Book Description

The focus of this report is on the voluntary or not-for-profit organisations which are charities, and other organisations with charitable, philanthropic and benevolent purposes, many of which raise funds from the public including campaign groups. The Draft Bill aims to modernize charity law, allowing many campaigning and social justice groups to attain charitable status. In England and Wales 188,739 charities are registered with the Charity Commission, with a total income of £32 billion raised by the major charities. There are 471 charities, 0.29 per cent of those registered, which represent 45 per cent of the total income, two-thirds of charities actually have an income of £10,000 or less. The Joint Committee sets out 54 recommendations and conclusions, among them are: that the Bill should include a definition of religion; that there should be an additional charitable purpose of promoting religion, racial harmony and advancement of culture; that an account should be taken of the loss of assets to a charity, if it loses charitable status; that an independent review should look at the burden of regulation that charities face; that the Charity Commission should inform the charities the reason for any investigation and that compensation and costs can be awarded against the Commission.