Legislation for charities

UK Charities Acts

Not all sports organisations are registered charities, but those who are in England in Wales are subject to the Charities Act 2011. The key aim of this Act was to simplify and clarify the law. The Charity Commission is the independent regulator in England and Wales, responsible for registering and regulating charities in those jurisdictions. There are separate regulators of charities in Scotland and Northern Ireland.

Charities are organisations established with purposes that are exclusively charitable; these must be set out in the objects clause of the governing document. These objects must fall under one of the Charities Act’s charitable purposes, and ‘the advancement of amateur sport’ is listed as a charitable purpose. To achieve and maintain charitable status, sports bodies must demonstrate how their purposes benefit the public. The objects are contained in the organisation’s articles and must also be reflected in any strategy or business plan.

All charitable organisations registered under charity law in England and Wales must publicise their charitable status on all written material. This is to ensure that anyone supporting it knows that it is properly regulated and that any money donated will be correctly used as per the stated objectives of the charity.

If a registered charity has gross income in excess of £10,000, it must clearly state the organisation’s charitable status in all:

• notices;
• advertisements and other documents issued by or on behalf of the charity;
• soliciting money or other property for the benefit of the charity;
• bills of exchange, promissory notes, endorsements