Considering registering a charity in Bradford district? This page is designed to help you find the information you need and decide on next steps.

You may be an existing organisation that is considering registering as a charity or you may be looking to establish an entirely new organisation that wants to be a charity. Either way you’ll need to register your charity with the Charity Commission. 

The Charity Commission regulates and registers charities in England and Wales. There are over 170,000 charities registered with the Charity Commission.  

The Charity Commission’s step-by-step guide on how to register is at https://www.gov.uk/set-up-a-charity 

The step-by-step guide includes crucial decisions such as: 

• Checking if setting up a charity is right for you 
• Checking if you are eligible to be a charity  
• Choosing the right structure  

Once you have gone through the steps in the guide you will need to set up a registration account. Create a Charity Commission account to be able to view and start a charity registration form 

How Community Action can help

Need to talk through your options? If the community organisation is in Bradford district UK (including Shipley, Ilkley, Bingley and Keighley), Community Action can help.

Make an appointment to talk to one of our development officers or book a place on the next Set up a New Group course. For organisations with an annual income under £100,000 advice and getting started training courses are free of charge.

For larger organisations or if you want Community Action to undertake the registration process for your organisation we charge £45/hour. 

Want to start a for-profit business or be a sole trader? Sorry, Community Action doesn’t provide advice to those groups.

Incorporation and governing documents

The first decision to make when registering a charity is incorporated or unincorporated? So what is the difference?

Unincorporated registered charities have no legal status so cannot sign contracts in the charity’s name. Instead, the individual trustees have unlimited liability and can be taken to court, for example if there is an employee or creditor dispute. The individual trustees sign any contracts in their own name because in law, even if there is a written constitution and registered charity status, unincorporated charities have no legal standing.

Incorporated registered charities have a legal status so they can sign contracts in the name of the charity. Trustees that are in charge of an incorporated charity have limited liability and in most cases it is the charity that would be taken to court, for example in an employee or creditor dispute.

Your charity is incorporated if it is officially registered as:

• A charitable company – registered at Companies House and the Charity Commission
• A charitable incorporated organisation (CIO) – registered at the Charity Commission
• A cooperative society or community benefit society – registered by the Financial Conduct Authority

Limited liability does not start until the charity is officially registered by the Charity Commission and they have sent you an official registration number.

• How to register a charity
• How to register a cooperative society or community benefit society

You may be thinking – What about other legal structures?

Other parts of registering a charity including writing the governing document and choosing your charitable objective.  

The Charity Commission provides free template governing documents that you can use to make your application quicker and easier. They also provide guidance on writing charitable objectives and example charitable objectives as part of the ‘step-by-step’ guide.

These are areas where Community Action can provide help through our development officers. 

Always use the Charity Commission guidance published on .gov.uk to answer questions about registering or running a charity because it is the regulator so it’s their advice that counts. Always read the guidance as actually shown on the Charity Commission website rather than any generative AI summary because AI summaries are not reliable enough for topics where there are potential legal consequences. If you don’t understand the Charity Commission guidance as written on .gov.uk you should contact the Charity Commission.

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