will include taking into account any other outcomes for members of the community from the activities of the organisation. Some outcomes may themselves be of benefit to the public which means that they are charitable (eg a community centre: see Annex B) but other outcomes may go beyond what is acceptable (see paragraph A23).
A22. We accept that this exercise may be difficult in many cases. Promoters may find it hard to identify private benefit when they apply for registration. They may not be able to predict precisely what benefits there might be, particularly if they do not know with what groups they will be working.
A23. However, we would expect promoters to be able at least to identify the potential for benefit to individuals and groups beyond that of the kinds mentioned in paragraphs 12 and 13 above (by undertaking an assessment of the type explained in paragraphs A23 to A28). Without that we cannot be satisfied that the balance between public and private benefit is such as to justify registration as a charity.
A24. Promoters will need to consider their proposed activities and identify whether any individual will receive benefits from them which go beyond what is acceptable (see paragraphs 12 and 13 above). They will also need to consider the benefits to any groups with whom they will work: the extent to which they may become better organised, better informed and more focused may not always be incidental to the wider benefit to the public.
A25 The sort of benefits that will need to be considered particularly carefully are those:
A26. An activity of a particular kind may, in some circumstances, provide personal benefit to individuals or groups to such an extent that it is possible to say that that is needed to develop their capacity. Yet, in other circumstances that may not be so.
A27. Promoters will need, therefore, to look at discrete activities, taking into account factors which might impact upon the benefits they bring. The following factors might be relevant:
A28. Promoters need to be aware that material and personal benefits that may be acceptable under other charitable purposes may not be acceptable for this charitable purpose. With some charitable purposes certain personal benefits are acceptable because they are part and parcel of delivering benefit to the public. So, for example, the giving of detailed business advice could be justified as support for the relief of unemployment or the relief of poverty.(see note 1) It would not necessarily be possible to justify the same benefits as being part and parcel of what is needed to bring about improvement in the capacity of members of a community. But there are circumstances where that would be the case. (For example, where short-term, business start-up advice is given to a car maintenance business founded as a capacity building exercise for socially excluded young men.)
A29 Promoters will also need to consider whether the trustee body might include individuals who may themselves benefit from the activities of the organisation. Benefit to those individuals not only has to be acceptable as described above (see paragraphs A17, A18 and A20): it also has to be a benefit which a trustee is expressly authorised to receive, either by the governing instrument of the proposed charity, the Commission or the Court. Thought therefore needs to be given by the promoters to the need to include in the governing document provisions authorising such benefits and providing for what is to happen when a decision is to be taken by the trustee body which directly affects an individual trustee(see note 2).
A30. We strongly recommend the adoption of the objects proposed in paragraph 17 above. Objects in that form clearly identify the purpose for which the community capacity building activities are carried out. And they make plain what brings about the benefit to the public which justifies this purpose as a charitable purpose. They also remove any doubts about what the phrase ‘community capacity building’ means (certainty of objects being a requirement for a charitable purpose[see note 3]). And the express reference to the features of an eligible community helps to avoid wasted time and resources on the part of promoters who might otherwise pursue applications for non-eligible communities.
A31. If objects do not take the form proposed in paragraph 17 above, they will need to be expressed with sufficient clarity for it to be clear what the purposes of the body are.
B1. In practice, community capacity building will usually revolve around providing an immediate, concrete result for the community (‘an immediate community benefit’). In the case of a geographical community, for example, that will often be some sort of physical community facility such as a community centre.
B2. Working towards an immediate community benefit will not prevent an organisation from satisfying the requirements of this purpose. We recognise that providing such a benefit will often be the focus of what a community capacity building organisation does. But an organisation will not be set up to promote community capacity building if achieving the immediate community benefit is its purpose, with any improvement to the community’s capacity being merely an incidental consequence of that. Rather, the improvement to the community’s capacity must be its purpose, with the provision of the immediate community benefit being no more than a means to that end.
B3. Thus if, for example, a body is set up to provide a community centre, and the benefits to the local community in terms of capacity building which flow from providing that facility are simply part and parcel of securing that result, then the body will not be established for the promotion of community capacity building. If, however, a body is really established to enhance the local community’s capacity, and the provision of the community centre is the vehicle by which that is intended to be achieved, then its purpose is to promote community capacity building.
B4. One practical test of whether a body’s purpose is the provision of an immediate community benefit or the promotion of community capacity building would be whether it would see itself as having failed to achieve its purpose if it were unable to provide the immediate community benefit: if it did, then its purpose would seem to be the provision of that facility rather than the promotion of community capacity building.
B5. Sometimes an organisation may have charitable purposes which include the promotion of community capacity building. That purpose can be carried out in parallel to the furtherance of another charitable purpose. It may become a purpose of an organisation established for another charitable purpose within a qualifying community. Or, alternatively, an organisation established for the promotion of community capacity building may evolve so that any immediate community benefit becomes one of the organisation’s purposes, as opposed to just the focus of its activities.
B6. So it may be possible to conclude that an organisation exists both to improve the capacity of members of a community and to provide an immediate community benefit which furthers a charitable purpose. Where the promotion of community capacity building is a purpose of a charitable organisation, that organisation would have to meet the same criteria as if it were the sole purpose of that body.
B7. Indeed, it is possible that the beneficiary class for each purpose may differ. If that is so, what matters is that the requirements of the new purpose are met for those members of the community amongst whom community capacity building activity is to be carried on.
B8. The promotion of urban and rural regeneration is a charitable purpose in its own right, quite distinct from the promotion of community capacity building(see note 4).
B9. But if community capacity building is carried out in relation to a geographical community it may take place alongside the promotion of urban and rural regeneration - particularly if the activity revolves around trying to make physical changes to an area (eg by providing public amenities or recreational facilities for the benefit of members of the community). It would only be appropriate for a body engaging in urban and rural regeneration to adopt an object directed to the promotion of community capacity building, however, if that were one of its purposes, as opposed to merely being a by-product of its activities.
B10. Many different types of charity may use community capacity building style activity to further their objects. Examples would include charities established for the relief of poverty overseas and charities established for the relief of elderly or sick people within the United Kingdom, which may all carry out activities which concentrate on building the capacity of the classes of beneficiary they exist to serve as a means of relieving their needs. But it would not be necessary, or appropriate, for them to alter their purposes so as to include the promotion of community capacity building unless they satisfy the requirements of that purpose in the same way as would promoters of a new charity. That would involve the promotion of community capacity building again being one of their purposes in its own right, as opposed to simply a means of achieving some other charitable purpose.