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The home of The Charity Commission on GOV.UK. We register and regulate charities in England and Wales, to ensure that the public can support charities with confidence.
Search the charity register to find details of registered charities in England and Wales including contact information, activities, latest financial reports and current trustees.
Log in to the Charity Commission's online services, get a new password for your charity, and other services for charities.
Charities registered in England or Wales must send an annual return to the Charity Commission or report their income and spending every year.
To start a charity you need trustees, to choose a business structure, decide suitable charitable purposes and you may have to register with the Charity Commission
You must send an annual return if your charity’s income is more than £10,000. All charities must keep their registered details up to date.
Guidance to help you set up and run your charity.
Decide whether to set up a charitable incorporated organisation (CIO), a charitable company or an unincorporated association or trust.
How to set up a charity: find trustees, choose a name and structure, create a governing document, meet the public benefit requirement, register your charity.
What's required of a charity trustee, including your responsibilities to your charity.
What Gift Aid is, who can claim, what donations are eligible for Gift Aid, Gift Aid declarations for your charity or community amateur sports club (CASC), how to claim
Models, templates and guidance for constitutions, articles of association and trust deeds for a new charity or charitable trust. Print and complete these by hand.
What to do to protect people who come into contact with your charity through its work from abuse or mistreatment of any kind.
How to set out your charity's purposes and rules in its governing document, how to start using it and how to change it.
How to take a complaint about a charity further, including what you can complain about and reporting serious incidents to the Charity Commission, Fundraising Standards Board and Advertising Standards Authority
Find out what being a charity trustee involves, if you can claim expenses and where to get help and advice.
The Charity Commission is today announcing a statutory inquiry into serious governance concerns identified at Care4Calais
Use our online service to keep your charity’s information and contact details up-to-date with the Charity Commission.
Tax exemptions and reliefs for charities - apply for recognition by HMRC as a charity, reclaim tax on Gift Aid, profits and expenditure
Consultation about our approach to the Annual Return (AR) and a set of proposed new questions. This would apply to charities’ financial years starting on or after 1 January 2023.
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