This website aims to help you and your charity by providing support at every stage of the trustee journey. From key information on being a trustee or selecting a new trustee, to help with carrying out a skills audit, recruiting new trustees or developing your Board.
If you are a Community Interest Company (CIC) you can apply to convert directly to a charitable incorporated organisation (CIO).
Charity Commission guidance on converting a Community Interest Company to a CIO
This guide is for new trustees to introduce them to the role so that they have a basic understanding of their duties and responsibilities.
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Organisations operating for public benefit are often described as being one of two categories – either a charity or a social enterprise. However, these definitions are broad and within each there are many variations of form and structure, and confusingly these often overlap too!
This document aims to briefly summarise the two types of organisation and some of the differences between them.
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Process overview
For an overview of the forms and guidance available, start at the home page for the Office of the CIC Regulator
Resources on this page include:
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Equal opportunities is about ensuring that your organisation, from its decision making procedures through to any services it might provide, is accessible to everyone. It’s also about ensuring that your organisation:
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This factsheet should be seen as a starting point and introduction to legal structures and is not a replacement for professional guidance and support.
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1. Context
Community Interest Companies, although they have their own regulator, are in all other respects companies governed by the Companies Acts. The Board of Directors is the company’s highest authority. However, the company directors do not wield unlimited power.
Their legal duties, and the limits of their powers, are set out:
